Nokia lumia 950 review. SAR levels indicate the amount of electromagnetic radiation absorbed by the human body while using a mobile device.

25.12.2021

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Description smartphone Lumia 950 XL

At the beginning of October 2015, Microsoft introduced its flagship phablet called Lumia 950 XL, in which it collected all its best practices. Let's take a quick look at what the top smartphone on the Windows 10 Mobile operating system represents.

The gadget is equipped with an eight-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, where each core runs at 2 GHz. Although this processor model is very "hot", to remedy the situation, the company has placed a well-thought-out heatsink that copes with heat dissipation under high loads. Other internal specs include 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, Adreno 430 GPU, and memory card support.

The display on the Lumia 950 XL is a 5.7-inch AMOLED screen with a 2K resolution of 1440x2560 pixels. Unlike a slightly younger model - Lumia 950, this smartphone received the fourth version of the tempered glass Gorilla Glass.

The phone has a 20-megapixel camera with 1.9 aperture and high-quality 6-lens optics from the famous company Carl Zeiss. With this camera, you can shoot videos in 4K resolution. On the front panel there is a 5-megapixel front camera.

Smartphone Microsoft Lumia 950 XL should become the face of the company and the leader among phones on the mobile operating system Windows 10 Mobile. Since this device is a premium level, its price will start from $650.

Video review Microsoft Lumia 950 XL:

At the end of November 2015, a rather significant event took place for everyone who follows mobile news - Microsoft finally showed the flagship pair of its smartphones, rumors about which "surfed" the Internet long before that. This event was made significant by the fact that over the past year Microsoft has not spoiled us with top smartphone innovations, all the new ones were of a budget or mid-range level, and more than a year has passed since the release of the Lumia 930. The November announcement brought us not one, but two devices at once, in different sizes.

The slightly smaller one with a 5.2-inch screen was called the Lumia 950, and the 5.7-inch version was called the Lumia 950 XL, and today I have both of these devices in my hands for acquaintance. And before moving on to the features and "chips", which turned out to be quite a few here, I propose to meet our heroes "by clothes".

The appearance of both gadgets turned out to be quite restrained, and only one-color matte polycarbonate in black or white with an extruded shiny manufacturer's logo is used as body materials, which, because of this, came out voluminous.

There are no bright colors, or a metal bumper around the perimeter, like the same Lumia 930 is here - everything is strict, solid and absolutely neutral, just as it is customary among business users, to whom these devices seem to be addressed. A light visual emphasis is placed on the design of the camera module, and the design of this part is significantly different for the two gadgets.

Lumia 950 received a round wide metal ring around the lens, and the XL version received a separate massive circle, with a metal edging, the size of a 2-ruble coin, inside which is located both the main camera lens and a three-color LED flash.

I note that in both cases, the lens protrudes slightly from the body itself, the thickness of which barely exceeds 8 millimeters, due to which both devices are perceived quite thin in the hands.

In terms of ergonomics, I had only one complaint about the large Lumia 950XL. Here, the power key on the right side is located between the volume keys, and not next to them.

Surely this is done on purpose, in order to get to all the buttons with a small movement of one finger. However, out of habit, this arrangement led me to frequent misses by the desired button, especially to the touch.

At the same time, the compact version has all the buttons where most owners of such gadgets are used to seeing them, but thanks for the dedicated mechanical capture button for the camera in both cases.

Both smartphones in my hands are black, and the case proved to be relatively resistant to fingerprints and other damage, although small scratches and streaks have already appeared in a week of operation, but are noticeable only from some angles and upon close examination.

The use of plastic in the materials allowed the developers to make the covers completely removable, and in case of serious damage they can be easily replaced with new ones without contacting the service.

Plus, this solution allowed the company to use removable batteries, which is a vanishing rarity these days, and two nano-SIM cards are also installed under the cover, and a special paper clip is not required for this.

The microSD card slot is separate, and allows you to expand the 32 gigabytes of internal memory. I also really liked the fact that Microsoft does not abandon wireless charging, and both gadgets have corresponding antennas in their covers that allow you to charge devices without having to connect a cable.

Once again I am amazed at how compact this module is, and with proper layout it does not affect the thickness of the device at all. It is a pity that other manufacturers ignore or underestimate this technology, and in the latest Google Nexus, if you remember, this “chip” was unfortunately abandoned altogether.

And both new items are equipped with a new USB Type C charging and synchronization connector, and, unlike various Chinese people experimenting on this topic on Android, they use the technology to the fullest!

The fact is that the new USB format is interesting not only with a reversible connector, which can be turned on as you like, but also with increased data transfer rates, as well as increased charging current. Almost everyone who used USB Type C on smartphones before did it only because of the fashionable charging connector, and Microsoft decided to squeeze out the new specification by 100%, and complete new items with 3-amp power supplies.

This allows you to drink very cool results in charging speed, as from 0 to 50% both Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL are charged in just 30 minutes, and the device is fully charged almost twice as fast as the average of competitors in the market, and even new the connectors here support USB OTG, and allow you to connect to a smartphone, for example, a regular USB flash drive.

Special mention goes to the screens that perfectly match the contrasting tiled interface of Windows. It uses Amoled technology and quadHD resolution in both cases.

At the same time, the pixel density is actually prohibitive - for a large Lumia 950XL and its 5.7 inches it is 518PPI, and for the 950th with a diagonal of 5.2 inches - 565 dpi, and the screens are calibrated almost jewelry-white color is clean and juicy, and the color saturation set by default does not try to gouge out the eyes.

Due to the polarization layer and the absence of an air gap between the matrix and the glass, the screen remains normally readable even in the sun.

Any texts and pictures on such a display look very cool, and of all the competitors present on the market today, the latest matrices from Samsung are closest in terms of impressions, which you can hardly find fault with anyway.

Both new products are the first devices on the market to officially carry Windows 10 Mobile on board. I already talked about the features of this system in a separate video, which is called "10 new features of Windows 10 mobile"

The system turned out to be much more mature and no less convenient than the current Android or IOS and received many new features compared to Windows Phone 8.1, although it was not without distortions. So the appearance of some menu items is significantly different from each other, and no longer looks stylish and holistic as before. It seems that somewhere it has become more convenient and more logical, but somewhere, on the contrary, it is more confusing and more difficult than before.

For example, there are so many sub-items and tabs in the settings item that it is not easy to remember where everything is located here, and it takes getting used to, but perhaps this is just out of habit.

One of the main features of the new products is a special mode of operation that turns smartphones into a virtual full-fledged computer, to which you can connect a monitor and keyboard, turning the device into a kind of personal computer. This function in Microsoft is called Continuum, which can be translated from English as continuity or continuity, and this fully reflects the essence of what is happening. In fact, the developers offer us to interrupt the use of the smartphone at any time, and move to the big screen of a full-fledged PC with the same open applications and from the same place where we just left off.

To do this, you can use a special box-adapter Display Dock, or wirelessly - via Bluetooth or via Miracast-compatible devices. Of course, for now, this is not a full-fledged unification of ecosystems, because Windows 10 still carries the Mobile prefix here, but the first serious step towards the fact that the user can get the feeling of owning a real PC in a phone case has already been made, and since this topic is very interesting and unusual, we will talk about how it works and what Continuum can do in one of the next reviews. Now I would just like to emphasize that Microsoft, in fact, was the first company to show a practical solution on this topic, because many people have only said before, but neither Apple nor Google have presented anything like this.

The Lumia 950 and 950XL also have another interesting innovation, which, to be honest, I did not count on the practical implementation at all - this is the identification of the owner by the iris of the eye. The fact is that quite recently, I “had the pleasure” of tormenting myself with this function on one of the Chinese Android smartphones, and it worked rather slowly there, recognized me every other time and gave the impression of a raw and unstable solution that cannot be used in real life . With about the same prejudice, I decided to set up eye identification here, and was pleasantly surprised by how fundamentally different it works.

To begin with, at least with the fact that it is not at all necessary to take off glasses for this, and a special infrared camera located next to the front is used for identification. This means that the device does not care about the level of ambient light - everything works "like a clock" in the light and in the dark, and you can keep your smartphone at a distance of up to 30-40 centimeters. The entire “procedure” takes about 2-3 seconds, the device comments on its actions on the screen, and even greets you by name, and this is very impressive! Perhaps this is the first smartphone in my hands where the lack of a fingerprint scanner is not a drawback - it is simply not needed here, since it is much more convenient to use the eyes.

A few words about iron. Both devices, like almost all self-respecting flagships of the end of 2015, are equipped with top-end chipsets from Qualcomm.

The Lumia 950 uses a 6-core Snapdragon 808, and the 950 XL has a Snapdragon 810 at its disposal, and to avoid possible overheating, the device received a fantastic liquid cooling of the processor, graphite tubes, and a magnesium alloy frame! In my memory, liquid cooling for a smartphone was used only once before - a few years ago, NEC experimented on this topic, and now Microsoft has offered such a system in a case only about 8 millimeters thick.

There is 3 RAM on board, and a constant 32 gigabytes also on both gadgets, and in this they do not differ, as well as in the already mentioned expansion possibility, through the use of a second SIM card slot for a memory card up to 200 gigabytes.

And finally, another very interesting side of both new products is the camera and shooting capabilities. This is where Nokia heritage, Zeis technology and Pure View work wonders, putting the 950 series on par with the best camera phones of the past year. Once again I apologize to my viewers, but I also decided to reveal this topic, as well as connecting in PC mode, in a separate story and show the most interesting features of photo and video shooting in other issues.

Now I am ready to sum up the general impressions of the new products - what I liked and disliked the most, so in the black:

Now what I didn't like:

The implementation of the Continuum function, which allows you to partially replace the desktop with a smartphone, is already working, but so far there are not so many programs to talk about a quality implementation - it needs more time and desire from application developers who adapt their current products. In general, the devices produce a rather unusual impression. From absolute nondescript when meeting at the very beginning, to amazing options and innovations that open up if you “dig deeper”. In my opinion, this is just the case that best illustrates the saying - "they are met by clothes, but they are escorted by the mind" ...

Full video version review of Microsoft Lumia 950/950XL:

Specifications

Windows 10 Mobile
5.2 inches AMOLED, 2560x1440 pixels, 565 ppi, automatic backlight control, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset, 6 cores, up to 1.8 GHz, Adreno 418 GPU
RAM 3 GB, built-in 32 GB, memory cards up to 200 GB
Front camera 5 megapixels, main camera 20 megapixels, PureView, Carl Zeiss, f/1.9
Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery, claimed talk time up to 23 hours, standby time - up to 288 hours, music listening - up to 67 hours
LTE cat.6, Voice over LTE
GPS/GLONASS
Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n (MIMO), Bluetooth 4.1, USB Type C (USB 3.1), NFC
nanoSIM (DS version has two cards)
Continuum
Eye unlock
Dimensions - 145x73.2x8.2 mm, weight - 150 grams

Contents of delivery

Telephone
Battery Li-Ion 3000 mAh
Charger
USB Type C cable
Instruction

Positioning

For Microsoft, the release of Lumia 550/950/950 XL at the end of 2015 turned out to be forced, as the company placed an order for components, in particular chipsets from Qualcomm, and had to use them somewhere. In mid-2015, when this order was placed, Microsoft had an idea that by the end of the year the company would be able to finalize Windows 10 Mobile to a commercial state and this system would allow selling new devices, revive the Windows Phone market. All the hopes of Microsoft in the mobile space were connected with this system, there were no other backup plans at that time. Therefore, the failure of all deadlines, the dampness of Windows 10 Mobile could not but jeopardize the release of these devices, but, even realizing that the reviews of the first buyers would be unflattering, they nevertheless decided to launch them in a series.

In fact, the model that was supposed to be called the Lumia 950 has been pushed back to the end of 2016 and will come out with a different OS version if plans don't change again. Its distinguishing features were a thin metal case, matching the materials of the case to the flagships of other companies. But Microsoft decided that the best developments should be left for a model that has at least some chance of selling, and not for devices that failed in sales even before they hit the shelves. Both models, Lumia 950 and 950 XL, can be safely called outcasts in the Windows Phone line, for the first time devices do not receive any serious support, there is almost no advertising, no PR efforts, these models are not even handed out for tests, which explains their absence. Previously, Microsoft generously presented journalists with their flagships, advertised them, but they did not do this for the 950s. Why promote something that will not find its buyer and on which the company has already put an end to it?

To some extent, these devices can be called zombies, they are in stores, there are the last Mohicans who buy them, but the sales level is so small that it goes to hundreds of pieces. This is a planned failure that could not be avoided. For two months in Russia, the price of Lumia 950 decreased from 44,990 rubles by ten thousand (on the Microsoft website, the price is the previous one!), From the first days, a Lumia 550 (or a Windows tablet) was given for the purchase of this device.

The mission to sell Lumia 950/950 XL is almost impossible, as there is practically no market for these devices. It can be recalled that the same Galaxy S6 costs about 35 thousand rubles, many people perceive it as a priority purchase, and incorrect price positioning killed the desire to buy this device from a few fans. I've been walking around with the Lumia 950 for over two months, looking at it from all angles and trying to find the positives that could justify the cost of this device. But he couldn't find them. I still have a packed Lumia 950 XL, which has a slightly larger screen size, chipset (Snapdragon 810), and liquid cooling. But in fact it is the same apparatus, with exactly the same advantages and disadvantages.

For the mass consumer, Windows Phone (as well as Windows 10 Mobile) has ceased to exist, these are either casual purchases, when the seller was able to convince that the device is interesting, or a conscious choice, when the buyer knows exactly what he is taking. Both the first and second categories of buyers are very narrow, this is not a mass market. The first category is also dominated by the return of phones, as in fact it turns out that they do not satisfy people in many aspects. Considering that Windows Phone (Windows 10 Mobile) is actually buried in Microsoft, buying such phones is a bold move. From December to March, I, like all other users of this device, did not receive a sufficient number of system error updates that would correct the shortcomings that are in the devices, they remained raw, as in the first days of sales. This suggests that there is no priority for these devices; Microsoft no longer pays attention to them. Therefore, it is worth buying them only if you know exactly what you are getting and what you will encounter.

Design, dimensions, controls

We are accustomed to the fact that in the flagships, which are priced at the highest price, everything is fine - both the filling and the case materials. In the 2015 season, glass and metal came into fashion, this trend is followed by all companies without exception, from Apple and Samsung to the obscure Chinese. It is all the more surprising to see that Microsoft used ordinary plastic in its flagships, exactly the same as in budget models. Outwardly, these devices are almost indistinguishable, you can go into details that plastic is still better on the Lumia 950, but this is not visible at first glance. Moreover, when you look at Android smartphones, you will find that many models under $10,000 look just like Microsoft's flagship. Of course, it's flattering for budget devices that they have the same plastic, the same workmanship. But not at all flattering for a flagship from Microsoft, it's just a different league in terms of materials and how much you pay for regular plastic.

Compared to Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+

The design of the body is typical for Lumia, the shoe is pulled over the main part of the device, you can buy replacement panels from other companies, Microsoft decided not to make them. There are also only two color schemes - black and white. Boring? Definitely.

The dimensions of the phone are 145x73.2x8.2 mm, the weight is 150 grams. It is typical for flagships, but given the same plastic, surprisingly, the device turned out to be heavier than its relatives, which have metal in the case.

On the back of the case you can see two holes for microphones, on the front panel - two more. The noise reduction system is well implemented here, and these microphones are also used when recording video (Lumia Rich Recording).

On the back, you can see a 20-megapixel camera lens, a three-section LED flash and a speaker next to it. On the right side there is an on/off button, a camera button and a paired volume button.

Above the screen you can see the front camera, proximity sensor, and eye recognition sensor. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3, the oleophobic coating is present, but handprints remain.

The case is easy to open, inside you will find a slot for memory cards, as well as SIM cards, the battery in this model is removable. There is a USB Type C connector on the bottom end. Surprisingly, if you connect a cable or a charger that is not connected to the network, the phone will wake up and the screen will light up, the device will consider that charging will now begin. There is no current in the wires, this is just a mistake of engineers who did not learn how to correctly recognize accessories. In the video for this review, I show this strange behavior.

In general, I like the build quality of the device, there are no serious flaws in it, the only negative is that we have a model in the middle price segment, but you can’t call it a flagship.

Display

In short, the technical characteristics of the screen are 5.2 inches AMOLED, 2560x1440 pixels, 565 ppi, automatic backlight control, Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The presence of an AMOLED screen made it possible to display the clock in standby mode, they are black and white, additional information is also displayed. This is a useful feature that many people like on Lumia devices, it is available even on models with IPS panels, where the battery is dying, which does not happen here.

The screen quality is excellent, it is far from the best display, but it is above average in its characteristics. In particular, I like the color reproduction it has, but I would like more brightness. In the sun, the protective glass often glares, it reflects you, not the contents of the display.

Unfortunately, this model has simplified the design of the screen. If in previous devices there was an additional layer that allowed you to work with the display while wearing gloves, then it was abandoned here. But such deterioration in performance is not important for most people, the screen sensitivity is comfortable for everyday work. The oleophobic coating is typical, wears off quickly, and the screen is covered with handprints. However, this is the trouble of all devices with a similar diagonal.

Far from the best screen, but not the worst either. Far behind the flagships of Samsung, which in AMOLED are ahead of the competition by several generations. But worthy, comparable, for example, with flagships from Motorola.

Battery

The model supports Qi wireless charging, which in the past was considered a great achievement until others introduced this feature into their flagships. Today, this is no longer surprising, and people rarely use wireless chargers. The capacity of the Li-Ion battery is 3000 mAh, which is generally not bad. The charger from the kit is made inseparable, the reason is that it is 3A (5V) and the company wanted to be sure that other USB Type C wires would not be used with it, which could burn themselves, and at the same time burn the connectors on the phone. Unfortunately, the device does not have a fast charging function, it will take you almost three hours to fully charge the phone. Saving on fast charging looks extremely strange, this is a penny savings.

The manufacturer claims that the device is able to work up to 12 days in standby mode (with two SIM-cards), in talk mode - up to 18/23 hours (3G / 2G), the maximum video playback time - up to 10 hours, work in Wi -Fi - up to 9.5 hours.

The dampness of Windows 10 Mobile software does not allow us to say that the results of the operating time are reproducible. My device worked from several hours in standby mode to several days. Such a huge spread of data is due to the fact that the phone's software leaves much to be desired, it is impossibly raw. It is just right to call it a beta version, since it does not pull on a commercial device. Learning what causes fast battery drain has led me to various system apps, some bugs have been fixed in updates, but many have remained the same. If you close your eyes to them and consider that the device works perfectly, then you get one day of work under load, or about two days with moderate use. Video playback time at maximum brightness is about 7 hours.

The bottom line is that the device does not set any records, but the uncertainty about how much it can work out makes it use lotteries. This moment is insanely annoying, since it is always unpleasant to be with a discharged device at the most inopportune moment. Connecting a second SIM card in places with poor reception is guaranteed to lead to increased battery discharge, compared to other Lumia, something is very tricky here, with the second card the phone does not live very long, it discharges very quickly.

Communication options

Standard set of protocols - Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n (MIMO), USB Type C, NFC, Bluetooth 4.1 - a full set of standard profiles, WCDMA, LTE.

LTE FDD network: Band 1 (2100 MHz), Band 2 (1900 MHz), Band 3 (1800 MHz), Band 4 (1700/2100 MHz), Band 5 (850 MHz), Band 7 (2600 MHz), Band 8 (900 MHz), Band 12 (700 MHz), Band 17 (700 MHz), Band 20 (800 MHz), Band 28 (700 MHz).

Chipset, memory, performance

Inside is Snapdragon 808, 6 cores up to 1.8 GHz. The interface works fast enough, which is also typical for such solutions. The amount of RAM is 3 GB, built-in - 32 GB, memory cards - up to 200 GB.

The device is smooth, works quickly, and there are no particular problems with the interface. Roughnesses are associated with third-party software, which is often simply not optimized for this version of the OS and is unlikely to ever be.

Camera

The front camera is 5 megapixels, there is nothing worthy of attention in it.

Main camera - 20 megapixels, PureView, Carl Zeiss. At first glance, the camera gives ordinary pictures that are not very interesting. But it is worth looking at them not on the phone, but on the computer, and the impression changes to exactly the opposite. High-quality, good pictures, in which there is a study of details, good color reproduction. It is possible that, all other things being equal, the camera could claim the title of the best camera on the market, it is clearly above average and very good. The quality of these pictures is enough for most people. At the same time, the camera interface is familiar from other Lumia smartphones, there is nothing unusual here.

Photo examples

Take a look at sample shots compared to the Samsung S6 EDGE Plus, as well as sample videos.

Lumia 950	S6 Edge Plus

Software - Windows 10 Mobile

We have released a fairly detailed review of the system on which this device is built. All you need to know about it is that it's raw and performs worse than Windows Phone 8.x, which lost a lot to the same Android and didn't look like such a great alternative. If everything was just bad there, now it's even worse. I see no reason to repeat my claims to the system, you can read about it in the review.

Of the additional chips, I note Windows Hello, the possibility of authorization by scanning the eyes, the device is unlocked almost instantly, the same glasses do not interfere with this. The function is good, it does not have the same working analogues from other companies (they are getting worse, and noticeably). But this is just a feature that I showed in the video for this review.

Another feature is Continuum, the ability to connect your phone to a monitor and work with your applications, such as MS Office, on the big screen. To do this, you need to spend 8,000 rubles on the MS Display Dock, which is heavy, you will have to carry it with you along with a bunch of wires. This story does not yet look like a winning or interesting to a large number of consumers. Therefore, I see no reason to talk about it in detail.

Impressions

In terms of voice quality, this is an excellent model, a system of 4 microphones does its job well. The volume of the speaker is also good, however, the ringer and vibrating alert are quite typical, they are average, they will suit the majority.

My main complaints about this device are related to its software. It is simply raw and reboots quite often, it has a lot of childhood diseases that do not disappear, but only appear with every day of use. Over the years, it's hard for me to remember such a crude flagship from any company. Moreover, for some, problems appear immediately, someone encounters them later. The more third-party software that the cat cried on this system you install, the more often problems arise. In a word, a lottery in which the user is always the loser.

They started selling this device for 44,990 rubles, now the price is ten thousand less, and the load, as before, is given by Lumia 550. Two illiquid assets for the price of one. The price is very high, especially given the dampness of the model and the fact that it is made of inexpensive materials, it is simply not worth the money. Given the lack of demand for this device, we can expect that it will gradually become cheaper further. In addition to a good, but not outstanding camera, there is nothing to praise here, the model turned out to be miserable in every sense, and the main problem is the software. This device cannot be called a flagship, it is a model of the middle segment, which has many problems and stands like a cast-iron bridge. In a word, spare your money, unless you collect phones.

Since the first rumors and leaks about the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL, this smartphone has generated a lot of interest. Not only is this the first flagship of Microsoft, but also the first smartphone with a pre-installed operating system Windows 10 for mobile devices. All of this put a lot of responsibility on Microsoft. I confess to you honestly, I also looked forward to the opportunity to evaluate this smartphone from Microsoft with great interest. Tired of reading various reviews in which some praised the smartphone, others tried to ridicule it with a smirk and disdain. I wanted to try it myself and find out which of them is right. This opportunity was kindly provided to me by the representative office of Microsoft in Ukraine, for which many thanks to them.

According to Microsoft, Lumia 950/950XL smartphones are designed to demonstrate the full power of the latest technological advances, both in terms of hardware and software. Equipped with the most advanced hardware, it has an attractive design and unique features such as an eye scanner and Continuum technology. In addition, Microsoft smartphones are a clear example of the evolution of a simple smartphone into a full-fledged personal computer.

What's in the box?

The box of Lumia 950 XL is made in the traditional style of the line - in front of the image of the device on a white background, and behind a solid coloring from the corporate set of colors.

The box contains the smartphone itself, user manual, battery, charger and USB Type C cable. What attracts attention is the thickness of the charging cable and a separate USB cable - they are at least one and a half times thicker than usual.

When I first opened the box, I was a little surprised by the sticker on the smartphone with technical specifications. I don't know if this is for someone else, but I didn't like it. Somehow very cheap. At the same time, it was not so easy to remove the sticker: I had to pry it off with my fingernail.

Design and appearance

When I first heard about the flagships from Microsoft, I was a little disappointed that they were again made of polycarbonate. I thought it would make them look cheap. But I was pleasantly surprised when I took the Lumia 950 XL out of the box. I must tell you that it turned out that there is a difference between plastic and plastic: live panels made of matte polycarbonate look decent. In the black version, the smartphone looks emphatically businesslike, like a brutal uncle in an expensive jacket. Replacing the metal part with a durable polycarbonate gives the new Lumia 950 XL a bit of exclusivity and makes it incredibly light. This is a fairly large phone that takes some getting used to due to its lightness. The Lumia 950 XL has been designed to be practical, durable and comfortable. He received a strong and flat glass Gorilla Glass 4, the body has become noticeably thinner and more elegant. The angularity has been preserved, but otherwise the mobile phone looks much thinner than its predecessor, released under the Nokia brand.

Above the speaker is the Microsoft logo. In the upper part on the right you can see the peephole of the 5-megapixel front camera (there is support for recording video in Full HD). An infrared camera is also visible there, which is responsible for scanning the retina. It is applied if the user has set the appropriate security mode and unlock "at a glance" of the owner.

The main microphone of Lumia 950 XL looks remarkable. This is a noticeable hole (not a hole) at the bottom of the front panel. Probably, its size is due to engineering or some other need, but it does not become prettier from this.

An interesting difference from most smartphones lies in the placement of the volume and power keys. They remained on the side, but there is no volume rocker - Microsoft abandoned the grouping of buttons. Now these are two small volume keys and an oblong power button between them. Is it convenient? Need to get used to. I couldn't get used to it for two days. They are too close to each other. The left side was left unoccupied. Why was it not possible to place slots for memory cards and a SIM card here, which were stuffed under the battery, although, interestingly, one slot for a SIM card was left above the battery.

The smartphone has a 3.5mm jack on the top and a USB Type-C port on the bottom. Now, the USB-C cable you should always carry with you. Because no one will give it to you.

On the back panel, almost in the center, there is a square metal logo of the company. Its elements are slightly recessed in plastic, and it was in this drowning that dust accumulated here after 2 weeks. It also houses a 20-megapixel camera eye with RGB LED flash. Although this is not a peephole, but some kind of "washer". When using a smartphone, the finger often rests on it and causes inconvenience. Still very upset by the creakiness of the case. I understand that these are the consequences of having a removable cover, but for the money, Microsoft designers could figure out how to minimize this defect. True, if you do not dwell on this unpleasant circumstance, then when using it, you will not even feel discomfort.

The Lumia 950XL also lacks navigation buttons. Replacing them with on-screen buttons makes the phone smaller and more comfortable in the hand. A reasonable compromise, although I cannot say that there are not enough hardware buttons.

Despite the size, the Lumia 950 XL can be operated with one hand. The weight of the device is 165 g, but this figure is largely due to the battery. The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL has a removable, almost unmarked back cover, which you can easily open and wonder “what heights the technology has reached”: a bunch of electronic components and a screen are placed in an almost weightless device.

How good is the display?

Apparently AMOLED displays are really getting better. Screens with such a matrix are installed not only in flagships, but even in more affordable models. They have finally become inexpensive to produce, they themselves are energy efficient, with good color reproduction (it can be adjusted and made more natural). The lamentations of geeks about reduced clarity in comparison with IPS and an implausible picture are of little concern to anyone.

The smartphone received a 5.7-inch AMOLED screen with 2K resolution (2560 × 1440 pixels, 518 ppi) and supports ClearBlack technology to improve readability in bright ambient light. The picture is very clear, bright and saturated. At the maximum brightness level, it will be inconvenient to use the device, but in bright sunlight the display will remain as readable as in the dusk. Its level in manual brightness control mode is about 350 nits, and in automatic mode - more than 700 nits. Luxurious AMOLED-matrix is ideal for contrasting Windows design. Even taking into account the damned Pentile, the image clarity of the new Microsoft flagship does not hold - the tiles and the font on them look great, there is simply nothing to complain about without special devices.

Camera and sound

The main camera on the Lumia 950 XL has a 20-megapixel 1/2.4-inch PureView sensor with a pixel size of 1.12 microns. To work with it, the smartphone uses a new system of six Zeiss lenses. The equivalent focal length is 26mm and the aperture is f/1.9. The camera unit is equipped with a new generation optical stabilizer - compared to what was used in the Lumia 1520 and Lumia 930 modules. For shooting in the dark and focusing illumination, the smartphone received a flash of three diodes of different colors. The smartphone has an additional PureView branding, which emphasizes the fact that the camera has been used the most advanced technology from Microsoft (PureView was inherited from Nokia). The front camera received a 5-megapixel sensor with a fixed focal length and a wide-angle lens with a maximum aperture of f / 2.4.

I was particularly interested in the Best Frame mode, which is an evolution of HDR technology. Its essence is that the smartphone camera, imperceptibly for the user, takes a series of shots with different exposures, and then creates one optimal shot. Unfortunately, this function does not work so fast, and sometimes causes the smartphone to heat up. But the picture is worth it. After taking a picture with flash, you can “turn the flash on or off” - using the slider, you can select a frame without flash or adjust its strength. There is also such a curious option: 8 MP images can be obtained from 4K video using the camera application.

The company considers this camera "the best in its history" and partly indeed they are right. It works very quickly - it was precisely this speed that was lacking in the previous flagship devices of the company. There are no focusing errors in good and medium light conditions, but they sometimes appear in the dark - the lack of laser focusing, which is used by competitors, affects. However, this problem is solved by tapping on the screen. It is worth noting the quality of color reproduction when photographing with a flash - due to the three LEDs of different shades, really very softly lit pictures are obtained, this is especially noticeable in photographs in which there are people.

But the work of automation in the Lumia 950 XL is inspiring - the photos are as high quality as in other flagships of 2015. I would especially like to note the work of phase autofocus, which fiercely fights for image clarity in night video recordings. Most cool smartphones in the dark need "notations" and manual focus adjustment, but Lumia looks self-sufficient.

Shooting at night and in bad weather conditions also pleased.

The main camera records video at a maximum resolution of 4K 30 fps, in slow motion it shoots in Full HD resolution 120 fps. When shooting video, optical stabilization is used, plus you can additionally activate software. The front camera supports shooting in Full HD mode. I note that the smartphone uses Rich Recording technology, which uses 4 microphones.

Examples of images in original resolution can be seen in a separate gallery.

The speaker of the device is located on the rear panel next to the “washer” of the photomodule. When watching a video, the sound source, respectively, is located on the side. Best of all, the speaker manages to transmit high and medium frequencies, but the bass disappears even when manipulating the equalizer (but they are still there).

The sound is loud and even shrill: you can miss a call only if you really want to. I didn't hear any distortion or rattles at maximum volume, but fans of gold-plated plugs may feel disappointed.

What about performance?

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL is equipped with an 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chip (4 Cortex-A53 cores at 1.5 GHz and the same Cortex-A57 at 2 GHz), 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory. There is also a microSD slot. Adreno 430 is responsible for the graphics. All the latest communication standards are available: LTE Cat. 9 (up to 300 Mbps), Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC and Miracast. The navigation module supports GPS and GLONASS. The quality of network signal reception is good, subjectively it is better than in previous Nokia/Microsoft flagship models. It must be admitted that in cross-platform benchmarks Microsoft Lumia 950 XL does not show itself at the level of the top flagships. Windows 10 may not be perfect, but 3GB of RAM makes up for it. None of the applications I opened for 3 weeks slowed down, all games were launched at maximum settings.

The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM is without a doubt the fastest Windows smartphone today. Real user experience shows that the interface works smoothly, applications respond quickly to user actions, and the 3D graphics in Asphalt 8: Airborne are just great. However, it would be quite strange to get something else.

If Windows 10 Mobile is not perfect, then the cons are lost due to 3GB of RAM. Until now, no smartphone with this operating system has worked so fast. And yet, sharp brakes happen at the most unexpected moments. For example, I noticed this while adjusting the brightness level of the screen.

In cross-platform benchmarks, the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL does not really show itself very well, which disappointed me a little. In principle, the smartphone was not created for records, but for normal work for every day, which means that we must also take into account the performance of Windows Phone in games.

How are things with autonomy and heating?

If you remove the back cover of the smartphone, you will see a thin, but quite powerful 3340 mAh battery. Which is very, very good, given that Windows systems are very energy efficient. The manufacturer indicates, in particular, the following parameters of battery life: 12 days of standby time, 75 hours of music playback, 19 hours of talk time in the 3G network. In addition, the phone does not heat up under load, something that many feared. This does not mean that it should not give off heat. Under load, the back of the phone is slightly warm. However, this is insignificant and does not affect the comfort of communication with the device.

USB Type-C is another feature of the flagships on Windows 10. There are many pluses: you can insert the cable in any direction, and charging is very fast. Still, the USB Type C port allows you to charge your smartphone from zero to 60 percent in 30 minutes, the remaining 40 percent in 45 minutes.

Usually these numbers are twice as high. Apparently, Microsoft decided to squeeze the maximum out of the fashionable connector, but the company is unable to eliminate the main disadvantage. It is very difficult to find a USB Type-C cable: friends and colleagues do not have such ones yet, and it is a rarity in the store. Smartphone Lumia 950 XL supports wireless charging. I was lucky to try it out. Since using the Nokia Lumia 820, I still have a Nokia DT-900 wireless charger. I decided to try whether the new flagship from Microsoft will be charged. It turned out that everything is in order and the phone is charging. Yes, it is slower than via USB, but everything works. It is also worth noting that the smartphone heats up a little, but this is much less than the Nokia Lumia 820 heated up.

Frankly, I was preparing for the worst - reviews about the level of autonomy of the flagship Lumia did not inspire optimism. In fact, the battery life of Microsoft's flagship turned out to be very good. Built-in battery monitoring tools allow you to check the distribution of consumption by application, as well as set up a saving mode. It blocks synchronization, background work and push notifications of applications, except for those that are marked in a special list. This mode can be activated automatically when the battery level drops below the value specified in the options. In general, it turns out that the combination of a powerful platform, a large screen and a high-capacity battery again leads us to the already familiar “one working day without recharging” result.

A little bit about whether the smartphone is heated? I have read many times about Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 overheating problems. But I was pleasantly surprised that the developers from Redmond were able to fix the overheating problem. All this is possible thanks to graphite tubes, a magnesium alloy frame and even water cooling. Yes, the smartphone heats up a little, but this is with very intensive use, but then water cooling turns on and the temperature stabilizes. You definitely won't burn your hands.

Is there life on Windows 10 Mobile?

This smartphone is one of the first smartphones running on the new Windows 10 Mobile operating system.

It was very interesting for me to work in it, to find out what has changed compared to Windows 8.1. When I first turned on the smartphone, I realized that visually nothing had changed. The same tiled interface, the same two tables. But this is only at first glance, everything was left as before. There are plenty of changes. Windows 10 Universal System is a big step for Microsoft. The smartphone version of the Lumia 950XL works very quickly, the design has been updated, you can choose the wallpaper style (on tiles or under them), and the settings are grouped into subsections. The notification center has been seriously updated, now there are 16 shortcuts for quick access. The new Microsoft Edge browser is still as light, fast and austere as the desktop version. One thing is unusual - this is a search, which for some reason is located at the bottom.

Maybe it's so conceived, but it took me some time to get used to. I was very upset by the fact that Yandex search is the default, which is very difficult to change.

Going into Parameters,

I saw settings familiar from the desktop version of Windows 10, which made me very happy. After all, it didn’t take long to figure out what, where and how to look, which is often observed in smartphones on Android.

I read a lot of reviews, in which almost everyone wrote that the system was raw, not ready for work, even native applications from Microsoft did not work correctly. They sent me a smartphone with the same release version 10.586.0 of Windows 10 Mobile. Knowing that after that, smartphones received several cumulative updates, I specifically spent a whole day without updating the Lumia 950 XL. Now I understand why there were so many negative reviews about the operation of the smartphone and the operating system. Indeed, there was an incorrect operation of the smartphone, and of Windows 10 Mobile itself. What was it? Sometimes the device refused to respond to clicks on tiles, it was impossible to open the Store, Mail, Calendar, browser and did not show any signs of life at all, the camera hung. During the day, the smartphone freezes for several minutes 3 times. Barely endured until the next day. Then I decided to upgrade my smartphone and watch them. To my surprise, the first cumulative update drastically changed everything, not to mention subsequent updates. The smartphone just flew, the screen became very sensitive to touch, all applications opened and worked without failures. It can be seen that Microsoft made the right conclusions and did a huge amount of work.

Aesthetics aside, we can say that Microsoft did a great job of crossing mobile and desktop Windows 10. Microsoft Edge, which acts as a browser, and mobile versions of Mail and Calendar look familiar. If you're using Windows 10 on your PC, you can tell it's a scaled down version of the operating system with the same apps and a smaller screen. It is worth saying that this is part of a universal set of Microsoft applications that make it possible to use the necessary tools on your phone, computer and Xbox One. We are now in the very early stages of this versatility, but it already looks promising.

A few words about the availability of universal applications in the Store on Windows 10 Mobile. So far, they are clearly not enough. True, they have already appeared much more often, and some of them completely turned my idea of \u200b\u200bWindows as a service, and not just an operating system. I was especially pleased with the Continuum function, but I do not want to write about it here. I decided to write a separate article about Continuum. Believe me, there is something to tell you about.

Windows Hello Beta

I confess to you honestly that in the new smartphone I was most interested in the Continuum function, but I also really wanted to try out Windows Hello.

The new Windows 10 brought users not only additional features, but also a new level of personal data security. Now the Windows Hello Beta function integrated into the system is responsible for the safety of your passwords. It works with a credential technology called Microsoft Passport that uses "biometric authentication" instead of a regular password. This means that logging in to an account, app, or hidden folder on the Lumia 950 XL is done through retinal recognition, which was very interesting.

On the first day, I decided to try out a new feature in the Microsoft Lumia 950XL. It is very possible to turn it on if you go the way Settings-Personalization-Lock screen-Login options. To run Windows Hello, you first need to set up PIN security before you can set up the iris scanner. A few settings and you get the best protection for your smartphone.

Now you will no longer be afraid that someone will open your smartphone without asking, if the smartphone is lost or stolen, attackers will not be able to simply open and use it. I crash-tested the Lumia 950XL, making it recognize me in the dark, with a twisted face, but it still recognized me. I tried to put my photo and video with my face and eyes on the screen, but I could not deceive Windows Hello. Recently received confirmation from a security specialist that the iris scanner is much more secure than fingerprints. He explained that in the history of fingerprinting, there were cases of fake fingerprints. Some will say that it often takes a few seconds to scan the iris of the eye. During this time, many will run out of patience, because manually unlocking the phone is faster. But in the company of friends, colleagues and just on the street, you will leave a lasting impression on people.

Who needs that kind of money?

Many people asked themselves this question immediately after the release of the new flagship from Microsoft. The plastic case, the unpopular mobile operating program, the problems with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor - everything said that, it seems, only to die-hard Microsoft fans, of whom there are already few. But the Lumia 950's feature set speaks louder as to why you should buy a smartphone than if it were clad in anodized aluminum. Microsoft has recently radically changed its mind about the mobile market. It seems that the main focus of smartphones on Windows 10 Mobile is increasingly becoming the area of the business segment, which includes customers who buy phones to run the company's business and deploy a line of business applications. This is where Microsoft is going to offer its services and applications such as Visual Studio Online, Office 365 and others. Windows 10 Mobile is supposed to deploy applications and provide them with the appropriate level of security and control. This is what the corporation pays attention to and wants to pay attention to in the future. Just for these business people, the flagship Microsoft Lumia 950XL is designed.

Features such as Windows Hello - infrared, iris scanning technology used to unlock the smartphone - help the Lumia 950 stand out from the crowd. Meanwhile, Continuum allows the Lumia 950 to do things that other smartphones can't; provide the power of a full-fledged PC through a single USB Type-C port. Microsoft knows what it does best: performance, innovation and Windows 10 all in one phone. If you are ready to ditch the latest apps in favor of a gadget that will replace you and your PC, then this smartphone is definitely for you.

Already after the publication of the review, we were pleased with the information about the price reduction for the flagship smartphones Microsoft Lumia 950/950XL. Now the recommended prices for these smartphones are 13 999UAH. AND 16 999UAH. respectively. This is very good news in the context of the economic crisis in Ukraine.

7 reasons to buy Microsoft Lumia 950XL:

excellent Quad HD AMOLED screen;
the most productive smartphone on Windows;
capacious battery with support for wireless charging;
camera with ZEISS optics, lossless zoom and high image quality;
support for the Continuum function, which allows you to partially replace the desktop with a smartphone;
Windows Hello iris scanner that works without errors;
free offline voice navigation.

4 reasons not to buy Microsoft Lumia 950 XL:

you don't like Windows 10 Mobile;
plastic case and nondescript design;
overpriced - for this money you can buy an iPhone 6;
few apps in windows 10.

Specifications Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM
Display	AMOLED, 5.7″, ClearBlack, 2560x1440 pixels, 515 ppi
Frame	dimensions 152×78×8 mm, weight 166 g
CPU	Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (4x Cortex A53 1.5GHz, 4x Cortex A57 2GHz), Adreno 430 graphics
RAM	3 GB
Flash memory	32 GB, microSD up to 200 GB
Camera	20 MP (1/2.4″, autofocus, flash, 4K video recording), front: 5 MP (Full HD video recording)
Wireless technologies	Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac 2.4 and 5.0 GHz, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, NFC
GPS	GPS, Glonass
Battery	3340 mAh
Operating system	Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile
SIM card	two nano SIM cards
Peculiarities	USB Type C connector with DisplayPort support

Chief Editor of the Windows Central Portal Daniel Rubino shares his impressions of the long-awaited flagship Microsoft - Lumia 950.

Specifications

OS - Windows 10 Mobile;
Screen diagonal: 5.2 inches;
Resolution: 1440 x 2560 (564 ppi);
Matrix: AMOLED;
Processor: 6-core 64-bit Snapdragon 808 clocked at 1.8 GHz;
RAM: 3 gigabytes;
Built-in memory: 32 gigabytes;
Support for microSD memory cards: yes;
Security: Windows Hello iris scanner;
Main camera: 20 MP, f/1.9, PureView, triple LED flash;
Front camera: 5 MP, wide-angle lens;
Battery: removable, 3,000 mAh;
Charging: USB Type-C, Fast Charging, Qi wireless charging;
Dimensions: 145 x 73.2 x 8.2 mm;
Weight: 150 grams.

The last flagship smartphone from the Lumia line was introduced in April 2014 - it was the Lumia 930, the European version of the Lumia Icon for the American mobile operator Verizon. The first "big" smartphone on Windows Phone - Lumia 1520 - was released even earlier, in November 2013.

During this time, a lot has changed. On the one hand, today we have Windows 10 Mobile, another attempt by Microsoft to satisfy its mobile ambitions. On the other hand, WP's presence in the global smartphone market has declined, both because of the lack of new top-end devices and because of the age-old problem with applications.

The new flagship is finally out. Does it live up to expectations and save Windows Phone from oblivion, or just delay the inevitable end?

Daniel Rubino tested the AT&T version of the Lumia 950, which differs from the carrier-free version by having a small AT&T logo on the rear panel, carrier software (can be removed) and support for PMA wireless charging in addition to traditional Qi. The device runs Windows 10 Mobile build 10586 and comes with an optional Display Dock for Continuum mode.

What's new?

In terms of characteristics, there are really a lot of changes. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 6-core processor is a real performance leap over the old 4-core Snapdragon 800 in the Lumia 930. The new display is impressive - it's 5.2 inches, 2560 x 1440 resolution, OLED, ClearBlack, Gorilla Glass 3 and incredible 564 dpi.

The Lumia 950 has everything a fan could wish for a flagship on their favorite OS:

32 GB of internal memory + support for microSD memory cards (up to 200 gigabytes);
High resolution display with Glance support;
USB-C fast charging, Qi wireless charging;
Capacious and removable battery;
The world's best mobile camera;
Small dimensions and weight for a device of this class. Case thickness is 8.2 mm, weight - 150 grams.

Microsoft is also asking for the Lumia 950 for less than any other comparable brand at just $550. You can also use your smartphone as a computer (Continuum function). And in order to unlock the device, just look at it - the novelty is the first in the world to implement a Windows Hello iris scanner. All this allows us to call the Lumia 950 a desirable device not only for Windows Phone fans, but also for any user who is looking for a top-end device.

The smartphone has a new type of connector - USB Type-C. Its advantages include higher data transfer speed and faster battery charging. Microsoft claims that the Lumia 950 charges from 10 to 50 percent in just half an hour (Daniel checked - in general, this is true). It is also double-sided, which means that now you will always insert the charge with the “correct” side.

Both Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL support USB OTG technology. This means that when using a special adapter, you can connect USB peripherals to new Microsoft smartphones, incl. and external hard drives. Windows 10 Mobile already knows how to recognize them. After connecting through the built-in file manager, you get access to all files stored on an external drive.

The only downside to the Lumia 950 is the looks. The smartphone looks rather modest. Apple and Samsung offer a sleek and premium design with lots of metal and glass, while the Lumia 950 only has a matte polycarbonate body, so it certainly won't be a design premium. Microsoft, Rubino laments, will have to understand, following Samsung, that plastic looks “too cheap” to some people, even though there is excellent hardware inside, and they simply won’t buy it. Some will like polycarbonate, while others will be more likely to be disappointed.

Of course, plastic has its advantages. Thanks to this choice of material, the Lumia 950 is lighter, and when dropped, the body will not shatter into millions of pieces. The smartphone is very comfortable in the hand, it is pleasant to work with it. This is a device that you can simply take and safely carry with you, without wrapping it in all sorts of protective cases.

Now let's take a closer look at the three key features of the Lumia 950 - the camera, Windows Hello and Continuum.

Camera - setting new standards

Fans of Lumia smartphones are used to the fact that Nokia offers them one of the best mobile cameras in the world. The same was expected from the 20-megapixel camera Lumia 950.

Microsoft photo technologies are united under the PureView brand. These include ZEISS optics, optical image stabilization (OIS) and high-quality flash. Competitors represented by Samsung and even LG, however, have already caught up and even surpassed Redmond, and now they themselves set the tone in mobile photography. Microsoft was in the role of catching up.

“I can confidently say that the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL have the best camera you can find on a mobile phone, or at least one of the best. Photos are incredibly sharp, colors are vibrant, and the new triple LED flash produces bright, natural light like nowhere else. The updated Rich Capture only kicks in when you need it, and even lets you adjust the brightness of the flash after you've taken the shot."

Like most semi-professional photographers, Daniel does not like to use flash and prefers natural light. But with the new triple flash, he changed his old habit - it's now easier to take a picture, and then set the desired flash intensity. The same is true for HDR.

The Lumia 950 also features 5th generation optical image stabilization. As before, it compensates for the effect of "shaky hands" when shooting photos and videos.

Microsoft Camera and the new Snapdragon processor have finally made taking photos fast. Starting the camera, shooting, post-processing Rich Capture - everything now happens noticeably faster than before.

Rubino noticed that the Lumia 950 had trouble focusing - sometimes the shots came out with a little "blur". The journalist attributes this to the large f / 1.9 aperture and the fact that the camera does not have laser autofocus. This technology is used in Android smartphones LG G4 and Nexus 5X, where it has proven itself very well - Daniel writes that the difference between pictures on devices from LG and Microsoft can be big.

There is also a bug in which Windows Hello is already to blame - problems appear when working with an image, after starting the camera from a locked screen. There is no way to shoot panoramas - a glaring fact for 2015. Finally, while we wait for the official Instagram app for Windows 10, we still need to use the excellent - but still third-party - 6tag client.

Lumia 950 records 1080p video at 60 frames per second. Sources at Microsoft told Rubino that the company will add 120 fps filming early next year. In 4K mode, the speed can be changed to 25 or 30 frames. What can I say - impressive!

Apple pretends that it was she who came up with “live photos” - but we know that the Lumia team was the pioneers of the new feature. The new version of Living Images runs in the Windows 10 Universal Photos app, and Rubino says it's "smarter." Now a live photo is taken only when there is movement in the frame. This is logical - there is less space for such pictures, and what's the point in a "live" photo, is there nothing moving in the frame?

If you are a fan of mobile photography, Lumia 950 is definitely worthy of your attention. But, in fairness, competitors in the face of Apple, Samsung and LG offer comparable image quality.

“I can say with confidence that most of the time the Lumia 950 takes better pictures, but the difference between it and the competition is much less noticeable than two or three years ago. In other words, if you post photos to Instagram or Facebook, both of which reduce the size and quality of the image, I don't think the Lumia 950 will be noticeably better than other flagship smartphones. But I think the physical camera button is a big plus, and I still get frustrated with iPhones and Android phones that have to swipe. This is, of course, personal preference, for most people this is a small problem.

The 5-megapixel front camera also supports the creation of Living Images, and takes very high-quality selfies even in poor lighting conditions. Unfortunately, video chats via Skype leave much to be desired in terms of picture transmission. This will certainly be corrected in the future.

“The Lumia 950's camera is phenomenal and the new algorithms bring out and preserve details better than ever. But I'm not sure it's as important in 2015 as it was in 2013 when the Lumia 1020 came out."

The iris scanner and Windows Hello are great, but is it necessary?

In modern computers, biometric data - the unique physical characteristics of a person - are used for security purposes. This is a big trend in the mobile industry, Microsoft is actively using it in advertising Windows 10. In Redmond they call their proprietary technology “on the topic” Windows Hello. These include face recognition, an iris scanner, and a fingerprint sensor.

The latter has become the most popular technology for smartphones. It is used in iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, HTC One, Nexus 5X and 6P, LG V10 and many other devices. In 2014 they were still rather slow, but in 2015 the new generation is already very fast.

However, for some reason, Microsoft decided not to follow the beaten path and opted for an iris scanner for the Lumia 950 and 950 XL. An infrared camera next to the front camera allows you to unlock your smartphone ... just by looking at the display for one or two seconds. You can also set up Windows Hello to only wake up the screen, and unlock it yourself, which is ideal when you just want to see notifications. Luckily, with Glance enabled, you don't even have to do that.

Windows Hello does not take a photo of the user's eyes or irises and send them to the cloud. Instead, an encrypted partition is created on the smartphone - all the necessary information is stored there.

Is Windows Hello better than a traditional fingerprint scanner? In some moments, yes, but it's hard to call Microsoft's new technology a clear winner. Of course, you don't have to take off your gloves in winter - but the iris scanner can be very finicky. For example, for it to work, you need to bring the Lumia 950 to your face at a distance of about 30 centimeters. In a public place, you will not look strange, but you will have to look directly at your smartphone to unlock it. Also, sometimes - after all, we have a “beta” before us - recognition does not work, so the good old pin code is still more reliable. Alternatively, you can lock and then unlock the display again.

Rubino compares the iris scanner in the Lumia 950 to the first fingerprint sensor in the iPhone 5s. In general, it works, but problems occur in 30-40% of cases. The “Improve recognition” settings item helps partly, but only partly. Second-generation fingerprint sensors work quickly and flawlessly, which can not be said about the iris scanner.

A few nice features of Windows Hello on the Lumia 950 that you might not know about:

Works in poor lighting conditions and even in the dark;
Glasses—even sunglasses—are no problem;
Gemini cannot fool Window Hello;
…as well as a photograph of your eyes;
With Windows Hello, shopping in the Windows Phone Store is now a breeze!

Even despite its "test" status, Windows Hello already looks very solid today. Glitches happen, but you can't call them catastrophic. The scanner does not have a big impact on the operating time, and successfully does the main thing - it provides a higher level of security. Despite the failures, Daniel strongly recommends that everyone activate Hello on their smartphone immediately after purchase.

“It is not bad, it is not a revolution. It's just different... makes the Lumia 950 unusual and even futuristic. Your friends will surely talk about it. I would like to tell you why it's better than the fingerprint scanner, but I don't know yet."

Continuum - has your smartphone become a computer?

Another Microsoft idea for Windows Phone is the Continuum feature. The idea is simple: connect your smartphone to an external display and use it like a PC. Universal apps for Windows 10 automatically adjust to the new resolution. You can even connect a mouse and keyboard! The output is a real computer. At the same time, the smartphone does not cease to be a smartphone - it still receives calls and notifications. And if there is an outlet nearby, then you don’t have to think about the operating time - we connect the charging (especially since we now have Quick Charge) and use it as much as we need.

In the case of Continuum, there are two connection options. The first one is the Microsoft Display Dock ($99), the second one is a wireless connection via Miracast. For non-Miracast displays, Microsoft recommends a third-party adapter called the Actiontec ScreenBeam Mini2 - Continuum Edition ($67). Recommendations should be followed - as you know, in the case of Miracast, the adapter is different for the adapter.

Continuum works very well. Rubino connected the Lumia 950 XL to a 4K display (though output is limited to Full HD) and a wireless ergonomic keyboard from Microsoft. Now you can use the following applications:

Office (Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Excel);
Mail and Calendar;
Microsoft Edge browser;
MSN News, Weather, Sports, Money;
Photos, Groove Music, Movies & TV, Shop, Messaging, Skype Video, People.

Continuum also runs third-party apps that use the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). These include: a beta version of the new Windows Central app, Tweetium, Homeboy, Baconit, and Trakter. Classic Windows apps are not yet supported, but that may change as early as next year.

It is worth noting that typing on a Bluetooth keyboard is accompanied by a slight delay. If you type directly from the screen of the Lumia 950, everything will be fine.

You can find fault with various little things exactly until the moment when you realize: in fact, your phone has just brought a desktop operating system to your monitor, you can connect a Bluetooth keyboard to it, and use your smartphone as a trackpad! At least from a technical point of view, this is just fantastic.

Of course, the question inevitably arises: "And who will use it?". Rubino is sure that there can be quite a few use cases.

Presentations in the office;
You need to work on a business trip (in a hotel room, but you don’t have a laptop with you or you want a big screen);
Students who want to save money;
People returning from work who want to always have the right applications and data at hand;
Internet cafe (this, of course, is already sometime in the future).

“But I can't call Continuum a serious argument for the average user. This is not a killer feature for most people; it is a powerful but niche tool. There is no need for it - for many years all data has been stored in the cloud, so you can work from any computer ... I am sure that the Continuum model is the future. I can imagine a world where our smartphones are our main computers and everything else is just displays. But that time has not yet come. Today Continuum is a potential innovation, but only in theory and only for a few.”

Application problem

Unfortunately, writes Rubino, at the end of 2015, the situation with available applications in some sense became even worse than before. Large banks and popular services are abandoning the platform. True, there is also a replenishment - Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pandora, FitBit, and Ring settle down on WP.

Windows 10 and its Universal Windows Platform (UWP) should - in theory - fix things. Developers will be able to write one application and offer it immediately on PC, smartphones, tablets and even Xbox One (in 2016). The popular Baconit app even works on HoloLens! But for now, everything is just beginning with UWP - and whether it will work out in the end, we don’t know.

Daniel reminds that the problem with applications on Windows Phone is not their number.

“Can Windows 10 Mobile offer the right just for you applications?"

Everyone has one or more programs, without which a person cannot imagine his life. Rubino himself is a fan of mixed martial arts and is eager to get a universal UFC app, also without Snapchat [messaging app with attached photos and videos, after 1-10 seconds the “snap” message disappears]. If you also like this, it is very difficult for you to recommend the Lumia 950.

“As an operating system, Windows 10 Mobile is very good, but there is still a lot missing here. There is no panorama in the camera, no native payment system like Apple Pay, and some interface inconsistencies make Windows 10 Mobile, ahem, incomplete. Even Microsoft Edge has no more than 75% of the features compared to Safari or Chrome.”

The good news is that now we do not have to wait for the next update for six months or a year. The new “Windows as a service” software distribution model assumes that the operating system is constantly evolving and receives frequent updates. Windows 10 desktop just received a major update just three months after launch - that's impressive. The same is likely to happen with Windows 10 Mobile. It remains to be seen how often Microsoft is willing to release updates, and what role operators will play in this.

“I love Windows 10 Mobile and feel that Microsoft Design Language (MDL) is moving in the right direction. The OS is minimalistic and still places a lot of emphasis on information and content… But I don't know how Windows 10 Mobile will be received by the general public.”

The new version of Microsoft's mobile OS, writes Rubino, is still a mystery. Microsoft has a unique vision of the market and the corresponding tools - one operating system "for everything", a single platform for applications. All this is already working, all this can already be held in your hands. But most of the strengths of Windows 10 will only really come to light in the future.

“Guys, this is just the beginning, but you have to decide if you want to come on board now or wait to see how things work out in the next six months. Unfortunately, iOS and Android are relentless express trains that are constantly innovating and improving their systems, so it's very hard to recommend the Lumia 950 to switchers right now. ed.]".

20 interesting facts about Microsoft Lumia 950

The smartphone ships with Windows 10 Mobile build 10586;
Visual voicemail is quite finicky, requiring a few attempts to get into it;
There is no double-tap to wake up, but there is a double-tap to turn off;
Glance is supported, Peek is gone, now only intervals can be set;
To record video in Rich Recording, the smartphone has 4 HAAC microphones;
Qi-charging is supported, the version for the AT&T operator additionally supports the PMA standard;
Hey, Cortana is enabled and works when the display is off;
Now you can record telephone conversations;
The display is protected by Gorilla Glass 3 (Lumia 950 XL has GG 4);
The amount of free space out of the box is about 29.5 GB;
38 apps will ask you to update them;
Works great with Microsoft Band 2 (including Cortana support)
The Lumia 950 doesn't have liquid cooling;
During operation, the smartphone does not get hot, but with very active use, you will feel a noticeable warmth in your hand; the temperature is distributed very evenly;
There are third-party covers from Mozo;
The external speaker is decent, but far from ideal;
The quality of telephone conversations is acceptable;
It was not possible to connect to the 2013 Honda Accord audio system via USB, but everything worked via Bluetooth;
Daniel saw the "resume" screen only when working with Skype Video;
In terms of performance, the smartphone is similar to the Lumia 1520 and Lumia 930 on Windows 10 Mobile. "Heavy" use cases like Rich Capture, of course, work faster on the Lumia 950.

Should I take it?

Potential Lumia 950 buyers are divided into two groups: fans of Windows Phone and Windows 10, who share the views of Microsoft, and everyone else.

The first ones don't have much to think about - the Lumia 950 is the device they've always dreamed of. She knows how to do everything (well, except that she doesn’t make coffee). Support for microSD memory cards, wireless charging, a fast processor, a capacious battery, a great display and perhaps the best mobile camera to date, four Rich Recording microphones, call recording ... There are a lot of arguments in favor.

Cons include the lack of a double-tap to wake up, the status of Windows Hello as a beta, the fact that Hello doesn't have any special advantages on the fingerprint scanner, and the loudspeaker clearly leaves much to be desired. Well, honestly, the design as a whole turned out to be very insipid. It's not bad, no, it's just not inspiring and very pragmatic.

"Like work pants."

The battery life of the Lumia 950 is very good. Compared to Android, the smartphone has excellent battery life in standby mode. If you forget to charge the device at night, then in the morning you will not be met by a “killed” device. Rubino has a BlackBerry Priv - one day at 8 pm he (even without a SIM card) had 95% of the charge, and the next morning he had only 7% left.

If you are thinking about waiting for something more interesting, then keep in mind that there will be no more top-end smartphones on Windows 10 Mobile until the end of next year (except from third-party manufacturers).

As a Windows Phone user and a fan of Windows 10 Mobile, Rubino strongly recommends that people buy the Lumia 950—if they love Microsoft, of course.

"I've been using it as my main device for the last week and I'm sure I'll continue to use it in the future."

For iOS and Android owners, Daniel offers to understand what exactly is important for them in their device. If apps matter—the newest, the most exciting, the most valuable—then moving to Windows 10 Mobile will be very difficult. For her, banking applications are reluctant to release; besides, there is no Snapchat, as well as a universal application for the UFC and the Five Guys restaurant. Maybe the situation with applications will change for the better - or maybe not.

For the sake of the camera, of course, you can buy a Lumia 950 - the result will impress you. But in practice, few are guided by such a criterion when choosing. The same can be said about Continuum. While Windows Hello and the iris scanner are cool, they are no better than the fingerprint sensors in the new iPhone 6s and Nexus. And, of course, the design is practical, but without a hint of beauty.

“I encourage you to take a closer look at the Lumia 950 live. Look at the pictures that people will definitely share. Evaluate how useful Continuum might be for some people. But ultimately the Lumia 950 is still a very bold choice for someone who isn't a Microsoft fan."

Final Thoughts

The Microsoft Lumia 950 takes the best of Windows 10 Mobile and is 100% made for the fans - they got exactly what Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella gave them in July.

Lumia 950 is a very good smartphone. Its only drawback is the lack of applications (and some services, for example, payment services like Apple Pay). A stunning display, a great camera, and a long-lasting battery let you do a lot. But in 2015, when choosing a new device, you can no longer discount the app ecosystem.

“The Lumia 950 is a top-notch smartphone, but not the best, and in 2015, it takes just that to beat the competition. Microsoft fans will love it, but the rest of the world will look at it with curiosity and nothing more.
On the other hand, if Microsoft just wants to please its fans, the Lumia 950 will succeed. I myself will use the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL since I'm all about Windows 10, but I realize that I'm part of an ever-dwindling user community. Microsoft has great ideas, but they can still do better."