[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] skyo12:
Hi everyone, I've been lurking on XDA for the last month or so but didn't post much because frankly, my aptitude in the device's inner workings is pretty much zero :D I've been reading threads pretty much non stop to learn as much as possible but did not see a thread where there is a centralized location where users can give their experience/short reviews on the current ROMs they are using. As a person who had no prior knowledge of Android, I'll just say that it can be an overwhelming amount of knowledge for one person to take in a short amount of time and a thread like this would have been a great help IMO. Obviously, feel free to disagree lol.

In this thread please specify the ROM/kernel/modem you are currently using, brief description how you use the device and a quick review to notate known bugs, and your user experience for the ROM. Please restrain any vague useless comments such as "THIS ROM SUCKS!!" or "THIS ROM IS GARBAGE!!!!"

A quick preface of my background with phones before I begin my review:

I've only started to become interested in rooting my phone because I saw the ICS iteration we were going to receive for our phones and I was underwhelmed and disappointed in the fact that the stock ICS was altered SO much. I read, read, read and researched as much as possible before I even thought about flashing anything and thanks to the helpful members of this community and the incredible Devs, it's safe to say it's been an eye opening experience the last few weeks. Thank you to all the Devs and the members!! Anyway, on to my review.

Current ROM: MIJJz BLEND ICS "THE GOODNESS"

Kernel: FD02

Modem: FD16

Previous ROM:Calkulin's E4GT v3.0 [ EL29 l Fast l Tweaked l Battery Saver Script ]

Known Bugs: Notification Sound (All ICS based ROMs), occasional "acore.process" error which relates to contacts and Google+ (not really an issue), Rebooting while on 4G (I actually never had this issue, but read that it was a known bug)

How I use the phone: I unplug the phone from the charger around 7 AM and while I commute to work (1 hr 30 minute round trip) I stream the music on my phone via bluetooth in my car. I have 3 email accounts setup, 2 on push and one refreshed every hour, and usually only talk on the phone around 20 minutes a day, send and receive about 20 texts. I keep track of the stock market fairly often, check emails frequently (send/receive around 50), and occasionally play games or browse on the web. I'm usually connected to Wifi during work hours and will have about 1 hr of screen time by the time I come home and basically just play around with the phone until it dies before I go to bed and plug it in for the night.

User Review of the ROM: As I notated above, there are really no serious bugs that will hinder a user from using the device as their daily driver. All critical functions such as 3G/4G, voice, SMS/MMS, Camera, Video, GPS (especially with the new modem) work flawlessly. As I also stated above, I was using Calkulin's GB ROM which is fantastic but I just REALLY wanted the stock ICS on my phone... And boy am I glad. This ROM gives you all the functionality of the stock ICS experience such as the dynamic widgets, better multitasking, face unlock etc while not compromising the fluidity of the GB ROM I was previously using. The blue theme looks fantastic, browser works great and I really the love app drawer and the folder aesthetics in ICS. Another important detail for beginners which may be important is that this ROM is very easy/intuitive to flash if you follow the instructions. With other ICS ROMs that are available such as C9 or AOKP, there is higher margin of error of doing something wrong to possibly brick your phone and for a starter like me, it was a critical component in choosing this ROM (outside the fact it had the least amount of known bugs from reading at the time).

The only drawback (and it's not really a drawback because it's due to the leaked ICS kernels) you will have is unfortunately the battery life. On the previous ROM, based on the use I mentioned above, I will have about 50%+ battery remaining by the time I get home but with this ICS ROM, I'll be lucky if I have 30% remaining before I get home around 7 PM. Still solid, but if you're a heavier user than I am, you will probably need a mid day charge. Also, not a drawback but an FYI which I noticed that may come in future releases but not available currently:

- No visual notification of unread texts/emails on the icons

- Can't customize notification toggles (Please correct me if I'm wrong)

Overall, this ROM is incredible and just want to thank Mijj and the team for creating this. I may try C9 or AOKP in the future when the offical source is out, but this ROM will be my daily driver until that day :D