I don't know anything about WP7, except that it was completely different from WP8. Searching for screenshots shows some basic design similarity, but it ultimately looks nothing like the OS I used. It is one of the reasons that the WP platform was floundering, since WP7 apps did not work on WP8. Either way, remembering a poll can be a tricky thing.

> And please don't be condescendingly academic about WP/W8 distinction. The "ugliness" of UI people here talk about is present on both platforms

I googled "Windows Phone 8 review". This is typical of the results I get.

https://www.cnet.com/reviews/windows-phone-8-review/

Windows Phone 8 makes significant changes while remaining true to its core. It's sharp, colorful, clean, and simple, but also hip and a bit exuberant. New features include a surge of NFC actions, greater customization, and a heavy peppering of more-minor additions and adjustments; yet it's the tile-based interface that continues to be the operating system's most distinctive and defining characteristic.

The UI is virtually always called out as great and great looking, even if the reviewer ends up not liking the rest of the package.

I actually liked WP8 once I was allowed to make tiles transparent, and they just partitioned whichever wallpaper I chose with "launcher rectangles". It was a quite cool design actually. But the original tile layout with that disgusting color palette one couldn't change was obviously something that should have been confined to some modern art gallery for the people that could appreciate it, and never tried in mainstream.