Samsung do not have a slow support for Android as they are the ones supplying the Google device. Look at the SGS 2, it's even better than Nexus S, the official Android device.
Yes they do. Look I've had this Galaxy S for 3 months now and my father had one for 8, and I can safely say no other manufacturer out there had a slower Android update than us. We had eclair up till december when other devices had the modified 2.2.1, and we got the Froyo. Which btw, was a complete shit to our device. Very slow and barely functional at times with a lousy battery life.
If it wasn't for the devs at xda this phone of mine would've been crap really. Oh and Jack, the only reason SGSII is still to hit the market all around the globe is because the programmers at samsung can't get a proper GB working on that yet, so I don't know how you compared it to the Nexus.
I have no idea, its been slow for the past three-four days and turning it off didn't help.
Turned it off today and when I turned it on they were gone. Really weird.
Make sure they're not saved on your sim.