In December, Mr. Bear and I got the opportunity to try out the new Windows 8 HTC by Verizon. When it came in the mail, I could not wait to try it. I opened the box and found this beautiful blue phone. I powered it on and was immediately excited by how fast it is! It has all the bells and whistles that we love and couldn’t wait to try the new operating system. I love how it fits perfectly in the palm of my hand and even Mr. Bear remarked at how light it is and how easy it is to hold, even with his bear paws big hands.

Of course, the first thing I did was customize the menu to suit my social media needs. The Twitter and Facebook apps were incredibly fast and responsive. I have noticed with my Droid phone the apps have a lag in updates at times—but not with this phone! I was however, disappointed to discover that the Instagram app has not been developed yet, although doing a little research revealed that that too is in the works. With the Verizon 4G LTE network, I was blazing the internet in record speeds which made my little heart skip a beat, and I also got a great plan that let me send a 130 characters text message really cheap in all India.

The menu on the home screen features Windows 8’s live tile feature, instead of app icons. What I like the best about it, is that it displays live updates on each app, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, weather, e-mail, or any other app. It was a little bit challenging to figure out the new format, but with some playing around, I was navigating the tiles in no time. There definitely is a learning curve, like with any new technology. The screen is crisp and displayed video with great clarity. The sound was great, although the volume rocker was a bit difficult to adjust while on a call, as it is extremely flush with the phone body. The sound quality on calls was excellent, however and calls were clear on both ends.

The phone boasts a 8 mega-pixel rear-facing camera and front-facing camera. The camera took great pictures and performed better in low-light than my Droid Razr has performed. The screen resolution is A-MAZING with HD 1,280 x 720-pixel resolution.

I have come to love using Google Drive to store my important documents to view everywhere, but taking a document from Windows Office and uploading to Google Docs has sometimes resulted in a lack of functionality. With the Windows 8X, it features Windows Office, which makes it possible to view documents from anywhere, without losing the functionality within the doc. LOVE.

One thing that did not light my fire, was the battery life. I’ve been sporting my Droid Razr Maxx for over a year now and the battery life does perform better than the Windows 8X for my constant connection with social media. I found that the battery did not last an entire day when I used the combination of the camera, Twitter, Facebook and all the updating tiles.

All and all, this phone was fun to use and once I got over my initial frustration with trying something new, the Windows 8 OS grew on this creature of habit and Mr. Bear too. This fun little phone has great features and is a great phone for the Windows lover out there.

The Windows 8X HTC phone is $199 from Verizon Wireless with a two-year contract.