Candice Shane takes a loving look at Windows Phone and its place in the Smartphone Wars over on Lockergnome. In short, she's enjoying the fact that the OS simply sidesteps the issues and simply helps her life, rather than overpower it while trying to accomplish everything.

...I looked at it for the first time and I fell in love completely because here it was, a phone that finally didn’t want to be smarter than me. It wasn’t trying to be the replacement to my computer, the extra limb that I never knew I needed, or anything else that I couldn’t be without. No, my phone was simply looking up at me and saying “Live your life; I’m here if you need me,” as only a Windows Phone can. Enhance, don’t cripple.

Shane's experience is not unique, and this fresh look at what a smartphone can do is a direct consequence of Microsoft going back to basics with a blank sheet of paper when they first developed Windows Phone.

It also brings up the marketing issue - because Windows Phone is taking a different approach, any comparisons to Android and iOS devices are going to be much harder to make, especially in the retail environment. Consumers listening to the myriad of marketing messages have a preconceived notion of what their smartphone should be able to do. Windows Phone challenges that and, while many will avoid it, those who make the jump, such as Shane, find a smartphone ecosystem that is a wonderful complement in their life.

Getting over the Windows Phone message of changed priorities and focus will be one of the challenges everyone will have when marketing Windows Phone 8. Unfortunately for the PR departments, "Think Different" has already been used!

Read all of Shane's thoughts on Lockergnome (with a hat tip to 1800 Pocket PC).