I'll be honest, I raged on boards about the horrible lineup Verizon was putting out. I liked the specs and look of the HTC but having a Thunderbolt and a Touch previous they both had weak battery life. Check out the 8x board and you will see tons of people complaining about the battery. I wanted the 920 and like you thought the 822 looked like crap. I had convinced myself to wait for the Samsung Odyssey.
I went to the store and it totally changed my mind. The 822 phone is solidly built. The buttons are in the perfect spots. I can do everything easily with one hand. There are several exclusive apps (which unless Nokia is offering a service with them, I think its crap) I use: ESPN Fantasy Football, Nokia Drive, Nokia Music, Words with Friends, etc.
I got the black, because I like the matte. I did find it a bit slipper than I liked. I bought the Otter box and unfortunately it removes all the styling. Rather than a Ferrari it is now a HipHop Hummer. Still like it as I have no fear of dropping it.
The screen res is a non-issue for me. Again, I complained about this, the HTC is a better screen. You can see the difference but its less of an issue in day to day use. The camera is also a bit slower than I like.
The best part was I got Best Buy to honor Wal-Mart's $0.00 price. Pretty sweet deal.
If you have to have the best, wait for the Samsung or the Lumia to get on Verizon. If you are willing to sacrifice a couple high end features for a great phone, get the Lumia 822. I couldn't be happier.