I meant CM is smoother than the Samsung software on my Note II but less reliable, definitely less stuttering scrolling through things.So might be the same on the Note. Who knows.
My biggest problem is the issue with Bluetooth. If I use the visor speaker in my car I can usually make 1 or 2 calls before I can no longer hear people on the other end. Then it takes a couple of hours to randomly start working again. Even through the earpiece on the phone. And voice dialing doesn't work with the speaker :(
So I'm on a custom ROM with Note 3 features now and it's pretty good. 4.4.2 I think. Bluetooth works perfectly. Has all the S Pen features which you lose with CM. Pen still works in CM, just acts as a mouse.
I wonder if lollipop will come to this phone.
Interesting. What custom ROM is that?
SlimWiz. Don't know if anything like it is available for the Note. And there's DN4 which has Note 4 features on the 2. I do find it annoying that the settings menu can take a few seconds to load, things not always as snappy as AOSP.
And obviously a new launcher will hide some TouchWiz stuff. I use Nova Launcher. Much better use of the screen size by changing the grid size to allow more icons on the screen.
And if you find the phone awkward to use one handed I read a handy tip somewhere but it only works if you have a case on:
Feed a piece of elastic through the pen slot and the camera slot in the case and stick together on the inside. Then you can put your fingers through it and move your thumb wherever without dropping it.
I've installed CyanogenMod anyway. I've never used the pen / stylus so I guess I won't miss the features, and the ROMs you mentioned don't seem to be available for the Note 1, and I trust CyanogenMod not to brick my phone (or rather I trust myself not to brick my phone with CM) as I've installed it on my Nook and old HTC phone with no problems.
Still, would be interested in other ROMs, especially since the last "stable" CM is Android 4.2.
You haven't even tried the pen? :O I don't use it a great deal. It's handy for the occasional note, screenshots with annotations and navigating menus on some websites. And websites that show animated previews by hovering over a link.
Hopefully CM will be more reliable on the N7000. I have a rather old version still running on my HTC Desire and it's great. My Note 2 is definitely more stable since switching back to a TouchWiz ROM though.