Microsoft Lumia 950XL Honest review

2016-02-10T13:00:00.000+00:00

I decided giving the Lumia 950 XL a shot and here is my review. I will start with the physical aspects of hardware.

HARDWARE:

It felt a lot similar in hand to the 640 XL, so completely not the high end plastic as in the Lumia 1520 or 1020, but closer to cheap plastic like the 640, 640XL and cheaper devices.

Although sturdy in hand, it does not feel like a premium device compared to other similar priced high end in the market (iPhone 6s Plus, Galaxy S6 Edge+).

Not that this affects the phone ergonomics plus can be easily resolved by getting a Mozo backplate. It looks and feels much much better with a Mozo cover, trust me.

With Mozo back cover

The size is similar to the 640XL too so not too big.

The buttons position is weird and it takes a bit to get used, it is a similar pointless approach to the weird volume buttons positions in the Xperia Z5 which I had. I am not sure why Microsoft went like this or which ergonomics studies they based this on but well, is worth mentioning.

Positive remark is I really like and enjoy the 2-step camera button, very nice to have this.

I do not like the loudspeaker position (next to camera flash) because it can be muffled and covered sometimes, depending where the phone is sitting. I much prefer this to be at the bottom, similar to the Samsung Galaxy S6 or the iPhone 6. The sound is clear and loud, worth mention.

Screen is very clear and quality is top, as expected at this price point so no issues. Resolution is 1440 x 2560 pixels so QHD.

I had a few ghost taps, similar to those in the Lumia 1520, where swipping is not recognized as such and it does like a tap. Also tapping sometimes not always means it will execute the action so I found myself tapping twice or three times. Not sure if hardware issue or W10m issue.

The backplate is sturdy and light, but feels cheap though. It has wireless charging and a coil for GPS and other RF antennas. Battery is 3300 mAh and I noticed it last about day and a half with tons of usage. Light users might get 2-3 days out of this phone. My Android phone (Galaxy S6 edge) doesn't last more than 10 hours for comparison.

Finally, in the hardware topics, this new Lumia line uses a USB-C to take advantage of this USB bus speeds however at this moment it is 2.0, but can be upgraded to 3.0 when Microsoft release such update, which is great as it is future proof.

This unit was made in Vietnam.

CAMERA:

The camera is very good and fast, thanks to the 3GB of ram and the new processor. I don't see those "processing" messages like in my wife's Lumia 930 or worse, in my Lumia 1020.

Results are slightly better than those from the Lumia 930/1520 sensor, however processing is much faster as mentioned.

The resolution is 20 megapixels in the books, but the real resolution is 19.2 Megapixels for 4:3 photos and 16 megapixels for 16:9 photos.

Rich capture has been replaced for having it disabled altogether or Automatic Rich Capture, where the camera app decides when is recommended to take those shots. Not a bad thing but I wanted to have the choice of turned off - turned on and Auto. Hope this gets added to a later version of the camera app.

Video can be up to 4K 30fps but this I noticed overheats the device so I tried to keep it to a minimum of 3 minutes. I have seem similar approach in other 4K capable devices from Samsung or Sony.

Also W10m introduces slow motion recording (it shows a turtle icon, very nice) but results are limited to 120FPS and 720p resolution.

Now lets get into what is wrong with this phone: The software

The Windows 10, although very eye candy and closer to Android/iOS to its predecessor WP8, feels very buggy and beta.

When I got the phone it came with Windows 10 build 10.0.10586.0. The buggiest shit ever, the phone was rebooting by itself, over-heating and trying to download apps from the Store was a painful process, where apps sit there acquiring license or just a frozen download like 0.3mb out of 0.3mb, for days. I was so upset that I felt like Microsoft was playing with its loyal users, the few left in this platform anyways.

Well, few days later and after two hard-resets and several reboots, the phone found a new update labeled MICROSOFTMDG with build version 10.0.10586.29 which I installed right away, I mean could it go worse anyways?

After this, the phone is much more stable and the over-heating seems kinda resolved. I still get some “resuming” here and there especially when getting out of the camera, it seems to hang in the main Start menu, but other than that, the phone is in a much better state at the moment.

My opinion is this mobile O/S is not ready for the masses. If we power users (as what I like to consider myself) have so many issues, imagine my wife or someone older like my dad. And as much as I hate to remind, once you recommend a phone, you ended up being that person “free tech support”.

I think W10 has so much potential but the lack of apps, coupled by the fact some apps are not even updated since like Jesus days coupled with buggy hardware for some people (besides all updates) and we have the perfect recipe for failure. Add Windows Hello, in its current state which is kinda nice and a novelty but too buggy to be used as a daily driver.

But there is more and I am the type of person who likes to see the glass half full!

I think there is a positive part, which is Continuum.

CONTINUUM:

Continuum setup, using Microsoft Edge

I feel there is loads of potential, from Office 365 to Salesforce. I think Microsoft should push the Lumia 950/950XL to the enterprise instead of consumer. This couple with Windows 10 encryption and security (Windows Hello) is a great option from small & home offices to big enterprises. Most companies already use Exchange or up to some extend Office 365, which makes this platform a great option.

Also, if Salesforce makes a good continuum version of their cloud sales and CRM software, we have a winner.

Editing a Word document in Continuum

I had the chance to play with my Lumia 950 XL connected to a continuum dock and paired with a Microsoft Arc mouse and a Microsoft Universal Foldable keyboard. The result left me so impressed with what can be accomplished with this kind of setup. I imagined small companies not needing to invest in new PC’s and allowing users to take their company phones home or for travel (either business or leisure).

Although Continuum alone is not sufficient, it is a great option that the Microsoft sales team should be pushing.

Productivity powerhouse

The Problem:

The problem and I will be honest and brief, is that Microsoft stopped believing in their platform soon after they acquired Nokia mobiles. From having the best hardware/Camera/OS they went to be the underdog that all Tech Blogs hated. And worse, we as users could not disagree with them, since most of it was the truth.

After this, we all have witness how WP8, which was catching up, started going down, how they forgot to launch flagships for like 2 years and flooded the market with overpriced under-powered phones. This probably caused management confusion. Add the layoffs and some brilliant minds left this to pursuit other careers in Apple or Google. And the icing on this cake was releasing an incomplete Windows 10 mobile.

And how to fix it:

*Microsoft should concentrate in releasing only fewer phones.

*Microsoft should sell this platform the same way they showcase the Surface platform everywhere.

*Microsoft should spend the same level of commitment they seem to give Android and iOS, and release their apps and updates for all three platforms at the same time.

*Microsoft should stop neglecting and ignoring their Windows Phone fanbase.

Conclusion:

Lets all hope these points are reviewed and fixed by Microsoft. Thanks to the Lumia Voices team for lending me this device. I decided to get one based on my impressions.

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