Matt Miller is a smart guy and he's enormously experienced in using all mobile platforms - and most of his family uses Windows Phones (the exception uses a Symbian-powered Nokia E6, I seem to remember?) And he's tackled, head on, some of the common criticisms levelled at the platform in general and the new Nokia Lumia 900 (on AT&T) in particular.

From the piece:

The controversy in The Verge review comes up when you reach the software section and read the subtitle that reads I think it’s time to stop giving Windows Phone a pass followed by statements that Windows Phone is death by a thousand cuts. I will be the first to admit that Windows Phone is not perfect and there is room for improvement, but the same can be said for Android and iOS as well. As I mentioned back when Windows Phone was first put to public testing, the philosophy upon which Windows Phone is founded is different than the iOS and Android focus on applications. The OS is designed for you to perform actions that are intuitive and natural without you having to think about a specific application, open that application, and then carry out your business. I know I am much more efficient when using a Windows Phone device and with four out of five phones in my family now running Windows Phone I can tell you that my family agrees. I have also seen a friend’s family go entirely to the Nokia Lumia 710 Windows Phone and absolutely love the experience.

and

I used to keep up with and write a weekly Windows Phone Wednesday article and if you go back to these you can see I documented the progress as Microsoft passed 5,000, then 15,000, then 50,000, and more apps. There are now so many apps I have a difficult time staying focused and writing these articles. I understand that many key apps are missing and have read some recent articles that do a good job of documenting some of these glaring omissions. You can check out Andrew’s article on business apps compared between the three platforms. However, as I mentioned earlier, I don’t think you always need apps you see on iOS or Android to get the job done on Windows Phone. Mary-Jo wrote about this in her recent article on the app conversation. I also believe that most people use 10-15 key apps every single day and if they really looked at their app usage I don’t think Windows Phone is as problematic as it is often made out to be.

The latter referring back nicely to some of my own rants, I see, about app numbers on Symbian, though an updated version of the rant is really needed here AAWP, I think!...