Newbie needs advice/help

I've just ordered an HTC Touch Pro from Verizon [To be honest, I kinda like the design on this one than the Touch Pro 2 that will be coming soon] ...I had to switch to a newer phone because my Treo 700p no longer gets signal anywhere [There is actually a tower no more than 3 miles from my house and I still get no bars].

Anyway, I would like to know a bit about the device.

1. Does the LED ring light up and pulse in different ways [In one video I saw an unlocked GSM Touch Pro with the LED lights "circle" the dpad while in standby mode] ...and does this "feature" go away if I unlock and upgrade to a custom ROM?

2. I really want to unlock the ROM and upgrade to SSK 2.6 WinMo 6.5... the problem is that I've NEVER unlocked or hacked a WinMo device and I've looked almost everywhere for tutorials [my girlfriend has an HTC Vogue on Verizon and I tried to unlock its ROM but failed and I haven't tried since]

Any other advice and/or feedback about the device would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks guys!