Using this phone has been an amazing experience. I've literally been able to take notes with this thing with the same speed and accuracy as if im writing on paper. Its truly amazing. The ability of this thing to interprate handwriting and convert it to typed text is truly astonishing. Its the S-pen that truly makes this thing next gen.
As for ANDROID Jelly Bean, its most definitely better than Ice Cream Sandwich, and is far smoother. I do enjoy Google now and really love how it calculates commute times to work and home (an idea they stole from Nokia drive btw...) and i do enjoy the slick UI improvements they made (an idea they stole from Windows Phone), but overall Android is still kind of lame to me. I do love its flexibility and power however, but in all honestly it is way too busy and cumbersome for a phone OS. Windows phone beats it in this regard in that its far more streamlined and less cumbersome, making in more appropriate for a phone in my opinion.
Android is cool, but i think its the S-Pen that makes this note 2 such an amazing device. Plus the speaker on this thing is pretty amazing too. It can easily be heard in an entire room at full volume. The camera and screen are also top notch as well. Despite the shoddy Samsung build quality, this thing is a win at all levels.
Not better than the Nokia 920 in my opinion, but easily the next best thing out here.
