I have 1, 500 photos on my phone, and a sad few are backed up. The phone hasn't been synced to a computer, and the iCloud storage I have isn't big enough for all of the photos.
Here is how it's acting. I started the upgrade when I went to bed. About halfway through the night I checked it, and the download appeared to be half done (I saw an apple logo with a half full loading bar below it). The next morning the loading bar hadn't changed. I tried turning it off, and nothing happened. I tried to reboot the battery by pushing the hold button (power) and the home button simultaneously. The screen went black and the apple logo reappeared. After that, the logo flashed a few times over the next few days. I let the battery die completely, and then plugged it in again. It displayed the empty battery sign, and after a while it went back to the apple logo. Four days after the initial crash, for no apparent reason, the screen turned blue for about a minute, and then returned to the apple logo. It usually seems to be overheating, too.
The most important thing is that the photos be saved, seconded by saving my notes. I called Apple and they made it sound unlikely that anything would be saved. However, every other tech-minded person I've spoken to believes that the phone should just be plugged into a computer that doesn't have iTunes.
What do I do? I have an appointment at an Apple store today, but I'm very concerned that they won't care about the photos, and will just wipe my phone because that's the easiest way.