I have the AT&T note since release, awesome awesome phone. Samsungs touch wiz isn't my favorite but with root and a few tweaks along with adw ex launcher the thing flies.. Obviously if buying this phone it's most likely because the size of the screen and it doesn't disappoint . Battery life is also a big surprise, I get about 16 hours to a charge but about 4 hours of actual screen on time. Plenty of time for me as I only use it for web email and calendar besides normal phone uses. No games or social networking for me.
I would only recommend this phone to anyone with medium hands and up though. I got medium hands and one handed uses can be hard. really easy to get used to the size and it feels completely normal in my hand and pocket now.
Be warned though, if you get this phone it may be very hard to ever go to anythijng smaller, picking up my Photon, or old Evo feels like holding and iPad shuffle, and hold a iPhone is even harder.