The phone feels solid, well built, and far from cheap. The body is plastic, with no soft coating, and the edges are a little sharper than I'm used to. The screen is great, and I don't think it's fair to compare it to another screen just based on a spec sheet. Numbers say its too big for its resolution, and has too low of a ppi, but that reality of it is much different. It must be seen, in person, to really be appreciated. It's bright, colorful, and looks great in sunlight.
The phone itself is light, but not so much as to make it feel like it's hollow, or that its going to blow away in a stiff breeze or anything. Design is subjective, but I happen to like it. Mine is black and is finished in matte so it's easy to hold. It's fairly plain, but has some nice lines to it. The VZW logo doesn't bother me, which is more than I can say for their decision to brand the home button on the Galaxy Note II. Perhaps it just looks out of place on that device, or because there isn't another version of the 822 without the brand to compare it to, but I find I take more offense to that, than to the logo on the 822. It's silly, but that's just my opinion on the subject.
Now, I like the phone quite a bit, but I'm not sure I'm sold on Windows Phone itself. I put up a more detailed opinion in the "Have you returned you WP8 device for an Android or iOS" thread in the WP8 section of this forum. I know this is a Windows Phone forum, and what the heck am I doing here if I don't like Windows Phone, but it's my first hands-on with the system and it hasn't yet grabbed me in 24 hours of solid use. That's not for this discussion though.
If I had to put a number on the L822, I'd give it a solid 8 or 9, easily. It's a well built, well designed, quality device and if I didn't have reservations about its software, I'd be very happy with it. I'm giving WP8 another week to make me enough of a believer to feel like I can be happy with it over a two year contract.