As a Symbian fan, Nokia's move to Windows Phone may have left you stone cold and frustrated. Or you might well be as much in love with Nokia's hardware as Symbian, in which case you might want to give the new Windows Phone 8 a chance. Why am I mentioning this now? Because Rafe's just reviewed the Nokia Lumia 820's hardware over on our sister site, All About Windows Phone, and because the 820 is perhaps the first smartphone I've seen on that platform that might be a good fit for some Symbian users, since it has both removeable battery and microSD expansion.

From the review:

It's easy to say that someone should just pay the extra to buy the Lumia 920 because it's a superior device. And in markets where operator control is highest it's not an unreasonable viewpoint. (After all, thanks to standard smartphone contracts, the only difference between the Lumia 820 and 920 on AT&T in the US is the upfront free... and the Lumia 920 can be had for as little at $49.)

Is the Nokia Lumia 920 the cat's paw for the Nokia Lumia 820? Or maybe it's the other way round...

However, this rather misses the point. Yes, the Nokia Lumia 820 is a lower cost device, and yes, in unsubsidised markets, that will be enough of a difference to drive some sales. But, it's important to realise that some of the differences between to two devices are driven, not by cost, but rather a different set of design priorities.

The most obvious example of this is the smaller physical size, but we would also highlight the differences in overall design (removable battery, customisable shells, weight), screen technology (AMOLED), and storage (microSD). Of course, there are also differences driven by cost considerations too, such as the camera specification (no OIS, no BSI), screen (resolution), storage (less internal memory), and battery (capacity).

But the critical point is there are a number of hardware factors that serve as reasons why someone might justifiably choose the Lumia 820 over the Lumia 920. It's not just about the cost. For example, we think, because of the hardware mix, that many of Nokia's more traditional users, especially those coming from a Symbian device, will prefer the Lumia 820.

So, having established that the hardware in the Lumia 820 is a reasonable continuation of the flexibility we've been used to in the Symbian world, it just leaves the software. Windows Phone 8 is a lot more complete than version 7 was, but there are a few restrictions remaining. Microsoft and Nokia are working on updates through 2013 that will hopefully address these, plus we'll continue our articles on the All About sites trying to help in getting the most from the current state of Windows Phone, just as we have done for Symbian here on AAS.

The next two articles to look out for from us are a detailed look at the length and breadth of Windows Phone 8 (from Rafe) and a look at the potential showstoppers in making the Symbian-Windows Phone 8 (from me) - how serious are they and can any be worked around?