I've been using a Lumia for a few weeks now and I have to say I love it, I used one of the first gen Windows Phone 7 phones, an LG Optimus 7 to be precise and that was not a good experience, but the Lumia is excellent. I love how the OS is integrated to Twitter and Facebook, Skydrive is fantastic, the one area where Windows Phone fails though is in the app department, it really is missing a few leading apps, Instagram, Audible, BBC News, to name but a few even finding a decent twitter client is a task, there are about 5 of them, all have separate features I like but not 1 can combine them all something that most Twitter clients on iOS and Android can do. There are equally as many if not more crappy apps on Windows phone, I downloaded a sleep cycle app the other day expecting to get an app that you put under your pillow, it records your sleep, wakes you at the best time etc, what did I get? I got an app where you entered what time you went to sleep and it told you what time to set the alarm for It couldn't even set the alarm, there are loads of equally as crappy apps. If windows phone had the Apple app store behind it it would be the best platform around.

My experiences are same as yours, my first WP7 phone was HTC Trophy, which was OK, I was not impressed with the design, but I wanted to try WP7 and this was the only phone available at the time. It was quite spartan as for features, but I liked it. Upgraded it to Mango when beta became available, used it for a while. When Lumia 800 came, I liked the look of the phone, I liked the OS so I got one. I did not regret it and my next phone will very likely be WP7 or W8 again. Yes, there are not many apps yet, but I am an atypical smartphone user, I do not actually miss any app. Rather than molesting my phone at every opportunity I rather read a book on my Kindle And there's a Kindle app for WP7 available, just in case I forgot to take my ereader with me.

Yeah I think my next phone will be a Windows 8 phone, I love the OS, Its the beats Android and iOS, iOS is the worst of the lot in my opinion, it looks so dated now, needs a major revamp. It just a shame about Windows market place, it really lets it down.

I really like the OS, but agree its short on certain key apps (such as all the Google apps for some bizarre reason ). But then Android was a bit sparse on apps for a while and as for any shortcomings in the OS, both iOS and Android were missing key features until version 2. In that respect, I think WP7 is actually ahead of them compared to where they were as a 1.5 release.

I'm not ready to switch on my personal phone yet, but have asked for a Lumia 800 for my new work phone when it comes up for renewal in July. I have a feeling I may get one for my personal phone when Apollo launches.

Got my Lumia 800 last week, it replaced a Nexus S.

I'm loving it so far. Coming from Android, the app count is a bit lacking, but there isn't anything missing that I really cannot live without.

The whole phone is much more smooth than my Nexus S ever was, and the metro UI is awesome.

Only thing that is slightly irritating is the poor multitasking, however, it isn't that big of a deal on a phone. It would be a whole different issue if WP was being put on tablets.

Fingers crossed that it'll be upgraded to Apollo when that is released. Probably wouldn't get another WP if not, even most Android phones get the next major OS release.

Had a small issue with my proximity sensor not activating correctly in calls, but this seems to have been sorted with a reset, so it's all good.

Still very much in the honeymoon period, but given the smoothness of the UI (I really, really, really, hate lag) I can't see there being much to put me off during day-to-day use. Would be nice to have the option of setting Google as the default search, though.

In July you can get Lumia 900. 4.3'' display, 2 cameras, back and front, surely essential for a work phone

ETA: limited multitasking is on purpose, saves energy. There are the background agents that run periodically mainly to keep the live tiles alive and there are push notifications as well. It may change in later releases.

Yeah, I'd actually thought about asking for the 900, but I'm assuming I will get better battery life out of the 800 with its smaller screen. Battery life is important on a work phone, as I make/receive a lot of calls and am on the road constantly - so can't be doing with a phone dying on me in the middle of the day.

Having said that, the 4.3" screen would be good for email.

I should add that my current work phone is an HTC Legend, which is dire.

Indeed, the multitasking APIs made available to developers are similar to those made available on iOS. For some reason they haven't been implemented by a lot of devs, but I expect this to get better over time. Especially if the five app limit gets lifted in Apollo.

Personally I think that a 4.3" screen is too big - especially at a 480x800 resolution.

I wouldn't call the l900 an upgrade. What's it got a bigger screen and front facing camera, and its been mentioned that 4'3 is to big for the resolution. No for me 3'7 is fine, SD card storage and dual core would sort me out.

I quite like the Lumia 800 as a device but the Metro interface on WP7 leaves me cold. I don't use social networking sites so that bit is lost in me. The resolution of the Lumia 900 will be fine at 4.3 inches but single core is no good. WP8 may improve things but but until then it will remain a very much minor player. Nokia should have done Android as well as WP. Why cut off over half the market?

I think money from Microsoft did the trick.

The way WP 7.5 is designed I don't think that another core would make any difference. Perhaps in Apollo if multitasking is beefed up a bit. I've not had one bit of lag yet.

480x800 at 3.7" is fine for me, but at 4.3" it would be a deal breaker.

The funny thing is that people have been criticising Windows Phones for 4.3" WVGA screens but the Samsung Galaxy S 2 (perhaps last year's most successful phone in the UK) was exactly that - a 4.3" AMOLED display with 480x800 resolution. The Lumia 900 is like that one but with the ClearBlack Polariser too to make it readable in sunlight.

So I guess the two biggest reasons for getting a windows phone are lost on you, oh well. The reasons why Nokia went exclusively windows phone are well covered now across the internet.

Why is single core no good? Are you finding the phone slow? Do you want even worse battery life than you have now?

I had an HTC HD7 before the Nokia Lumia 800, the 4.3" size screen is ideal for me though I do like the pocketability of the smaller Lumia.
My main needs are getting an HD 4.3" screen, a 1280x720 would do me nicely; a much better camera, some more storage (microSD card slot) and the latest implementation of 3G: DC-HSPA+ would do me nicely on the hardware side.

On the software side, there's lots that can be done: supporting more bluetooth profiles, getting tethering (the new Nokias the 900 and the 610 have it out of the box, we have to wait for updates for the 800 and the 710 to get it), seamless DLNA connectivity with my Xbox, improved synchronisation with Windows on a PC, better back-up including auto-reinstalling apps, restoring text messages etc. Some more features in the email client.

Overall, I'm not a massive app fanatic, having a nice experience with the core apps like email, browsing, people hub matter most to me. Some quicker app load times would help and I wish they'd change Internet Explorer back to how it was so you don't have to dive into the menu every time you use favourites.

Apparently it does not work like that. It does not pay off to be reasonable. With so many manufacturers fighting for the customers they must have something to attract them and for now it's number of cores. Does not matter that you would have to have some pretty computing intense applicationS running in parallel and a pocket nuclear reactor to go with it to see the advantage of 4 cores over 2 or 1. Once you have 4, it's more than 2 and thus better. Personally I don't need more parallelism on my phone than being able to listen to music while browsing and I do realise there are situations where it can be useful, but a smartphone is still just a mobile phone and not a pocket rocket, different criteria should apply for a mobile phone. It should start with a battery life, how much power there is to use and how can I use that power in an optimal way.

Windows Phone 7

Pros
It's smooth
It's classy
It's reliable
It's different to the others
It's simple
The impending Windows Phone 8, which is exciting.

Cons
Microsoft's bizarre restrictions (such as no microSD card slots or dual-core processors but a requirement for FM radio)
No way of closing apps in the multi-task screen
Expensive apps
Lack of apps
No task manager
No drag and drop with PCs - requires Zune

There is no multitasking for 3rd party apps, so no need for a task manager. There are background agents that can be managed from Settings. I think SD cards are coming in W8.

I know WHY Nokia went for WP, I just don't think it was the right desision.

Why is single core no good? Well why will there be multi core WP devices in the future? That's why.

OK, I don't like the metro interface, if that is the big selling point then count me out. And if I wanted it I could just stick a WP look a like launcher. That's choice.

I completely disagree. Its all about POWER.

Because multitasking will be beefed up in future versions of WP. Having a dual core processor in WP 7.5 is just detrimental to battery life.

There is perhaps an argument to be made in terms of future proofing current devices - however I don't think it's ever wise to purchase a device based upon promises of what is coming in the future (we don't even know whether these phones will be getting Apollo).

For now, with WP 7.5, a dual core processor wouldn't have any benefit.

I have HTC Titan

WP7.5 Pros:

User Inerface is excellent
Skydrive
Conact management
Social Integration wiuth MSN and Facebook
Fast and smooth
Excellent web bowsing

Cons:

No native Divx Support
No Micro SD slot
Gtalk missing
Skype uses seperate app instead of being built in

I have been thinking of Windows Phone for a while now, and perhaps when my iPhone contract is up I might give it a try(also assuming WP8 will be out by then)

Is Windows Phone good for twitter, Facebook, YouTube, web browsing? And also is there a Tumblr app?

The Facebook app keeps up with iOS and Android in that its equally as crap, however you don't really need it since its integrated into the people hub along with twitter, You tube has an app but its crap, A few twitter apps but the best one is still not as good as an iOS app, tumblr not sure

I think a lot of people is upgrading their phones in 2 years cycle anyway, so why worry if one can get an OS updates in 3 years or so. There will be another phone another decision to be made. That's why I do not worry if WP7 catches on. I like it, I buy it, if it is around in 2, now 1 year, I'll get one again.

Just upgraded from windows to iPhone 4s purely because of the lack of apps. I loved my htc windows phone, but the apps I wanted were not available. May return in 2 years time.