The level of apology here, honestly, is almost at Apple levels. I'm as big a MS ****** as there is, but there's no question, as much as I love my 822, that MS dropped the ball on many fronts with this release. To me it's pretty clear that things were rushed and as a result the OS isn't quite fully baked. A list of things that have aggravated me in just the past 4 days I've owned this phone -
1. No EAP-TTLS support - mindboggling as this is a standard that's been present since Android 2.x; it's a widely used standard in universities, hospital, etc., and considering how the newly released Win8/RT has native support I'm not sure why WP8 does not. This is HUGE for me as I can't access wifi at school where the cavernous monstrosity of the buildings I inhabit daily prevent reliable cell reception. Anyone in my position less devoted to the platform likely would have returned this phone for this reason alone.
2. Essentially zero integration with Win8. I have 2 Win8/RT devices - my laptop and Surface, with the Surface bought and set up before my laptop was upgraded. When I installed Win8 on my laptop, all the settings for mail and calendar (Exchange, google, facebook) immediately were synced. No such luck with WP8. What's the deal? On this note, it's almost MORE confusing that WP8 and Win8 share a design language, because none of the functions are shared. Contextual search in WP8? Nope. Swipe down to close in WP8? Nope. Swipe right to switch apps in WP8? Nope. I find myself constantly trying to do this with my phone, which I suppose is a real credit to the intuitiveness of the Win8 interface, but at least the first two of these should have been implemented.
3. No wireless sync. This was a feature since NoDo, so I can't quite understand what the deal is here. Lame, and gives up a feature no other OS could offer.
4. No group MMS with verizon. I understand this is a carrier issue, but MS shouldn't have allowed them to disable what is a very critical day-to-day function for many of us. This is a huge deal to me personally as ad hoc group MMS is primarily how my large group of friends and classmates communicate. It also makes me worry that MS will be able to provide OTA updates, as they're already caving to carrier pressure.
5. No orientation lock. Come on.
6. No notification light.
I honestly am stoked with this phone despite the above and other minor stuff, but the "early adopter" schtick is not really acceptable. I appreciate the task of having to start from scratch with NT, but the fact of the matter is MS is severely late to the dance and can ill afford an OS that isn't competitive on ALL fronts