In clothing, decoration and styles, there’s always this comparison: gold/white/red is the new black. Everything is compared to black, as if that’s the standard class. In a similar way, the iPhone has carved out an existence for itself in the smartphone world, and a popularity that is unmatched by any other device before or since. Any other handset is immediately compared to it. Consumers genuinely want to know if they should get the “Android something or other with 4G and massive display (+possible flux capacitor)” or the iPhone. But, it didn’t start off that way. The original iPhone was expensive, new and lacked loads of common place features. It was iconic, but it wasn’t as popular as any iPhone since.

Windows Phone is yet to take off in a big way. It was launched in a time when iOS and Android were both fully established as major players in the market. And so many were still nursing wounds left by Windows Mobile that the thought of another Microsoft-powered device set off panic attacks. But considering it’s still a newbie, it’s done well to take the 10% share that it has in the market.

Back to 2007: the “Jesus Phone” was announced. Its operating system was touchable, simple, pinch-to-zoom able and looked nothing like anything else. It was unique. Since then, it’s barely changed on the surface. Granted, its added tonnes of new features, but it’s still the same system. Android has grown in strength, but both look very plain compared to WP7′s Metro UI. iPhone OS stood out from the crowd 4 years ago. It doesn’t anymore, and neither does Android. Windows Phone is the one that looks unique, attractive and has some really cool features. The only thing it lacked prior to this year was great hardware. Once Nokia got onboard, that was a sure-fire solution. Nokia makes great hardware. It has the potential to gain some real interest, if given the right marketing and push in the retail sector. Judging by the aggressive marketing here in Europe, that side is taken care of.

I’m really tempted to switch, but I have a feeling that Ice Cream Sandwich needs to be given a little longer for it to be considered a fair attempt by me to have Android back in my life.

So, how many of you are wanting to give a Lumia 800 a try? Or will you stick with iOS forever?