Had Suggsy's ICS on Dave's Excel for a few days now and these are my findings so far.
Boot time is much better than I was getting with GB, seems to boot in half the time, and I have restored all my apps I had on GB. Screen quality definitely seems to have improved although some apps no longer fill the screem, leaving a blank strip down the right hand side. This is not a major hassle and only happens on certain cheap apps so I am sure it is the app and not the system.
BBC iPlayer is a little temperemental,but I am soooo happy that the lip-sync problem isn't present any more.
BBC iPlayer seems to go in 3 -4 minute cycles where it is perfect for about 3 - 4 minutes and then you get a short spell of interrmittent audio drop out over about a minute during which odd words in the audio get lost but then it smooths out and is OK again for another 3-4 minutes. Personally, I can live with this and find it so much better than the lip-sync problem that went with GB. I am confident that this will be fixed soon by the BBC.
I had quite a bit of problem with Catchup TV. It never was particularly good on GB but it was watchable using browser/desktop mode, however on ICS using the stock browser it was unwatchable, perfect audio but slide show video. Couldn't get it working using Dolphin browser either. In the end I found a solution using MX player with the ARM v7 codec and switched to the mobile version
http://m.tvcatchup.com/ which combination on my Excel makes Catchup TV now flawless I am very pleased to report.
Wifi, Internet browsing is definitely more responsive with pages loading more quickly and the text although a litle smaller than on GB is definitely sharper. Battery life? Some people have reported that ICS on the Excel is more power hungry so I was a bit concerned about this but in fact I have found the difference to be minimal giving about 4 hours continuous use with wifi off. With wifi on I lose about an hour. Early Excels had a 3,400 mAH battery whereas current Excels are shipping with a 4,200 mAH battery. My Excel has a 3,600 mAH battery - just for reference.
I don't know if it is my imagination or not but having flashed Suggsy's ICS my Excel now has the model no "M701C" - I seem to be seeing an awful lot of apps on google play. Don't know if this is just me or if I really am getting a wider access than I got with GB? I love the recent apps list in ICS and the ease of swiping them off. Just being able to go back to an app this way is very useful and a great improvement over GB's offerings in my humble view.
Took me a liitle while to get used to having the notifications at the bottom right of the screen rather than the top left (with GB) but again I like this subtle and unobtrusive facility and find it very useful when expanded, not just to see what's been going on but also having alternative access to the system is very useful from here. I welcome the soft keys on the bottom left of the screen - they are very useful and I use these much more now than the hard keys.
Finally, for those people who are still thinking about doing the same with their GB Excel's and flashing Suggsy's ICS ROM, let me tell you that no one can be more cautious and worried about bricking their tablet than me, (probably comes from a history of battling with Widows -
) but I assure you that as long as you do your homework and follow the advice so generously given by the devs on this forum that it is not so difficult or so high a hurdle to clear as you may fear. Having said that, if you do brick your tablet it is of course your own fault