As a Lumia 900 & 920 owner, I'm actually VERY excited for this to be my next smartphone. I'm done spending so much money on phones. The fact of the matter for me is, I DROP PHONES. I can't justify spending hundreds of dollars on something that lives in my pocket and gets used so often that inevitability, I will drop it.
For $150 this phone will replace my 920, who never quite recovered from the last fall to the floor. I'm thrilled to hear that most of the major complaints (no flash, no ambient light sensor, 512MB RAM) won't bother me in the least. The first thing I do with my phones is disable the flash and the light sensor. Camera photos look awful, and flashes make them look even worse... if you NEED the flash, I shouldn't be taking that picture. My 900 and 920 used to change the backlighting frequently while I was reading on them in my house. I had disable the auto setting on both to address that. As for the RAM, if I can save >$400 on this phone, then I can buy a WiiU & a 3DS with the leftover cash... When I'm saving this much on the phone, I can buy other devices that are more fun to game on.
As for the uneven backlight, that's the one item I feel will be a compromise for me... but again, for only $150, I'll manage to live with it. I'm glad to hear the screen quality was otherwise favorable, as the screen quality was my biggest area of concern going in. This review has sold me.
