To be clear, I bought this phone with the intention of rooting/adding custom ROMs. Hardware wise, its a solid unit with good screen size and feel. At the time I was on the market for a phone, it was the only 4G/Android phone out there, and that sealed the deal. And by the way, 4G in DC is great. It does kill battery, but when I turn it on, I average 7mb down. That said, I was initially not crazy about terrible battery life and quirks with HTC sense.

After getting rid of HTC sense though, (currently running AO5p), I've been 10x happier with this phone. My battery life has significantly improved with 4G on/off switch in my notification tray. Now, I only really use 4G when tethering, for free - sorry Verizon.

My only major complaint (coming from a iPhone 3GS) is that every Android music app is awful. The HTC stock, Google Music, Winamp, DoublePlay and stock Music apps all felt awful to me. However, I have finally reached a happy place with a combination of HypeMachine's app and Rdio, which works superbly.

Bottom line: I have been happy with this phone. 4G delivered has expected, the screen and camera are good, and Android has excelled in the four areas important to me - mobile web browsing, Gmail, Twitter, and tethering.