To be honest, kona, I find the_Monk to be quite knowledgable and well informed when it comes to tech issues, and while you may not have found anything of specific interest or benefit in his previous post, I found it informative and enlightening, particularly as I have a clear interest in the topic and intended to buy a... now purchased Lumina phone.  Moreover, from my brief experence thus far, what ID and the_Monk have said about the Lumina 920 is absolutely correct/spot on if my 820 is anything to go by.  I may not have had much experience with smartphones, so I'm no expert by any means, but the Lumina is everything I'd ever want in a phone and more.... much, much more.  Seriously, it is THE phone to own

starkers, after reading the first couple paragraphs of your post, i thought you were headed back to putting your messages in bottles like you did in your earlier pirate days. i am glad it didn't come to that. if you are as content with your 820 as i am currently with my 920, you're one happy pirate camper. i really wish i hadn't been so impatient when i bought the first one. i feel like a fool for returning it so soon and then buying another one just a few days later.

also, you're right about monk. i appreciate his posts most times. he seems to know what he's talking about, that's for sure. and kona's just being kona. refute him with facts and he resorts to claims of being attacked. it's been that way for a decade, at least.

If you can afford it and the price of the service plan.

@ Starkers, I'm not going to re-quote what you typed but seriously, you had to go through all that just to get a phone and still you was denied. I truly hate what you have to go through like getting a home or a car...

I would have to surmise the reason[ing] behind portions of my response post were in exactly the same vein as your question.  Fortunately I decided to include some info in my post so you would at the very least have my opinion on the subject matter.  This was assuming the fact that if you only wanted the "market" opinion you would have just searched it yourself, and your having posted in this thread begged answer from the more active posters in this thread (myself being one of them).

I trust I have sufficiently explained the reasoning behind my response post....... 

@ starkers

Yes the Lumia 820 is also a formidable device.  I have to say I do like the fact that having a removable backplate unlike the 920 it is in fact able to take advantage of expandable (via removable) storage.

I agree it does seem strange that people would be telling you the processors are different when it really is everything but the processor that are different. 

The screen on the 920 is a 1280x768 IPS LCD while on the 820 it is an 800x480 AMOLED display (althought both phones have "clear-black" technology, AMOLED displays tend to display deeper blacks while IPS displays tend to be somewhat crisper in terms of text so personal preference plays a role here).

The camera is also different with a .2 fstop difference between the two (also the 'floating lens' tech in the 920 allows for even better night-time pics) but then that never mattered to me personally as I'm not young enough to be taking night-time pics anymore anyway.....hehe.

I believe you can purchase a back/shell for the 820's that also enables wireless charging just like in the 920, but I have no idea where to purchase same or for how much.

I completely agree starkers, the 820 is just as much phone as the 920, just in some slightly different ways.......most of which are just up to personal preference anyway.  To be completely honest I think I probably would have gone with the 820 over the 920 if my carrier would have carried it.  As it is, my carrier only has the Lumia 920, HTC 8x or the Samsung Ativ S (which seems like just a Galaxy S3 in windows-mode) as windows phone options, and between those 3 even the exclusive Nokia apps are enough to tip the scales the 920's way.

Glad to hear you're a happy new windows phone user!      If you haven't yet......give that PhotoBeamer app (free from Nokia) a go.  You'll love it I'm sure.....

EDIT:

Also, I'd be interested in knowing what you think of the "family rooms" feature on windows phone.   I have tried to get my wife to use it more but then my wife doesn't take to change as well or as freely as I do so it might take me some time to get some real feedback......

EDIT EDIT:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!   May you all get the new tech this christmas your hearts desire (you too kona....I totally see you using/loving a WINDOWS phone!...hehe).

Yeah I probably would use one if I could afford it.

Yeah, the entire process is designed to needlessly cost me more than I should have to pay.  No matter which way I go to obtain valid photo ID, it's going to cost me between $400 and $500.... which would make it one almighty expensive phone... because anything I do, or am likely to want to do, does not/would not require me to have photo ID.  Due to health issues I will not be travelling anywhere by air, so unless that changes I have no need of photo ID.

Now the really stupid thing about the entire thing, this supposed increased internal security, that may or may not prevent terrorists obtaining mobile phones to assist in their plans of whatever, is that I now, and quite legally, have a working mobile phone in my possession.  It's ridiculously stupid because the telcos computers [supposedly] will not allow me to be the owner of a mobile phone without the required documentation being scanned and entered into the system, yet those same computers allowed me [the exact same me who can't purchase a mobile phone] to be entered as the legitimate second user of a dual phone plan.  So, given this circumstance, how the hell does all this increased security/ID requirement prevent terrorists or other criminal elements?

Like I said, it's all about revenue raising by government, being the only accepted form of ID must be issued by government. What annoys me is that I have a photo ID card issued by a club which required 2 respected community members to verify my identity [a police officer, bank manager] then signed by me in front of Justice of the Peace, an officer of the court, yet it is still unacceptable, despite my ability to reproduce that signature precisely and a photo which unmistakingly is me, 

What's mostly annoying, the department that's now refusing me a proof of ID card should have my identity on record through an old drivers license that I allowed to elapse due to injury, but no, they don't keep records over 20 years old, despite the police department being required by the very same government to retain one's criminal record indefinitely, even after death.

Anyway, time to move on... I'm not going to change the bastards.

Yeah, I took a look at the specs of both phones and figured it doesn't pay to listen too closely to what salespeople say.  I understood that the 820 has a smaller screen with a lower resolution, but I was prepared to accept that after the salesperson gave us the opportunity to experience both phones in-store and not really noticing a greal deal of difference quality-wise.  Perhaps somebody with sharper vision than I might notice, but the 820's screen is quite good enough for me, and that's what's important.

We've taken a few pics and they seem to be of quite reasonable quality, particularly for a phone camera... and like you, I/we are not likely to be needing to take night shots anyhow.  Besides, if we need to take high quality or night pics, we have a digital SLR for that.

Yes, and much to my/our delight, the spare back panel that came bundled with the phone allows for this.  All we need is the optional pad or stand to complete the process. The store where we bought the phones carries all the accessories, so tha's easy When the time comes.  I wasn't aware until now, though, that the 920 doesn't have a removable back, which sort of seems strange to me... for additional storage, etc.  I currently have a 32gb card in mine, but the 820 is capable of accepting cards up to 64gb, should I ever require that much

We were also shown a HTC W8 phone, and it was of similar ability, but the Nokia Lumia seemed the better option given the info people such as yourself have provided here.... and like you said, the Nokia apps were enough to tip the decision the 820's way.  Besides, not knowing anything about the HTC, I didn't want to dive in and find out later it wasn't what we wanted. As for the Samsung Ativ S, so far the only W8 phones available here in Australia are Lumias and HTC's, though I imagine others will appear soon enough.

Thanks for that, I sure am happy to be a Windows phone user.  I'm still finding way around the 820, and shoot, there's a heck of a lot more to take on board than my last phone, and that's before downloading any apps, but yeah, I'll take a look at Photobeamer and let you know what I think... though if it's anything like my other Lumia experiences thus far, it'll be awesome.

Oh, and merry Christmas to you and yours... to all reading this thread and WC/Stardock forums.

 I for one am glad we got Nokia and NOT the HTC , my friends mother has an HTC and says it is total crap the worst phone she has ever brought and she wont buy another one.  she is thinking of upgrading her HTC to something more suited. as for me I love my new phone, but I have 1 issue with it how the bloody hell  do you send text ? its not like the old way  where you go to your messages. what I do i punch in their number and dial it then cancel it then it gives me the option to text that person weird.... I have been a huge fan of Nokia for ages  but shhhhhhz  this is above me lol

Well that just cuts it right there. Now I don't want either phone. Looks like I'll just use my phone for phone calls and my antique Pentax and film for pictures.....and yes, I am old enough to remember when a person needed both a phone and a camera, and didn't expect either to do the others' job.

You can do any of the following:

1.  Find the person in your "people tile" tap on their name and you should be given the option to call/text/email.

2.  Tap the "messages tile" and then under "threads" tap the big + symbol at the bottom which will bring up a "TO" field.  Start typing the person's name and the phone will search your contacts for the name you are spelling.  If not in your contacts just fill in the the entire phone number in the "TO" field.

3.  From the "phone tile" tap the "search" button at the bottom right.  Start typing the person's name, if in your "history" they should show up, if not yet in your history you should see an option now on the screen "search contacts", tapping that will immediately bring up their "contact card".  When you tap on it you'll have the option to call/text/email etc.

Here's hoping you keep enjoying your Lumia mrs. starkers.  

ahh thanks for that info, 1 other question, i know I have a mobile number is there a way  to see if its on my phone? if not how/where  can i get it ?

1. Go into "settings" (I have placed a "settings" tile on my home screen since I go there so often... ) 

2.  Swipe right/left to get to "applications"

3.  Scroll down to "phone"......tap......and there you will see your own mobile number.

@ Starkers, one more question, does Oz have burner phones, i.e. disposable phones like here in the US or no. And if so, they still pose all those requirements as you listed..?

And Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all...