More that likely it was stock, so I can't blame you for your first impression with a stock E3D. However, rooted and ROM'd it was close in to performance to my stock E4GLTE. I stress performance because some of the ROMs had very tweaked UI's and overclocked CPUs, etc... In regards to my E4GLTE, though, this phone is simply amazing in every way, even with the stock ROM. There are a few things that I would change and hope that rooting and ROMing bring me some of those changes, but for those that have no desire to root or ROM, this phone is hands down x100 better than any other (stock) phone I have ever used! Hats off to HTC and Sprint for delivering such a wonderful device to the market (despite the bumpy start)!