[Galaxy Note II General] Livebyte:
I will not buy a Note 2 and proceed with a Nexus device.

Be it from LG, HTC or Samsung.

The Original Note has already frustrated me to a point I can't bear no longer.

Let me explain why before you Note 2 worshippers come and attack me.

Original Note Frustrations:

1. ICS Update for GT-N7000

- Gingerbread theme on an ICS based ROM. I mean comeon how lazy are you Samsung really?

- Even the Gallery is not updated. It's stock Gallery from Gingerbread (Fixed in latest half-assed S3 lookalike update)

2. Midway ICS transition to JB Update for GT-N7000

- Improves the situation abit but still very gingerbread-ish.

- Finally the launcher lags no more. I mean after 10 months after launch? SERIOUSLY SAMSUNG?!

- New Gallery from Note 2. I applaud this. A great improvement from your Gingerbread Gallery.

3. Waiting for Updates.

4. S-Pen, no matter how much you worship this Samsung innovation, it does not feel native to the core OS.

5. Super AMOLED HD is a pain in the ass.

- Screen degrades too quickly. It takes 6 months only for the whites in my Note to go YELLOW. 6 freaking months.

- Try to view a full screen white image when you are using your S-AMOLED HD phone. Its completely uneven.

- I mean, really? Left is pure white. Right is yellow? What sorcery is this?!

- Pentile but solved in Note 2 but quick degration is probably still present.

- I swear the Note 1 which has higher pixel density is more blurr-ish than my iPad 3 which has a lower pixel density.

- Black Clipping. A serious problem still not solved from Day 1. Frustrating.

6. Aspect Ratio.

- To me is a downgrade. Less resolution.

- 16:10 allows me to have wider portrait viewing.

7. Samsung Exynos

- A real benchmarking powerhouse but still sucks anyway.

- Why it sucks? Documentation and source support. We Note 1 owners still don't get no Project Butter thanks to Samsung.

8. Samsung TouchWiz

- TouchWiz is clunky and unfinished. (They almost solved it in TouchWiz Nature)

- Too many gimmicks unless I mention are useful ones.

- Direct Call is useful.

- AllShare sucks compared to AirPlay. I can't AllShare my YouTube. But I can AirPlay my YouTube on iPad.

- Same thing for Pop Up Video. Why can't I Pop Up my YouTube? As I explained earlier, not built into Core OS.

- AirView (Note 2 specific feature) Completely unrealistic. Apple developed a way superior "pinch-a-little" to view photos. Who the hell wants to take out the S-Pen just so you can preview some photos which might not be photos you want to see even. Might as well click the album and view all right? AirView on Video Player is the same thing. You can just hold the seekbar right? Why use a pen?

But these are things I love about the original Note.

1. Battery is huge. I mean can really last two days long!

2. Screen size. I swear its perfect for my hands.

3. Video support is amazing!

I know Note 2 solved many of this problems but you know what. The future is still bleak with its Exynos processor.

The brick bug? Comeon. Samsung seriously? You still haven't fix it in months?!

Imagine another Project like Project Ultra Mega Buttery Smooth in Android 5.0 and then devs realised drivers are incompatible

with Note 2 and must wait for Samsung to release the drivers which could take months!

Note 2 is a good phone if only you don't see its flaws.

I learnt the hard way that hardware is not everything.

Software is important too with the dev support.

Note forums is practically dead until Samsung releases JB sources for the OG Note.

I expect a half-assed update whatever the next version of Android is when S4 comes out for Note 2. Trust me on that.

Your future with the Note 2 will be bleak with frustrations.

Ask any dev using Note 1 including me.

Frustration awaits.

Have a good day.

Yours truly

OG Note user from Launch Day.