Windoze Phone(y) 8

Yeah, right! Who's with me? Well, not me for a start. Ever since the announcement of the extremely nice-looking Nokia Lumia 920 running Windows Phone 8 I've been very tempted by the idea of switching ecosystems. On the one hand, Android is hugely flexible and allows for all sorts of things like installing custom operating systems, changing your device ID to run whatever apps you fancy trying and a huge selection of apps. On the other hand, I'm a bit bored of Android now and I want to try something a bit more slick.

That isn't Apple, obviously. I'm not a monster.

There a couple of things that are potentially concerning about Windows Phone 8 (WP8 from now on) but the key thing seems to be app availability. I think it's certainly true that there's far fewer apps around for WP but then there's millions of Android apps that are utterly worthless or of no interest to me. With this in mind I thought I'd investigate the applications and apps that I use on a regular or semi-regular basis to see if a switch to WP8 would be painful.

Internet Browsing
Not that much to say on this really - technically it'd be a battle between Internet Explorer and Chrome. That is, if I used Chrome on my phone. The syncing features may well be nice but I find it less pleasant to use than the stock Android browser and I can't see IE being any worse.
Result: Draw

Email
I use a mix of IMAP email and Gmail. IMAP and Gmail (with push notifications) seem to be natively supported by the built-in client so no losses there.
Result: Draw

Calendar
I use Google Calendar for a mix of work things and tracking personal things. The version built in to Android has always been terrible so I'm already using a third-party app to manage this called Jorte (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.johospace.jorte) so I figure there would be something suitable for Windows. Looks like the third-party versions haven't been updated for a very long time but that Google Calendars can be synced to the built-in calendar app (http://www.engadget.com/photos/windows-phone-google-calendar-update/#4779250).
Result: Draw - really depends on how the internal client handles things

Reader
Google Reader is something I regularly check for gaming news and so on. I reckoned this would be easy to handle, and while there's no native Google app for it, there's things like Fuse (http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/fuse/8355da61-1ac5-49cd-a753-7f6afed2bb62).
Result: Draw

Tapatalk
Tapatalk (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quoord.tapatalkpro.activity) is an app for browsing web forums which allows you to have several different forums in the same place and with the same formatting. There's no Tapatalk client and no apparent wish to make one.. There's an alternate called Board Express but it was last updated in 2010 and may no longer even work.
Result: Android

Google Authenticator
Tool for providing two-factor authentication for websites. No official app for Windows but can be done via a third-party tool that pulls from the API (http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/authenticator/021dd79f-0598-e011-986b-78e7d1fa76f8).
Result: Draw

Audible
Audiobook reader. Official client available for WP but lags behind on updates and there may be bugs.
Result: Android

DLNA Player
Apps for streaming music and video from local network servers. Support appears pretty patchy and may require a Windows-based server. Potentially a major loss.
Result: Android

Tunein Radio
Official app available, though without the 'pro' version that's on Android.
Result: Draw

Social networks
Oh, these are probably integrated in some way. Not really bothered about going to a webpage as most of the apps are terrible anyway.
Result: Draw

Lightly-used apps
Evernote has an official app, Steam doesn't, Endomondo does, not really anything else I use other than newsy things.

Other points - lack of VPN support and potential wifi issues.

Conclusion - not that much in it but Android still has the edge. Windows may creep forward with the release of more appealing phones but time will tell. I remain undecided.