I love my phone. It's a solid phone, hefty, not heavy. I like SENSE, it's well thoughtout and executed. However, I've ended up using LauncherPro since I enjoy a cleaner look of my home screen along with the three docks. I've yet gone down the path of root since I don't have much to worry about. The phone works as well as I could have expected. I've gone 8hrs with moderate 4G use (including one hr of Google Music streaming) with only 20% juice remaining. I don't even use my WIFI connection anymore with the phone. When I'm not using it (i.e. when I'm at work) it's plugged in so battery issues is not something I have to contend with. YMMV it seems.
One major gripe I have is the lack of a dedicated shutter button since I do use the camera a lot more than I've expected (can't carry the DSLR around all the time, you know).