Buddy these this vs that conversation never ends well. So lets leave it. I think it all matters to personal op at the end of the day. You are absolutely FREE to love or hate a thing. We should STOP before this thread gets closed.
Just fyi, I have used both CM 7 and CM 9. Really couldn't understood the hype about it. They have RIL problems afaik. CM 7 was not even finished! Frankly I didn't find a reason to use AOSP/AOKP ROM. Then again, that's me, and I respect my own opinion!
But one thing i should say, Red Dragon said it before, Samsung did an exceptionally great job with TW framework. It turned Gingerbread a real good OS IMO. Mark my word here. Then again, with ICS, I can't say the same. IMO, ICS needs lots and lots of polishing, it ain't finished well to roll out this soon. I like things as 10/10 working rather than 5/10 working very good and other 5 ain't. That's what it is about ICS Custom ROMs. (Or any Custom ROMs for that matter)
And best of luck to you for using Android. You love it? Fantastic. Keep enjoying it and have fun. But I? As i said, good bye Android.
It's time for me to find an OS which could make up my agony regarding using Android and i find no other OS but iOS, atm.
I have been using CM9 ICS since day 1. it got better with every build. everything is working expect wifi direct ( actual wifi works gr8 ) .
I liked the stock exp and now the pure ICS Google exp. I dont have any problems with it. Battery life with heavy usage stays for full day and 10% till next day morning. Happy with it.
I am not sure exactly what kind of polish you are speaking. Can you tell me any specific area in ICS which you think needs to be polished ? At this moment i hate both iOS and WP as it complicates obvious things for me. e.g sending multiple pics at once in mail. there are many other simple things which iOS fails to do at ease. But that does not means the OS is crap ( in terms of red dragon troll) to me it simply means that ICS exp is simple and better than my WP or iOS exp.