Hi. I got my S3 yesterday.  First, I've read different things about battery life.  Today was a moderate usage day of talk and data.  With Wi-Fi on, GPS on, a fair amount of texting and email/FB receiving/sending, I am at 17 hours 44 minutes off charger, with 42% battery remaining.  I would say that's a definite WIN for me.
I have two questions.
On my old EVO, I would get a system update notification that I would most times cancel and then not see the notification again for a week or so.  On my S3, I have to cancel the notification about every 15 minutes or so.  That's annoying.  Any way to change that or set the delay for prompting for a longer duration?
Also, I'm currently on v 4.0.4.  I've read about updates that Samsung is sending that disables parts of Google Search to find local things on your phone.  I think I have that functionality now.  If I accept the latest Samsung update, will I lose that feature or is this something entirely different?  Is there a way to give you more specific info to determine my exact build and whether Samsung has already dumbed down my phone?
Lastly, when I press a button on my phone and the screen comes on, I see the unlock screen.  There are four icons on the bottom, the phone icon, the mail icon, an icon of a big black S, and a camera icon.  None of these work because I have to swipe to unlock.  But when I unlock, I get a totally different screen and those icons no long appear.  Am I missing something?
Thanks in advance for your help and answers!!!