,AndyC wrote

*snip*

You do realise that by tapping the ring/vibrate icon to the right of the volume you can switch the phone to vibrate independent of the current volume level.

Yes, this was how I started to use the phone to begin with. I now have it on about 6 all the time which is good for video/audio/games, but I want the alarm to be as loud as possible.

For me at least, it's the alarm volume that should be individually set, everything else can be the the default.