Startup time was greatly increased though a coding change, but LevelDB still needs to be implemented.

For 2, I agree with Thirty, I always get at least 8 connections. Do you have a common setup, or are using any proxies, etc?

3) You don't like the semi transparent wallet  
I will look at the ones you mentioned as it would be great to distance YAC from the common wallet theme for sure.

Thanks for the suggestions!