Personally, I don't even consider WP8 in the same product universe as Windows 8, they just share a brand-name and a misguided corporate hoop-dream together.
I do need to be honest; when the Lumia 521 and 520 shipped, they were great entry level smartphones. So long as you wanted a smartphone device, but wanted to stop with limited web browsing and Facebook, or simply wanted a smartphone that was basically disposable, these were great choices. But holding even the flagship Lumia against the best Samsung, Apple, Motorola, HTC, and LG have to offer now is like comparing a Gremlin to BMW's latest flagship car. They're not even in the same class of device.
I'm curious though, what did you consider fail with W8 on the other devices?
Oh boy, thats a long list. I'll give the highlights, lest I draw Microsoft's paid pundits to flame me. I have some screen caps from Reddit on my Dropbox, I think.
- Start Screen is a complete fail. Even if you have a touch screen device, such as my Acer V5. Starting any program from it locks it to full screen. This happening on my 27in 1440p displays is immediate, irrevocable fail. On the desktop, you can't hit the Esc key fast enough to get back. Bypassable with programs like Classic Shell, Start8, and StartIsBack though.
- Windows 8.1's forcing MS Live, online, accounts. By proxy, Microsoft's forcing W8's service packs to go through the utterly barren Windows Store, which mandates a life account. Very annoying to go through a new install, only to have to create a new user account, set as Admin, then delete the Live account. Rage inducing if you were upgrading an existing machine, and your main account got converted into the Live account, leaving you totally fucked. Oh, and when installing 8.1, better make sure you're on a wired Internet connect or that Windows 8.1 has WiFi drivers that work; if not, the W8.1 setup fails when setting up that Live account leaving up unable to progress, go back, or bypass in any way. Oh, btw, thats after it activates the key. So when you're reformatting and trying again, you will be forced to call Microsoft's support because you're trying to activate the same key twice in a 10 minute time frame.
- This pertains to W8 OEM laptops. W8 will not boot with Secure Boot off. Most Linux distros will not install with Secure Boot on. No dual boot for you. Oh, if you've bought from a lower grade OEM, again, such as my Acer V5, you're in for a fun time trying to get Linux installed at all due to the EFI.
- This also pertains to W8 OEM laptops. The W8 key is embedded in the EFI. If you were to say, purchase a Windows 8 Ultimate box at Best Buy after drinking 4 or 5 shots of Jack Daniels, you won't be able to install it on the laptop; It'll generate a key mismatch error every time. If you want to upgrade the version of W8 on the laptop, you have to do it through the Control Panel. If you can find it without Classic Shell anyway.
- The Tablet terminology that persists through the OS. A desktop is not a tablet, a notebook is not a tablet. Dumbing down my settings and hiding all the important things isn't helpful. Hell, its infuriating. Double Hell, none of my Android devices bury settings the way Windows 8 does.
- This is now fixed, but at launch, dual displays were essentially broke. Launch a Metro app in Display 1, Display 2 goes blank and app consumes entirety of Display 1. App is also an upscaled, stretched version of the WPx 800x400 app. This was my very first experience with Windows 8, not exactly a great first impression, but at least they fixed it. Makes for a great story though because it perfectly illustrates that they were so tablet/tablet/tablet/tablet focused they didn't even bother to test it on average desktop set ups.
Window 8 is the only OS that I've ever used that actively fights the user at every step, slows down the user trying to accomplish the simplest of tasks. And I've installed Slackware Linux in the mid 1990s.
Prior to W8's release, PC sales were lagging due to the iPad and the fact that older PCs simply did everything the user wanted. Windows 8 was supposed to revive those sagging sales, instead, it did the opposite, dragging them down even faster. To make matters worse, Microsoft's attempts of first party hardware, the Surface line, mostly sit unsold in warehouses because people cannot stand Windows 8. Doubly so when the cheaper, more usable iPad is displays 3 feet away from the Surface. Windows 8 has been such a colossal fail for Microsoft that Steven Sinofsky and Steve Ballmer lost their jobs over it.
The only people recommending Windows 8 based devices right now only doing so because they want to be trendy and hip, because Android and iOS are too popular. They would lose their hipster cred if they didn't back the underdog.
Perhaps Windows 8 will be salvageable with the 8.2 update, if rumors are to be believed. If not, wait for Windows 9 and see if they manage to pull head from buttocks.
