Well, here's my first attempt at a review for a phone. Hope someone gets something out of it.
I picked up my GN2 on launch day around 11 or so. There was a pretty big line at my local Verizon store (I'm military, stationed in El Paso, Texas), so I went to see if they had a display model. There was a Samsung rep there who talked a few of us through the phones and answered some questions. Pretty good guy. At the time, the stores demo models weren't hooked up properly, so we really couldn't get a good idea from those.
After about 30 minutes or so, I was finally called and was able to get my phone. I was coming from a Razr Maxx. Obviously, the first thing I noticed is the size. While the phone is large, and it does take some getting used to, I'm finding today that I'm totally used to it. Picking up something smaller just seems almost wrong right now.
Display-ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!!!! I know the Razr Maxx didn't have the best display, so maybe I'm a little biased right now, but this thing looks great. I know there may be better ones out there, but I am more than happy with the display this beast has on it. I currently use auto-brightness, and decided to turn it up to full brightness, and everything seemed to almost pop off the screen. If it wasn't such a battery killer, I would probably leave it at full brightness the entire time.
Speed-Once again, could be a bit biased. My Razr Maxx was starting to have stuttering issues and some other things going on that couldn't be fixed (rumored to be fixed in the next software update), but the phone flies. Not only is there no lag in the touch screen, but even other things, such as installing from the Google Play store, is much faster than I anticipated. I've been off and on Wi-Fi and 4G since I have had it, and I can't really speak of the actual speeds in that aspect at all. I just know it only takes a few seconds from the time the apps start installing until they are finished. Another good speed example is boot up time. It took around 30 seconds from hitting the button until the actual home screen came on. From there, around another 10-15 seconds to read the SD card and be fully ready to go. Between the Razr Maxx and my previous phone being an HTC Thunderbolt, I was used to waiting around a full minute for the screen to come on, and then another minute or so before the phone was fully functional.
S-Pen-I'm still learning the tips and tricks about the S-Pen, so right now, I can't really give a good review on that at all. I know there are only a few apps that really take advantage of it, but being at work yesterday and today, I just haven't had a chance. Maybe since I'm off for the weekend, I'll really give everything a good go.
Battery Life-I have to say, this, by far, has been the most surprising for me. I have read reviews at many different sites, and the reviews that came out were for other versions of the GN2, not the Verizon version with 4G LTE. Disclaimer: I live in El Paso, Texas, which has LTE, but in certain parts, it's kinda dead. I also work inside a building on Fort Bliss that on my previous phones, would lose signal throughout the day, so I would be hopping from LTE to 3G to 1X to no signal and back and forth all day. For whatever reason (maybe the radios give a better reading in the GN2 than the Razr Maxx), that really wasn't the case today. For my first day, I charged it as much as I could at work, and then came home to finish setting everything up. The phone came off the charger around 3 p.m., and I plugged it back in around 11:30 that evening. I would say that day was very heavy usage. Playing with it, downloading all my apps that I wanted all over again, just checking random things out, setting up accounts, ect....When I finally plugged it back in that evening, the battery level was around 25%. I was on Wi-Fi mostly during this time since I was at home, so that could have helped.
I plug my phone in overnight and leave it on the charger until I leave for the morning. I leave for work around 7 a.m. Today, I wanted to give it an actual test. I didn't plug the phone in until 10:30 p.m. (as I am writing this review), and the battery level was at 30%. I know after a few charging cycles the life will get better. While the battery life on this may not be as good as the Razr Maxx, as I stated, I was very surprised at the life. For a screen this size, and to be on LTE for that long definitely impressed me.
I know there is no such thing as a perfect phone out there, as every few months something new and better comes out, but I may have found the perfect phone for ME. That should be ultimately what matters, is that the perfect phone for you? I know not all of the multi-window apps work on this phone because of Verizon, but for me, that's not an issue right now. Honestly, how many people really use absolutely every single feature on their phone? There may be some that do, but I would guess for the most part, probably not many. I know there are many people who don't like the Verizon logo on the home button, but once again, that doesn't bother me at all. My Razr Maxx had a logo on the bottom, and my Thunderbolt had it at the top of the phone. It's there, there's nothing I can do about it, so to me, it is what it is. I don't root at all, so I have no need for the unlocked bootloader. I like the idea of using the phone the way it is. More than likely, I'd probably end up messing the phone up, so that doesn't bother me at all either.
While pressing the S Pen button, draw a <, that's BACK. A ^ is for MENU. 
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