[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] TUnit:
Hey guys,

I've been reading the forums for the past few weeks and have been enjoying the discussions here, yet not having too much to add (constructively). Apologies if there is a thread on this already. I have done a couple of quick searches but nothing came up that seemed to fit the bill.

I got in this evening and took my S2 out of my pocket to find something wrong with it. I'll explain below. First of all software details:

Baseband Version:

I9100XXKI4 (up to date as far as Kies is concerned - stock ROM)

Apologies in advance if I'm missing any important information (I'm trying to sift through and try pick what I think are the relevant points).

Issue:

I felt my phone vibrate twice and took it out of my pocket (expecting a text). Instead I found the "Desk Clock" part of the stock "Clock" app flashing on and off the screen. When I tried to close it I came to the lock screen, unlocked it and then the desk clock opened again. It reloaded every time I attempted to close it. I tried to end it using the task manager but it didn't show up on the active applications list. I restarted the phone.

When I restarted it didn't seem to load properly with app icons all over the screen and the home screen numbers in the middle of the screen. I have a screenshot which I'll try to upload later. I restarted again.

This solved the arrangement issue but didn't stop the desk clock popping up. I also became aware of another problem. The battery was showing 12% (down from ~35% it was showing before - when checking battery usage). I plugged it into my laptop via the USB lead I have (which I had used earlier in the day to charge it). It didn't recognise immediately that it was charging. I swapped to AC, it started charging.

It then started showing "driving mode activated" and asked me whether I wanted to complete the task with UlysseSpeedometer or Voice Talk. I didn't press anything. When I pressed back it then asked me again a few seconds later. I restarted the phone again.

This time it showed 37% battery! I switched to the USB charger to try to back the phone up. It had trouble connecting but did eventually. I left it perfectly still as it tried to back up but failed twice partway through doing so.

Recent changes:

Only real changes are installing Super Compass today, which when (re)reading reviews didn't seem suspicious. I have uninstalled just in case.

Additional information:

I updated to 2.3.5 through Kies about a month ago (the first time it was available for me after checking for updates every few weeks - I have friends with the same phone on 2.3.4 and 2.3.3). Since then the countdown timer on the clock app sometimes shows the preprogrammed 1 minute countdown even when I have a timer running. The timer alarm still goes off at about the right time (haven't tested it properly) though.

In addition to this I have customised the apps that stay at the bottom (can't think of the terminology at this time of night) by swapping the Phone for GMail. Every time I restart the phone the GMail app is removed but the Phone app doesn't replace it. On a similar note I keep getting asked to choose my default PDF reader after ticking the box to select it multiple times.

My thoughts:

It appears to be a software issue to me. It's late now but tomorrow I plan to attempt to back up again (perhaps just by copying all the files on the phone using Windows Explorer if need be) and attempting to reinstall the firmware through Kies. If that doesn't work I'll do a factory reboot. After that I'll contact my carrier (O2 UK) to get some support.

Question:

I was wondering whether anyone has any insight, has experienced similar problems, or has any other advice regarding this?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer :)

Regards

T