[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] cruno91:
I will be updating this thread for anyone that may be considering the same.

Yesterday (June 1st) I went on Craigslist and traded my GT-N7000 for an AT&T i717 for a few reasons; 1. I was fed up with being scared of flashing a ROM and wiping because it could very likely hard-brick my phone, and 2. Being on T-Mobile and only having EDGE was beginning to get annoying after a 4-5 weeks.

My initial impressions of the i717 were that the build quality didn't really seem to be the same. I felt like the screen edges were too raised and the plastic back plate had more creaking. The phone also felt heavier than my GT-N7000 did. This could have possibly all been in my head, but this was my initial impression. Let me also mention at this time that I miss my center home button very very VERY much. I didn't realize how much I used it in comparison to the side lock button to wake up the phone. I find myself often going to click the center home button on my i717 but accidentally hitting the back button instead.

The first thing I did was unlock the phone via cellunlocker.net/. It took me about an hour or two to get the code emailed to me but it worked right away. I then followed instructions from rootgalaxynote to root and install CWMR. During this process I noticed the flash count was at 14, so this phone has been rooted and custom roms have been installed before.

I now needed to choose a ROM. My requirements were full SPen support with SApps, the ability to overclock if I needed to, MHL/MTP working, Bluetooth working, Camera fully working. The best choice looked like Saurom 7.1. I followed these instructions to put on Saurom 7.1 onto my note, then wiping, then installing the Blaze modem, them wiping cache. It appeared that I had 4G although it did seem a little slow, which I'll get to later.

So after installing Saurom 7.1 and the Blaze modem I put on my Apps and GoLauncher and GoLocker. These now run MUCH faster than they did on my GT-N7000. I couldn't even use GoLocker on it because of how laggy it was, but now I can. I was surprised to see this, honestly, because I thought the N7000 was supposed to be faster than the i717.

Most of what I did here was done while plugged into the charger. I then left my phone plugged in over night while I slept.

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This is my experience with my first FULL day with the i717:

9:25 - 100% battery - took off charger with skype signed in and 2 email accounts checking every hour - checked facebook via dolphin browser - read messages on kakao talk - downloaded google voice - made a brief (~4min) phone call - downloaded a picture of kakao talk chat - set up a picture frame widget on home screen

9:33 - 91% battery - turned off wifi

10:15 - referred someone to dropbox via dolphin browser - read 7 emails

10:24 - 85% battery

11:10 - 5min kakao talk call - plugged into car charger - streaming music via audio galaxy, losing battery even though i'm plugged in! from 84%-71%

11:24 - txt chatting via kakao talk, sent a picture via kakao, recieved a picture via kakao - 64% battery

11:30-12:30 - on and off chatting via kakao talk

13:00-13:15 - turned on wifi - chatted via kakao talk - 47% battery

13:15-13:30 - left screen on for durration of kakao talk chat

14:00 - wifi speed test, indoor 4G speed test, outdoor 4G speedtest, screenshot taken, 8MB picture taken, short 19s 720p video taken - 33% battery

Result of speed tests:

The 4G speeds were EXTREMELY disappointing !!

Picture taken:

Here is the video.

15:06 - uploaded 6 pictures to dropbox and 1 video - 30% battery

17:09 - 4.25min call - 25% battery

17:30 - 6 text messages sent, 4 reieved - 22% battery

19:00 - 4min call - 19% battery

19:30-19:55 - (In the car on 4G) Quick game of Temple Run, web browsing via dolphin browser, download Twitter and Foursquare applications, wrote down note in SMemo - 1% Battery

18:00 - Shut down phone to charge

00:15 - Turned on phone and took off charger, going to leave it on over night to see how it drains.

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Day2:

[Phone has been off charger all night]

10:30 - recieved 11 kakaotalk messages, 3 emails, sent 2kakaotalk messages, took short 1080p video test - %84 battery

11:00-12:20 - screen on, heavy wifi web browsing, looked through a few photos on instagram, read through twitter, added 5 email accounts to email app and downloaded most recent emails, recieved 2 kakao talk messages - %52

Here is the video.

13:40-13:55 - Music streaming on 4G via Audiogalaxy - 37% battery

14:00-15:00 - 10min of text chatting on kakao talk, 20min skype voice call, 25min - 25% battery

15:30-16:00 - kakao text messaging

17:00-18:00 - web browsing on wifi - ~9% battery

18:15 - one text message sent, one recieved, battery died on my way back to my apartment, i'm charging it now and will then do 4G data speeds on T-Mobile since I am very close to one of their towers

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Day 3

My battery life was about 10 hours with medium usage (similar to day 2). Definitley not as good as my GT-N7000 was but it could be worse too i suppose. The 4G tests I did here in Newark gave me from 5mbps-7mbps down and 500kbps-1mbps up, so I may not end up needing to try a new modem.

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Issues with the phone:

the Home button does not vibrate or make sound even though haptic feedback and sound is on, it works on all other buttons at the buttom but not the home button

4g seems a little unstable

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Conclusion:

Moving from the GT-N7000 to i717 seems to be worth it for 4G speeds on T-Mobile. But since TMobile is getting a Note variant next month this may be irrelevant by then.