Galaxy Note2: How do I get the most out of it?

rooting isn't all that intimidating. Most phones nowadays (especially flagships such as the gnote2) have huge developer support and with that a toolkit for all in one root, install a recovery, and even flashing roms if you don't want to do that through your recovery.

A good place for everything you need is xda-developers.com, just search for your carrier-specific note 2, and then look through the sections, general and development will be the most helpful, along with the q&a.

I don't know how you like to use your phone, so i'll just list some good apps.

customization:

ultimate custom clock widget- just the best widget you'll ever have, can do everything and then some and completely customizable.

Apex launcher- very smooth and customizable launcher, nova is on par with this as well but there are a few differences which may make you sway one way or another.

this is only if you are rooted, but IF you install a custom rom with tmobile theme chooser, there are hundreds of themes that change all aspects of the phone, status bar, apps, colors, etc.

Games:

Plague, Inc.- free full version, only $1 for the paid. create a virus and kill the entire world.

i see you have already looked into emulators but i use my boy for gameboy advanced.

the need for speed games look really really good on the note 2 screen.

Productivity:

tasker- very complicated to get started, but if you have persistence you can literally automate your phone.

I gotta run to lunch i will come back and edit with some more. feel free to shoot some questions my way too

 

Cyanogenmod and AOKP ROMs have the best customization IMO. Also, there's an official Photoshop Touch for 10 bucks which has some really neat touch adapted features in the ui and editing.

And uTorrent is on the play store but I prefer tTorrent

 

There are root apps on the play store- for example, titanium backup, most of the voltage control apps, etc. you'll just have to read on the play store to find out if you need root access for a specific app.

You can just google the games that you want with a .apk extension after them. instead of torrenting.

 

Android apps are .apk files. There's also nothing against the rules here unless you're talking about downloading paid games for the free. Android can already install from outside the market without rooting. There are lots of root apps on the market, though.

Rooting generally requires a full system restore meaning any apps or data not backed up or on the sdcard will be lost. If you flash a custom rom, you might have to also install GApps (Google apps framework) which includes the store and Gmail and shit.

 

Thanks for the rep. Im not sure how much help i can be, though, as im not much of an expert and i dont own a note 2 (or any samsung phone for that matter).

AFAIK, the flash counter just shows how many times youve flashed custom shit to your phone, though im not sure what items it counts and what it doesnt. Its there so samsung can see if youve modified the phone and "adjust" your warranty accordingly.

 

When it comes to this, and I'll explain more if we're able to communicate real time, it's all very much based on preferences. What I would suggest is using a fairly 'basic' rom, such as a milestone 10.1 release, so that you can get used to root access and flashing and things like that.

Then, as you learn more, you'll be able to read through the features of another rom and be able to tell if that would be appealing to you and what else it adds to the experience of your phone. By then you should have the basics of flashing roms/packages, enough to at least try out your own roms and revert if need be.