[tat21985]

I've had JB for a couple of weeks now, and have had no problems with glitches or lags or severe battery drain.. My question is, is a soft reset really necessary after an OS update? I understand I will lose my apps, but I don't have any games, so that doesn't really bug me.. I just see the suggestion pop up on here every once in a while, and I was curious.. Oh, and I am not rooted..

[IAmSixNine]

A soft reset is simply turning off the device and/or removing the battery. does not wipe any user info.
A hard reset will wipe the android OS and user settings and anything not stock on the phone / phone memory. It will not affect the external SD card.
Basically a hard reset will turn your phone into a factory original device, just like the day you opened it up out of the box. With the exception that any OS software updates that you applied, like going to JB, will still be there..

[scipio11111]

I bit the bullet and did a hard reset after the JB update and my battery life improved significantly.

[tat21985]

Thank you for the input! I really haven't seen a significant drain on my battery as I said before, but if I ever see a problem brewing, I'm glad I have a backup!