A few weeks ago, Microsoft sent me a nice new Lumia Icon to play around with. My goal was to get a good overall picture of the Windows Phone 8.1 experience , so when I wrote about Android and iOS, I would also understand the Windows Phone experience. One of the commenters suggested I not write my final review until I spent a couple of weeks, at least, with the phone, and his advice was good.

Windows Phone has been growing on me.

My very first impressions were the typical “Why does Microsoft do it this brain-damaged way?” questions we’ve always asked . After a few weeks of tinkering with the phone, I’m not yet ready to pronounce my official opinion, but I’ve found some things to like. In fact, I’ve found some things I like about Windows phone that aren’t available or aren’t done the same way on the iPhone.

I need to be clear here: I am not saying Windows Phone is better than the iPhone (or the reverse). What I am saying is there are aspects of Windows Phone that are either not available for the iPhone or done better than the iPhone.

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