Hi -
For a long time, I had my Note 2 with the standard Verizon ROM that was on it when I first bought it a couple of years ago. But I had rooted it, unlocked it, and put on a custom launcher (Nova). A couple of months ago, I started receiving a notice for an OTA download of a new Verizon update. I read online that I should avoid that (since my phone was rooted) and should instead wait until it was available online and then flash it instead. After waiting a few weeks, I noticed that there were a few custom ROMs based on that new Samsung ROM and I ended up installing/flashing the N3BULA ROM.
I very much love the new version of S Note (especially it's integration with Evernote) and the new Air Command functionality. Other than those two things, though, there's isn't much in the N3BULA ROM that I really need/desire. On the flip side, though, I'm finding that my battery life has gone WAY DOWN compared to my previous (basically stock) ROM. And I find that my phone reboots 2-3 times per day and generally feels less snappy.
So, I'm looking for suggestions on what would provide me with the newer version of S Note and the Air Command function, and otherwise give me the best battery life and snappiest performance. I don't need tons of other bells/whistles/customizations. Any suggestions/help?
Thanks in advance!
If your Note 2 doesn't have the MJ9 firmware as of yet, you should try SkyNote Air. Personally, I think it works faster and smoother than N3bula and has a few more features that are absent in N3bula. The only problem is if you are on MJ9 already, it means you have a locked bootloader (which no-one has found a way to unlock), which means you'll have to use SafeStrap. The problem with that is you won't be able to use wifi because you'll need to flash MJ9 firmware afterwards to make wifi work.
If you don't have MJ9, you are really lucky since you can successfully run SkyNote Air without any problems unlike some people (like myself), and by all means should at least try SkyNote Air. Otherwise, stick with N3bula as it's the closest you'll get to having Note 3 stylus feature.
If you want to try another ROM entirely, try Ditto Note 3. You'll need an unlocked bootloader though.
Best of luck, mate.
Related
Surprised myself and after two weeks of ownership I am still on the I717 Note's stock ROM. This was after constantly ROM flashing on my prior Android Samsung Infuse and iPhone4 & 3G (Jailbreak of course).
Stock battery life is decent and launchers like GO, ADW, etc. give plenty of ability to change icons, UI behavior, etc.
So far I haven't found any annoying problems that would require me to fix via rooting.
I HAD to root my prior Samsung Infuse because it had software bugs that required root to fix BUT I am real PROUD of my Note's ability to run strong and solid as a stock ROM. I haven't been forced to reboot yet in 2 weeks of ownership! Yeha!
For myself the KEY is to make myself to NOT TO LOOK AT Applications:Running Services...it makes me sick to see all those unnecessary apps loaded up.
I simply wanted to see how the Note behaved out-of-the box...and so far real impressed.
Will I ever ROOT - Probably, just to get rid of bloatware AND I will need to tether occasionally once I start traveling again.
Will I ever replace the ROM? Not sure, depends on features but definitely not interested in ROMs that just change icons, startup screens and colors.
anyway, this is just post to say how satisfied, thus far, with the Note's performance...as is.
Anything I'm missing that needs root to fix?
andrawer said:
Surprised myself and after two weeks of ownership I am still on the I717 Note's stock ROM. This was after constantly ROM flashing on my prior Android Samsung Infuse and iPhone4 & 3G (Jailbreak of course).
Stock battery life is decent and launchers like GO, ADW, etc. give plenty of ability to change icons, UI behavior, etc.
So far I haven't found any annoying problems that would require me to fix via rooting.
I HAD to root my prior Samsung Infuse because it had software bugs that required root to fix BUT I am real PROUD of my Note's ability to run strong and solid as a stock ROM. I haven't been forced to reboot yet in 2 weeks of ownership! Yeha!
For myself the KEY is to make myself to NOT TO LOOK AT Applications:Running Services...it makes me sick to see all those unnecessary apps loaded up.
I simply wanted to see how the Note behaved out-of-the box...and so far real impressed.
Will I ever ROOT - Probably, just to get rid of bloatware AND I will need to tether occasionally once I start traveling again.
Will I ever replace the ROM? Not sure, depends on features but definitely not interested in ROMs that just change icons, startup screens and colors.
anyway, this is just post to say how satisfied, thus far, with the Note's performance...as is.
Anything I'm missing that needs root to fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can stop those with Autostarts (free in the market), and requires root. It prevents them from opening at all. If you end up checking it out, use the "after startup" disable option.
- Root required apps (there a lot of really good ones - this alone would be enough for me to root).
If you're not interested in theming, or a lot of modifications, then stock is cool. Features, changes, and modifications from custom roms can be patched to stock roms; the only advantage of using custom ones is that they're baked in for you.
I am sticking on stock rom for now, just going to root so I can restore a lot of my old apps, nothing more.
I've already flashed Da_G's root/over clock kernel, which got rid of the lag I was seeing. As soon as cwm comes out of beta I'm going to check out saurom. The Note's out of the box experience is one of the best I've seen, but there is just too much improvement to be had to stay stock, IMHO.
Synner12 said:
I've already flashed Da_G's root/over clock kernel, which got rid of the lag I was seeing. As soon as cwm comes out of beta I'm going to check out saurom. The Note's out of the box experience is one of the best I've seen, but there is just too much improvement to be had to stay stock, IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CMW b3 seems to be flawless so far!
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA
I think it is a good idea to stay all stock until ics update comes out and we apply it. (I expect them to want us to be all stock when applying the ics update that is why)
Underground_XI said:
I think it is a good idea to stay all stock until ics update comes out and we apply it. (I expect them to want us to be all stock when applying the ics update that is why)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough but there will be several ICS Roms months before official AT&T. (I am typing from my ICS Captivate right now for example). Plus you can always flash back to stock.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA
I was stock from best buy to my house and that's it and I can't wait till I can get a sub 100mb ROM onto here. The bloat is sickening and even after removing down to mid 100 it's still not performing to it's non touchwiz potential.
Just to throw in my two-cents, I am fairly impressed as well with the Touchwiz 4.0 interface. Coming from an Atrix (blur) and Inspire (sense), touchwiz is a big step up imo. It feels like gingerbread done right to me. Although it isn't without a few issues, like the slight but noticable lag (to be fair all stock roms seem to stutter a bit occasionally), the no wallpaper scrolling and no landscape mode for the touchwiz launcher.
I think it will be interesting to see what devs or even Samsung/AT&T come up with to merge Touchwiz and ICS. It's gonna be a good year in the ROM community on this phone I can feel it.
Both my notes are on stock. I have no need for a rom.
Sarius24 said:
Both my notes are on stock. I have no need for a rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but... stock IS a ROM, too.
I think it is a great thing that this phone is so good that we can use it stock. Haven't got mine yet but I only plan to Root it and use stock for a few weeks, at least.
So far yes
Right now there really aren't that many roms for the galaxy note lte so I'm going to wait until ICS comes out play with that for a while then I'll be flashing away!
I think people obsess over nothing rather than actually use their devices. That said, I'm not bothering to flash anyone's cooked ROM until there's an ICS update from Samsung.
burhanistan said:
I think people obsess over nothing rather than actually use their devices. That said, I'm not bothering to flash anyone's cooked ROM until there's an ICS update from Samsung.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^That, less the o/c kernel. The performance boost isn't exacted necessary, but you WILL notice it.
I was going to try and stick with the stock ROM as long as possible. However, my addiction got the best of me, and im now laying in bed at the end of my first full day with my Note, and I'm running TPC2 with Da_G's OC kernel. Go figure. Haha.
Not that I was having troubles with the stock ROM, as it was actually really smooth and lag free for the most part. On the other hand, now my Note is an absolute beast. The Note is definitely the first Android I've been happy with out of the box, but I would still rather be running a custom ROM, if not just so I can tell people it's running custom software when I show them my phone.
Samsung really hit it out of the park with this phone. I will never look at a smaller phone the same way again. Forever ruined! And I find the SPen to be really comfy for just navigating my phone and precision of selection. Swyping is fun with it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
I think it's not necessary for me to do anything yet. But don't get me wrong, I will root the phone eventually. I have a real problem with ATT telling me that I "have" to suffer software I don't want on MY phone. That in its self encourages me to root. But, I am waiting to see if ICS is really going to be available soon.
I wonder though if Rooting would affect the upgrade process--perhaps someone could answer this for me. If not, I would be tempted to root my Note after the thirty days (window of time for return) is up.
I flashed roms daily on my Inspire, but I am stock now and planning on staying that way forever or at least until If leaks. the only thing I've done is root to disable ads and remove bloatware.
I'm still stock. I've rooted and jailbrake-ed other phones. I really like this one the way it is. The bloatware etc don't bother me much. I may root after ICS. For now, my Note rocks pretty hard just the way it is.
Roger_15 said:
But, I am waiting to see if ICS is really going to be available soon.
I wonder though if Rooting would effect the upgrade process--perhaps someone could answer this for me. If not, I would be tempted to root my Note after the thirty days is up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you asking if root will affect upgrading to ICS? The answer to that is no. If you flash a custom ROM then that answer is yes. You would need to go back to stock ROM for the ICS update from ATT. However, there will be ICS ROMs here well before ATT releases it.
What's the 30 days thing? Not getting that part. What happens in 30 days? Maybe you mean the window to return your Note. I agree you might want to wait for that to expire before root. But you can also un-root if you want.
I'm on stock rom and don't plan to root anytime soon for both of my devices the note and gnex!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Just a dumb question, but what makes an OTA update different from a ROM? More specifically, why can OTAs flash fine while retaining user data while installing a ROM generally requires data to be wiped?
Thanks
It's never required, but is recommended. It can cause issues with a new ROM and it's also been known to sometimes cause issues with ota updates as well. Some people would have to wipe data after doing an update to fix strange issues.
I know in the past when coming from a 4.0 ROM and going to 4.1 or higher almost always needed data wipes. Some data gets associated with an older os and when that data is copied to a newer one, that app may not be compatible with the newer os version, causing issues.
prshosting.org
I've only got my S4 four days ago, but I've been ROMing before then for years. Things are a LOT tighter here in S4 land, as you can read all over. ROMing started in the old non-locked down phone days, and is still heavy on Nexus devices. Nexus devices are the ones that are first out the door with a new Android OS. The 'Nexus 5' by LG is out now to introduce KitKat (4.4). As soon as the new Android OS is released on Google's Open Source servers, ROM devs grab it and adapt it to a zillion other phones. Up until last Friday I had a custom ROM 4.4 KitKat on my Galaxy Nexus (got it from VZW on day1 Dec 2011) using full CWM recovery mode to swap ROMS in and out any time.
Answer to your question... an OTA OS is what they want you to have, with all the Samsung/VZW add-ons, a nice safe for them package. A custom ROM you load can be anything else, super clean AOSP Android, or heavily modified with all sorts of cool add-ons various developers have created. Since these S4's are so locked down, devs are really restricted in what they can do to a ROM, and it a real headache to get them loaded after that.
My phone came with MI1 and I rooted it an hour after getting home with it last weekend. I played with Safestrap, but decided there wasn't anything worth ROMing out there for an S4 compared to what I knew on my old open phone. I took the MK7 load 2 days ago, still rooted thanks to the write-ups here. The Samsung/VZW 4.3 is actually pretty nice in my opinion (once you 'Turn OFF' some things or 'Freeze' them with Titanium Backup). I don't plan on any ROMS for the S4. I'm actually relieved with that. ROMing becomes an addiction. My dog is happier with the new phone too, as we get to go on more walks with my new found non-ROMing time.
Currently have a S3.. LOVE this phone. A LOT.. But i have mounds of GPS issues that are pretty common, thanks to Verizon. I use this phone every day for GPS and i struggle severely. Time to do something about it.
I LOVE the Samsung platform.. and love the size of the Note series. Thinking about a used N2.. but before i jump on one, i want to make sure the same GPS issues haven't carried over. Is anyone familiar, and can they attest?
Also, I see hundreds of threads as i read through this subforum about soft-bricking, root not taking, not being able to flash ROMs, and other issues. Are these N2 issues, or user issues?
Third - is there another phone, for the same money, that maybe i might find better use or performance out of? $300 budget..
I would say most of the "issues" with rooting and flashing on the note 2 are user issues. I have had my note 2 since day one, flashed a countless amount of roms/updates with no issues. The phone is solid. While there isn't a ton of development for it compared to some of the more popular devices, the development is does have is great. Using CASUAL to root is mostly painless, using ODIN in case you screw up is simple.
I don't use GPS daily, but I most definitely DO use it, and I have had no complaints. Even on AOSP Roms like CM it works great. I did not own an S3 so I cannot make comparisons.
Jiggabitties said:
I would say most of the "issues" with rooting and flashing on the note 2 are user issues. I have had my note 2 since day one, flashed a countless amount of roms/updates with no issues. The phone is solid. While there isn't a ton of development for it compared to some of the more popular devices, the development is does have is great. Using CASUAL to root is mostly painless, using ODIN in case you screw up is simple.
I don't use GPS daily, but I most definitely DO use it, and I have had no complaints. Even on AOSP Roms like CM it works great. I did not own an S3 so I cannot make comparisons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Easy enough for me. Thanks for the feedback. I'm very comfortable with the root process, just wanted to make sure it wasn't a HW prob that i might struggle to overcome.
If you plan on flashing custom ROMs, do know that some of them have GPS issues, the most common being that they don't ever get a lock on your location. I had a huge problem with this on the PAC Man ROM. Liquid Smooth and JellyBeans have given me no such issues.
My wife has a GS3, fully stock and I have a Note 2. I love this phone and have never had any issues with it. I have had the note for about 6 months and ran stock everything until this week when I got tired of touchwiz and wanted to go back to "real android" and also try out KitKat.
BTW, I bought from swappa and highly recommend it.
I drive 140 miles a day, and my GPS is always on. I have never once had an issue with it, either stock or while running CM11.
As for as a comparison to the GS3... the Note II is the exact same phone and experience, just a bigger form factor and you get a stylus.
Let me know if you have any specific questions for me.
HI everyone,
I received a new LG G3 today. It was a great price with all the new phones out and I now have stock QI. SWEET! I'm coming from a VZN note 2 w horrible touchwiz/ some ROMS tried. Ultimately I dont want to flash roms unless LG sucks, I'd prefer to unlock and root to allow for special applications, I'll get to why at the bottom. I'm seeking your opinion and thoughts in regards to:
1.) Should I unlock/root in 4.2.2 prior to the OTA update and stay with 4.4.2? I was not too happy with Kit Kat and it seems that as you get closer to lollipop I had less customization and was annoyed more often with the loss of features within apps and bland styles.; do you agree? I have only seen lollipop from google researching and it looks similar to Kit Kat, just so, so.... Currently in 4.2.2 I can use Google wallet, my chromecast with any movie and music, etc; I don't think I would be gaining any feature except full screen casting, but I have a computer and Chromecast dedicated to my TV. The new notification styles don't impress me either. I had other notification options with CM11 (lock screen/etc) and was not that thrilled with it to upgrade. Normal pictures are fine with me and I'm not trying to win any film contests. No reason to beam stuff, and I like the full month view with digicalendar widget on one home screen (hated google's new calendar views).... Do you regret upgrading? I'm hoping and praying LG has a solid ROM that doesn't drive me crazing crashing with glitches.
lastly any suggestions - Do I need to root now or do anything else to prevent being locked out after the upgrade if I do do it, as is the case of Samsung? I was so glad I locked out OTA updates that screwed a bunch of people out of unlocking their bootloaders for long periods of time.
THANKS FOR YOUR ADVICE AND TIME EVERYONE! I really do appreciate it and I'm excited to start learning about the G3 and having a lot of fun.
My thoughts/background on staying stock w root and unlocked at this point vs Flashing ROMS if you were wondering:
Pardon the poor grammar/ ranting- Basically I need a solid daily driver and after being a little disappointed with CM11 and KitKat in general due to it's bland looks, camera, messaging, etc (e.g. You have to have a face for every contact including yourself to differentiate well between the text messages back and forth, or have handscent with a more "bubble like experience", but is a [email protected] to attach certain things. All in all I tried out gummy rom, CM11 and liquid smooth and was not too thrilled with the glitches or missing stuff that they had for the stable releases I ended up trying for a daily driver. It was fun flashing and testing stuff out though. I switched to a custom ROM mainly bc my note 2 would not allow for easy access to contacts while messaging in landscape (If you typed out a contact's entire name it would only show numbers in the auto select region just above the keyboard and so you would have to scroll down to select a contact in a thin box, this is not okay when your wife is trying to text on your appradio 3 while you are driving. Touch wiz sucked for stability (atleast CM11 never crashed on me!) and touchwiz had so many other glitches and issues that annoyed me; I had to root and add another app just to get a notification bar wifi toggle, WTF! VZN. In ROMS there were mIssing shortcuts in apps to attach things like contacts and do certain daily driver stuff that annoyed me about each ROM, but CM11 was the best for me out of the 4 total I experienced. Custom ROMS did a bad job at working with ARU unchained for my appradio3, but I didn't sped a lot of time on each ROM getting it to work (CM11 was the easiest).
I too came from a Note II and didn't take any OTA's and instead updated with Bean's stock images.
Root your G3 now and update to the latest via: http://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-lg-g3/general/reference-stock-img-files-t2966958
If you did take the latest OTA, you can roll back and update to the latest so not too bad being on LG.
stewbuntu said:
HI everyone,
I received a new LG G3 today. It was a great price with all the new phones out and I now have stock QI. SWEET! I'm coming from a VZN note 2 w horrible touchwiz/ some ROMS tried. Ultimately I dont want to flash roms unless LG sucks, I'd prefer to unlock and root to allow for special applications, I'll get to why at the bottom. I'm seeking your opinion and thoughts in regards to:
1.) Should I unlock/root in 4.2.2 prior to the OTA update and stay with 4.2.2? I was not too happy with Kit Kat and it seems that as you get closer to lollipop I had less customization and was annoyed more often with the loss of features within apps and bland styles.; do you agree? I have only seen lollipop from google researching and it looks similar to Kit Kat, just so, so.... Currently in 4.2.2 I can use Google wallet, my chromecast with any movie and music, etc; I don't think I would be gaining any feature except full screen casting, but I have a computer and Chromecast dedicated to my TV. The new notification styles don't impress me either. I had other notification options with CM11 (lock screen/etc) and was not that thrilled with it to upgrade. Normal pictures are fine with me and I'm not trying to win any film contests. No reason to beam stuff, and I like the full month view with digicalendar widget on one home screen (hated google's new calendar views).... Do you regret upgrading? I'm hoping and praying LG has a solid ROM that doesn't drive me crazing crashing with glitches.
lastly any suggestions - Do I need to root now or do anything else to prevent being locked out after the upgrade if I do do it, as is the case of Samsung? I was so glad I locked out OTA updates that screwed a bunch of people out of unlocking their bootloaders for long periods of time.
THANKS FOR YOUR ADVICE AND TIME EVERYONE! I really do appreciate it and I'm excited to start learning about the G3 and having a lot of fun.
My thoughts/background on staying stock w root and unlocked at this point vs Flashing ROMS if you were wondering:
Pardon the poor grammar/ ranting- Basically I need a solid daily driver and after being a little disappointed with CM11 and KitKat in general due to it's bland looks, camera, messaging, etc (e.g. You have to have a face for every contact including yourself to differentiate well between the text messages back and forth, or have handscent with a more "bubble like experience", but is a [email protected] to attach certain things. All in all I tried out gummy rom, CM11 and liquid smooth and was not too thrilled with the glitches or missing stuff that they had for the stable releases I ended up trying for a daily driver. It was fun flashing and testing stuff out though. I switched to a custom ROM mainly bc my note 2 would not allow for easy access to contacts while messaging in landscape (If you typed out a contact's entire name it would only show numbers in the auto select region just above the keyboard and so you would have to scroll down to select a contact in a thin box, this is not okay when your wife is trying to text on your appradio 3 while you are driving. Touch wiz sucked for stability (atleast CM11 never crashed on me!) and touchwiz had so many other glitches and issues that annoyed me; I had to root and add another app just to get a notification bar wifi toggle, WTF! VZN. In ROMS there were mIssing shortcuts in apps to attach things like contacts and do certain daily driver stuff that annoyed me about each ROM, but CM11 was the best for me out of the 4 total I experienced. Custom ROMS did a bad job at working with ARU unchained for my appradio3, but I didn't sped a lot of time on each ROM getting it to work (CM11 was the easiest).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off, I'm assuming when you say 4.2.2, you mean 4.4.2 As far as LG's stock rom, I'd say that as far as OEM's go, LG's on the better end certainly, however that's not to say the stock rom didn't leave bits to be desired, but imho it was a whole heck of a lot better than barfwiz Me personally, I greatly prefer AOSP as opposed to carrier skinned Android, however you do pay a slightly higher premium in a few more glitches/oddities, but you gain a lot of fluidity/speed and a much better looking system imho, but that's personal preference. As far as rooting/upgrading/downgrading, I'm one to always recommend root solely because then YOU can choose when and how to update YOUR device. 10B is currently the only rootable FW, but if you just got it today then you're likely on firmware version 11C or 12B. Both of these can currently be downgraded using the kdz (and possibly tot) methods, as LG and/or VZW haven't yet implemented anything quite as ridiculous as that yet, but I would never put it past VZW to do this at some point. This is all what I personally would recommend doing, and then consider flashing a stock-based rom (such as skydragon or jasmine) Just my 2c
ohlin5 said:
First off, I'm assuming when you say 4.2.2, you mean 4.4.2 As far as LG's stock rom, I'd say that as far as OEM's go, LG's on the better end certainly, however that's not to say the stock rom didn't leave bits to be desired, but imho it was a whole heck of a lot better than barfwiz Me personally, I greatly prefer AOSP as opposed to carrier skinned Android, however you do pay a slightly higher premium in a few more glitches/oddities, but you gain a lot of fluidity/speed and a much better looking system imho, but that's personal preference. As far as rooting/upgrading/downgrading, I'm one to always recommend root solely because then YOU can choose when and how to update YOUR device. 10B is currently the only rootable FW, but if you just got it today then you're likely on firmware version 11C or 12B. Both of these can currently be downgraded using the kdz (and possibly tot) methods, as LG and/or VZW haven't yet implemented anything quite as ridiculous as that yet, but I would never put it past VZW to do this at some point. This is all what I personally would recommend doing, and then consider flashing a stock-based rom (such as skydragon or jasmine) Just my 2c
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My bad 4.4.2 and I do see 10B build # KVT49L.VS98510B model # has 10b too
Thanks guys, good info and stuff to research
Colchiro said:
I too came from a Note II and didn't take any OTA's and instead updated with Bean's stock images.
Root your G3 now and update to the latest via: http://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-lg-g3/general/reference-stock-img-files-t2966958
If you did take the latest OTA, you can roll back and update to the latest so not too bad being on LG.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I knew I didn't want Samsung/[email protected] so I spent a while looking at other options and the G3 seemed great with Micro SD and replaceable battery. I can't understand what companies are thinking with no SD slot and not being able to swap batteries when they go bad, or on the fly (although I do 12 hr shifts). Ever since my Motorolla Atrix 3G I have missed glitch free daily drivers My fingers are crossed
So do you guys like Lollipop based ASOPs?
stewbuntu said:
So do you guys like Lollipop based ASOPs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Locked bootloaders is why I switched to LG. I'm not alone.
I haven't tried any custom roms. I don't like to lose some of the features I like, like knock and stock camera, so haven't messed with custom roms for a couple years. Debloated stock G3 works fine for me....
Oops. Post to wrong thread - deleted
recently had an s4 and note 3 got tired of not being able to rom.
I got a killer deal on a g900t assuming that it's bootloader is unlocked and there are at least a few nice roms to choose from. (unlocked using st)
is this all true? I can rom and real recovery this thing?
will I be good to go with am aokp or a cm build because this is unlocked?
because if I can't I will be super bummed.
was this phone a bad Choice?
Deleted
dovedescent7 said:
recently had an s4 and note 3 got tired of not being able to rom.
Was this phone a bad Choice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it was not a bad phone choice. It's a great phone. I've had mine for most of a year and have NEVER had it lock up or reboot other than when I was playing with apps or roms. I'm on Omega ROM for the S5 and it is reliable as hell. Since the bootloader is unlocked you can run almost any rom you like including CM ROMs or AOKP ROMs. I'm using mine on AT&Ts network and have NO issues. I get a couple days on battery with light to medium usage.
There are a few people who have reset or rebooting problems but it's a very small percentage.
I like the phone a lot.
I had mine since preorder on T-Mobile
I don't have custom recovery just stock rooted with removing the tethering checks and ad block.
No problems with mine.
The best phone ever. I've had it since the first day of release and no problems at all. Personal favorite ROM edgarf28's XtreStroLite (as a daily driver, this is a solid ROM), love CM11 (4.4.4) and looking forward to having some time next week to play with CM12.
You're choice is sound my friend. Don't ever look back. Do clean installs and follow direction and you will be rewarded.