A lot will depend on where you are going to live on Batam.... there are a few area's that are not exactly 'popular'. Nongsa area is popular with OS people and there are many that live at Nongsa Village.
But there is also a Batam Expat site, you should be able to get some honest answers off that.
http://www.expat.or.id/info/batam.html
I know of a few Expats (or OS people) living there and they do enjoy the lifestyle and all of them want to stay there.....one couple have been there 20 years.......to start with, its a lot cheaper to live there than in Singapore ....if we could find a job over there, we would move there tomorrow.
I would not live in Singapore and work in Batam, you will find that people do it the other way around.... live in Batam and work in Singapore.
There are two main ferry terminals to take the ferry from, Harbourfront and Tanah Merah, you would have to live close to one of these IF you decided to live in Sing and work in Batam.
For images of the area, do a Google Image search .... that should be helpful too. I can give you an email address of a friend living there that will be helpful too. Let me know if you want it.
leonefabre AT gmail DOT com