A little bit of functionality (and a lot of speed) was lost with the move to 8, but then all the unique things about Windows Phone (hubs in particular) were killed around 8.1.

It was really sad, because as a Windows Phone user, I loved finally having a phone on par with Android & iOS with: Cortana, improved browser, action center, Swype, etc. I just hated that they also removed all the things that made it better than Android & iOS.

In the end, I decided I'd be better off just getting an Android, then switched to iOS. I still miss the things my Windows Phone did better (messaging and sync).