So what do you suggest they do (in a no hostile-defensive question)?… Personally, I think beefing up specs and whatnot should be an Android only thing. Why? Cause, IMO, they need it to a) stand out from the rest and b) there are so many hands in the pot for the OS to be optimized for every single device. It wasn't until Android started catching on that the attention started shifting to specs and power. Before, no one gave a damn. And even to this day, specs (outside of Android) doesn't matter to the general consumer (except for the camera).
Hm, sorry if I have come across as overly-defensive or anything like that. For all I know, no significant changes will have to be made and Windows Phone will still grow over the next few years. I just think that as competition shifts and Microsoft is still just toes-deep in the market, it's worth reevaluating what's been achieved so far.
Yeah, Android manufacturers do have this spec-pissing contest going on. But Microsoft+Nokia do need a clear reason to choose a Windows Phone over more popular, proven choices like iPhones and Galaxies. It seems Nokia's plan was to saturate the channels with a bunch of models, so consumers will notice one or the other, and hence perhaps consider one. I feel Nokia is spreading itself too thin to allow for each of their models to be compelling at each price point. I don't have any solid numbers to prove my point, but I'm pretty sure (AdDuplex, etc.) that some of their models are simply not doing well. The 520 is a success, but I think that is because it is inherently good, and they need more of that.
So my original idea was to have more of those kinds of devices at other price points. The reason for saying "this is one of the best devices at $300" does not have to be that it is a Snapdragon 800 inside; it might have a Snapdragon 400, but maybe it's designed like the Lumia 720 and has a great camera. Some people are right in what they say about the Nexus 5, it probably isn't going to get the widest distribution, and it seems that it is going to be marked up at external retailers. Nokia doesn't necessarily need to match or beat it, just have better distribution and its own unique features.
I'd like to see Nokia bring the stuff they excel in on the high-end further downstream. Great screens (especially in terms of outdoor readability), great cameras. AFAIK the 520 does not have a great screen (though I can hardly blame them at $100), but neither do the 625 and 820. To an even larger degree, only their top-end has their good cameras – 920 and above. The 920 is now discount to $300 occasionally; why not bring that tech to their mid-range (whether it's a 7xx or 8xx class device)? And start pushing 720p to the mid-range, especially for devices larger than say 4.5". I really hope WP 8.1 brings some big change to multitasking, and if it does, I think I'm going to want 1GB of RAM to be more prevalent.
On the software side of things, perhaps we do get caught up all too often in feature parity. That is very important in my eyes, but so is developing a differentiator. I think Microsoft needs to look at something like Glance and make it a core part of what Windows Phone is. I'd like to see them invest in some "basic" camera features like high-res burst and HDR. Google Now is really pretty sweet, I'd like to see Cortana be a selling feature in the same way. Really start to pump some resources into making sure that Microsoft's services are fantastic on Windows Phone. Make interoperability more seamless, have it so if you're running Windows 8, you're probably going to want to have a Windows Phone because they will work that well together. I'd really like them to pull off application data sync using SkyDrive. Maybe they'll have an opportunity to revive mobile XBL over the next few years – the past year has been relatively quiet for mobile gaming, and the new consoles are almost upon us.
To give a perfect example of optimization: A co-worker of mine has a Samsung Exhibit II (old phone, about a year plus) and whenever she gets alerts, texts, etc. she can see it in her notification header but the phone freezes so bad she has to wait about two minutes before she can go to it. Now let's compare specs:
The Exhibit 2 has the same chipset as the Lumia 800. It's not comparable to your Lumia 520.
Taking a specific model (or perhaps even individual device) which is having serious performance issues doesn't quite discredit Android as a whole. I'm sure you know that the two-minute wait for notifications is atypical. Seriously, I have a tonne of issues I inevitably run into with desktop Windows (even on 8.1 right now) and I could similarly paint it as a terrible mess compared to OS X, but I'm not going to because it's unfair. I'm going to need to spend more time with a family member's Optimus G, which has the same chipset as my 8X, but from the times I have poked around in it, app load times are superior to Windows Phone.