It has plenty to do with the Lumia. The link describes the two type of vibration motors manufacturers use in cell phones today. One is much harsher than the other and people may not be familiar with it.
still, according to that article, the iPhone4 had the same type of vibration motor as the 5, and it did absolutley not sound anything like what came out of that Lumia at my store.
My 3 year old feature phone also has the standard rotational vibration motor, and it doesn't sound like that either. And that's technology from 3 years ago.
I still want to get a Lumia 920, and I most definitely will, but if it sounds anything like what I've describes, it'll go straight back to Amazon. I'd rather wait even longer (perhaps on the next-gen Lumias or the Surface phone) or maybe see If Android or iOS (under Ive on UI design) become better than to own a phone that makes me cringe every time I get a text.
It's the little things that count, too.