Recently, Samsung also had their ATIV SE. I really want to get that because of being able to add on a microSD card plus one can emergency swap a battery. Problem is, it lacks a physical camera button and I am not sure I am completely on board of the physical Windows icon button.
HTC, had a good phone form with the 8X. It was nice to hold, nice to pinch and zoom with my index finger and thumb, cradled in my hand, the power button is where it should be, and had a physical camera button. It also survived two drops without a case. Had a screen protector, but forgone it because really it was not necessary.
Problem is, is Verizon or HTC or both have been slow with firmware updates or OS updates - possibly in a passive aggressive way to encourage those on the phone to pursue other phone options (as bassprofundo mentioned - even if one needs it, the salesrep would ACTIVELY push in that direction).
HTC is releasing that new Windows Phone (really a reuse of a form for Android) but like Samsung, from the pictures I seen, it LACKS that camera button. I am not sure why newer phones have lacked this or at all, but it can be really annoying. I can take pictures on my 8X without unlocking my phone by a hold of the camera button from screen off. That is a good thing. My only option for that would be to go with the Icon from Verizon (switching services like a whore is a pain) or a proven 928. But even then those two models aren't as compelling, lack of the card slot or a user serviceable battery.
Plus, the UI runs fluid and organized more logical than multiple screen swipes of icon arrangement of clutter versus tile and Live tiles at that and a scrollable, alphabetical all apps screen that one can search or zero down by starting letter. Forefront live tiles can be had upon turning on my phone and now with 8.1, a notification slide down. If I can press the Windows icon to invoke a refresh of Live tile information, this would make me like the OS more.
Also, has black background to light and soft text versus iOS and Android of stock (and can be changed on an Android end i hope) white with black text. I always said Windows Phone is more easy on my eyes for quick information access and quick information push, and I mean it in their Modern interface.
It is a push to a two party system, much like the damages have been done (off topic) to a bipartisan system of our political party of the US.
On an enterprise front, there is a VPN and Workplace options. I am not able to comment on that, only other than notice this from my settings screen. So, it is possibly improving on that front - but again needs to be proven and tested within an IT department (but I don't think anyone has actively done so or discussed about it from what I seen).
On a whole unified app leverage front, I would like that a bit. I have a calculator app, and feel that if I can leverage the same function across what amounts to be similar devices and have the same software level access, it would be better. In the past, there was not such with Windows CE/Mobile/etc either so it is a good thing to unify development into a single process on a very backend code wise and library wise.
App wise, I cannot think of anything to fumble through a haystack for when I have practically what I found and needed (Waze, Yelp, Foursquare, banking apps, map functionality, Facebook (throw your tomatoes at me folks - AT has had a dislike for these things) and camera.
Speaking of camera apps, Microsoft's Blink makes things a bit easy for making animated gifs. All I had to do is use a saved .gif from Onedrive to convert it for certain sites that are limited in file size.
Too long, didn't read: My next phone would be another Windows Phone. Ease and function for what I need it for.