The quick summary, Pogue prefers the Nokia over the HTC:
If you can stand the size, the Nokia is the better phone. They’re both terrific, though. (I didn’t experience the spontaneous restarts that have been reported by some early adopters of both phones; Microsoft says it’s investigating.) Both have state-of-the-art hardware, superb design and Microsoft’s spectacular phone software. Yes, that’s right. You thought Microsoft operating systems were derivative, uninspired, bloated, plagued by featuritis? Windows Phone will change your mind fast.
While the hardware excites him, it seems that Pogue thingks Windows Phone is not ready to play a significant role in the smartphone world. I would query the conclusion that he uses to justify this point of view.
Pogue chooses two issues that let Windows Phone down in a huge way. The first is the continued discussion over third party apps and is an easy yet understandable flaw, but having the second huge issue as voice recognition both for controlling the phone and for text input ("Dictation is a core feature on phones that have no keyboards. You can’t just leave that out") seems a bit of a reach to find a flaw. Am I missing something here?
Pogue's article can be found over on the NY Times Personal Tech site.