I really only use Android phones at the moment, but I did buy a HTC Surround a couple of years ago with the goal of being a media player (but the horrendous battery life killed that plan).
That said, I have used it as a main phone for about 6 months total in the time since purchasing it.
I really did like a lot of the use of the phone, and I thought that it had a lot going for it, and it's the only platform where I actually found myself keeping up with my friends Facebook activities.
I loved the image search and translation abilities.
The live tiles could be very useful (although the random pictures on the People tile annoyed me) but I think I like the deeper information my widgets give me.
The reasons why I can not make a Windows phone as my main driver are as follows (I really think they all pertain to WP8 even though I only spent time on WP7):
-Alternate gesture keyboards- I loath tapping on screen keyboards. I solely rely upon Swype as my keyboard of choice
-Tabbed Browsing or quick controls for the web browser- I exclusively either use Dolphin with the always available tabs or the standard Android Browser with the side quick controls. I find that they are the easiest methods of navigating the web and hated having to tap the button to see which tabs I had open. I also had other issues with the IE browser because I hated how it rendered text.
-An always available notification center is a must for me.
-Quick Settings Toggles are constantly used by me- I don't know if these were added in WP8 but my phones have the toggles in my drop down notification shade, so they are still much more accessible than being forced back to the homescreens.
-Back button behavior- It continually frustrated me when using WP7 that the back button would always go to the last visited app window. For instance, if I was on the internet with some music on I would want to go to the music app so I'd click on the music controls in the ringer settings. It would take me to the now playing window, but I could never use it to actually go select specific music. On my android phone, the back button will drill back down to the beginning of the app so I can easily change music.
-Quick navigation methods are lacking I find. I constantly use an app on my android phone called Swipepad that allows me to set 12-20 apps in a drawer that is opened by swiping from the top right of my screen. This allows me to access all of my main apps from ANYWHERE in my phone that I happen to be working in with just one touch. I also have access to my full app drawer in case I have any need for apps that aren't my main ones. I find that normally the standard recently used apps multitasking functions don't work for me.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding some of your points, I agree wholeheartedly that some of your points are detriments to the OS.
(WP8 has some nice improvements over WP7 and maybe I can provide a few pointers that might solve some of your difficulties.)
(Windows Phone 8 is my primary device now, specifically a Nokia Lumia 822, although I still dabble in Android devices from time to time)
-Alternate gesture keyboards are still not currently possible for WP8; while I like the Windows Phone's keyboards as they are responsive and fast with their word suggestions, keyboard additions such as Swype that Android has would be a very welcome addition. Wish they would add that.
-Internet Explorer for Windows Phone is one of its weak points, WP8 had many improvements over WP7, but Android easily bests Windows Phone in this arena. IE currently does have tabbed browsing, however it is hidden under a few swipes and instead should be present on the top and easily accessible. (However many Windows Phone users use a third-party browser [I believe its name is UC Browser] that has tabs up front and for many users, functions much better than the default Internet Explorer)
-Settings: I'm not sure why you found settings to be difficult, I feel settings can be accessed anywhere with one swipe. Additionally, you can pin the settings tile to the home screen and instantly access them if need be. Within an app, typically you can swipe up from any screen and have all app settings/options immediately available to you. Maybe this was a WP7 restriction, or perhaps I misunderstand your difficulty.
-Back Button: One thing some people miss is that if you hold down the Back Button in Windows Phone it zooms out to a tabbed view of all previously opened applications. In this manner you could quickly change music and then resume Internet Explorer or etc. There are a few quirks with the back button, and although you can view the music now playing screen through playing controls in the ringer settings that seems like a very unwieldy method to navigating applications. (Again maybe I've misunderstand your difficulty or intent)
Windows Phone is still pretty fresh to the market. Personally I really enjoy the OS. It has its shortcoming but for how young the OS is, I feel it still has a lot of potential. It has a lot of room for growth and improvement however, but for now it does just fine for me. If it doesn't continue to mature though, I may switch back to Android. Hopefully I helped with a few pointers, perhaps, if not, sorry for misunderstanding!
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