[Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini, Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, A] mlesic:
I tryed so hard to convince my self (and others) that ICS is same as GB maybe better...but ICS is just OK (maybe even more that OK considering older hardware and lower specs in Ray). I still want new OS, ofcourse that I would like to have new, improved OS with new feautres, and on which I can put any app (now some are just for JB etc.)...But now, in reality I can see that GB suits Ray batter - I am talking about stock (root+deleted bloat).

One thing I also noticed - I flashed gb v.62 stock from xda and rooted with ERoot - now my Ray batterylife improved a little bit. I cant be sure, but when flashed v.42 - rooted - and update OTA to v.62 -- batterylife was similar to ICS. All I can say, now when I flashed v.62 directly my batterylife is as it was when I bought it (without root stock v.62). 3G uses less battery - 35 min = 8% of battery. ICS and GB (v42-->v.62) was 30min = 10% cca. So, it is small difference, maybe placebo - but I cant get rid of the feeling that percents are droping slower! In other words, now I expect to drop further and they dont. Before I expected to drop slower, but they were droping faster!

Today I had 2h 30min screen on (3G internet surfing), 50 min talking (over 3G data off), 10 hours of standby - and battery was at 60%. On ICS and updated GB my display time with 100% was about 4 hours - maybe I could strech it to 5hours. Now it seems like i can get 5 hours display, 1hour talk, 1 day standbay and still juice left...maybe 10-20% battery.

Back to GB vs ICS - for me it is better that battery improvement than possibility to install some apps I dont use. For example Nova launcher, Apex launcher - i tryed them and they use more RAM and battery than stock launcher or launcher pro. So I deleted them. I alway somehow end up with launcher pro. Now on GB my stock luncher uses 13-15mb! I am very happy with that. :D

There is still no easy answer which is better in fight GB vs ICS. I would like to have this GB performance and batterylife on ICS - but ICS also works more than ok...but I dont want ICS bugs in ICS... So in final battle there would be (IMHO) more positive points on GB side while ICS getts more negative points.

GB - positive points

- betterylife is better (on standby and when using 3G for example)

- better performance (in UI and games)

- more free RAM

- no noticable bugs

- 3G or 2G selection stays after restart

- simplified settings menu

- lockscreen sound shortcut (more used)

- stock launcher and dialer responsive and fast

- camera can record video up to 14Mbps without problems or lag (lgcamera + edited media profiles)

- photo ok, can take photo 100% compression with little modification or lgcamera

- video stabilization works great, no lag, no dropped frames

- wifi is stabile and great

- no force close apps when there is lack of RAM

- enough free space (320mb user + 250mb and more on system)

- adobe flash still supported

- no lag ever

ICS - positive points

- new look in UI and settings, more options, advanced features (reject call with SMS, data counter total and per app - 3G/wifi)

- when touch in notification mass storage mount/unmount - no development info if turned on

- more options in development

- supported new and future apps and launchers

- great posibility for modifications - most mods are for ICS

- no lag - but sometimes you can get glimpses of lag if push to hard

- stock dialer delay, home launcher litle bit slugish sometimes

- force close apps (sometime launcher) if oppen to many apps, tabs in browser

- close or select recent apps in improved list (pressed home key)

- enough free space (400mb user + 150mb system)

- batterylife on standby is ok (like GB - only using phone drain batter a little bit faster than on GB- 3G surfing for example and tethering - 20% more cca, not huge difference)

- some apps work better on ICS - power toggles for example, works perfectly - in GB notification toggles must be selected twice...etc

- dialer have T9, improved contacts

GB - negative points

- some new ICS only apps are not supported. Dont work some apps like for big caller photo...

- some apps dont work great - power toggles in notification could be better.

- somewhat older UI and not pretty as ICS

- if someone asks you - why you dont upgrade to ICS, you dont have easy answer - maybe just my phone is old and is very happy with GB :D

- dialer no T9 - must use alternative (ex dialer, dialer one...)

ICS - negative points

- bugs - led bug (must install sms awake app or mod)

- batterylife cca 20% worse when using - not enourmus difference but you can feel it if use 3G. 2G is ok

- cca 150-160mb free RAM - not a big deal until you run out of it. So sometimes you can get opera mini force closed (few times in a row - rearly but happens)

- new apps that can go only on ICS - tend to use more battery juice and ram - so Rays older specs could dislike them

- video stabilization lags, drops frames

- video can go without problems up to 12Mbps, photos are ok

- dialer delay when starting (2-3 sec)

- wifi sometime has weak signal, not so consistent...dont know...but generaly ok

To conclude - GB wins

with better performance in every aspect, faster in everyday use, better battery life noticably - phone breaths with full lungs without any problems!

ICS looses by length of a nose

- performance are worse, but not a big difference. Fast in everyday use (here and there a bit of lag). Batterylife somewhat worse.

So ICS dont make much problems - everyday experience is great, video is max 12Mbps instead 14, batterylife on end of the day would drop on 5-10 % instead 20-30% on GB. If you dont push to hard ICS works great. I used it for few months and belived it is better than GB - and it is in some aspects!

Now I stay with GB for some time - like 14Mbps video, video stabilization, better battery life, 230+mb free RAM, working led notifications, better performance in games, video playback and UI.

I will miss for sure beauty of ICS UI, working power toggles, some playing with mods for camera, gpu, reject call with SMS, one click unmount... and that I can say if someone asks: I have ICS - im up to date! ;)

Sorry for long post - hope it helps someone whe cant make a choice!