One can never go wrong with a GS. Love it! What year is it?
Comes down to personal preference. I have a sena 10c EVO and cardopacktalk bold with jbl speakers. I use plug phones with both so for me they are evenly matched as I don't use their speakers. I have usb charging on my motorcycles so I never worry about battery life as I can plug and charge them. Both work while being charged so even that was a match.
Latest version is 0.15.1. Beyond this I am at a loss. Hopefully someone else with more know-how on the subject can chime in.
The downloaded version works great for me and I am not experiencing any of the issues you stated. Are you keeping it updated? They had a slew of updates recently.
Deleted RiF and replaced the same spot on my homescreen with wefwef app.