I had the opportunity to test an 8700 side by side with my 7250, and as far as speeds where concerned my 7250 was faster surfing the web. I cannot vouch that will be the same everywhere but the tests I conducted were in Wayne, NJ.

To me the surfing speed, the tethering option(though I seldom will use it, is nice to know its there), and the calculator improvements made the difference. I have to say that I used to get the connection denied errors albeit infrequently previous to the upgrade, and have never had them since. It seems to me that a lot of these errors and complaints that people have are more due to their location rather than the phone or the upgrade itself.