[Real Users] My Lumia 950 Review

[decider]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

I was prepared to buy the phone which was Saturday December 12, but can you tell me why anyconnect is not showing up in the store like it always does for my 640? But when I could not get anyconnect app to show on that demo phone, I paused.

 

[NearDenver]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

AnyConnect works great for me on my 950xl.

 

[decider]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

How did you get it. On my 640 I got it from the store. When I was working the demo unit at Best Buy anyconnect never showed up

 

[NearDenver]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

Must be a restriction of the store units. When I search the store, it's the first match.
Could try searching"cisco" in the store.

 

[Aamod Potdar]

Re: My Quick Review of the 950

i wear glasses which have power of around -2.5 D and Windows Hello Works perfectly for me. During initial setup I was asked to remove the glasses but its recognizes me perfectly fine. There are times where Windows Hello can authenticate me when I in bed with pitch black darkness. Its a 50-50 in dark. Screen should be bright enough to lit up your eyes.

 

[Aamod Potdar]

Re: My Quick Review of the 950

Random question: do you wear glasses? Does it work with glasses? I know someone who said that with glasses on they can't really get it to work. If that's the case, it becomes useless to me. Or at least a pain to have to lift up or remove my glasses to unlock it. Might as well use a PIN if it won't work with glasses on.

i wear glasses which have power of around -2.5 D and Windows Hello Works perfectly for me. During initial setup I was asked to remove the glasses but its recognizes me perfectly fine. There are times where Windows Hello can authenticate me when I in bed with pitch black darkness. Its a 50-50 in dark. Screen should be bright enough to lit up your eyes. I havent tried improve recognition with glasses on as others suggested.

 

[jdballard]

Re: My Quick Review of the 950

i wear glasses which have power of around -2.5 D and Windows Hello Works perfectly for me. During initial setup I was asked to remove the glasses but its recognizes me perfectly fine. There are times where Windows Hello can authenticate me when I in bed with pitch black darkness. Its a 50-50 in dark. Screen should be bright enough to lit up your eyes. I havent tried improve recognition with glasses on as others suggested.

Now that I have the 950XL, it definitely works and I can't explain why people have issues because it works great for me. I get that in order to set it up many need their glasses to read the instructions, but you're supposed to do it without glasses on first - kind of a catch-22. I'm sure that's workable, though, just read the instructions then take your glasses off or have someone help you.

But it works really well for me. Someone in a thread somewhere said that it matters where you look. Very, very true. I usually focus to the right of the red light, between the red light and "Microsoft". Occasionally I'll have to move it a bit closer, but not unnaturally close and it works.

 

[oldpueblo]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

I wonder if something simple like having no anti-glare coating or the auto-tint on glasses can affect it. That could explain the disparity.

 

[Aamod Potdar]

Re: My Quick Review of the 950

Now that I have the 950XL, it definitely works and I can't explain why people have issues because it works great for me. I get that in order to set it up many need their glasses to read the instructions, but you're supposed to do it without glasses on first - kind of a catch-22. I'm sure that's workable, though, just read the instructions then take your glasses off or have someone help you.

But it works really well for me. Someone in a thread somewhere said that it matters where you look. Very, very true. I usually focus to the right of the red light, between the red light and "Microsoft". Occasionally I'll have to move it a bit closer, but not unnaturally close and it works.

When trying improve recognition I prefer scanning with my glasses on. Yeah , as mentioned earlier initial setup I did without glasses but now I do with glasses on.

I remember reading somewhere where a user complained of having slight headache due to IR light. Well initially I thought it could be just physiological but even I notice mild discomfort if I look right into the red IR light.

For me the sweet spot is just below the Microsoft logo or to be precise the "looking for you" text appears. It works very well. I dont get headaches as its not too close to IR light and looks pretty natural.

PS : I keep scanning my eyes when I get bored plus its fun

 

[zorbabic]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

Hate to X post, so take a look at the things that bug me about the 950 in Bugs/Defect thread, post #242

 

[erichuyn]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

Hi new here and since it's one of the biggest sources of W10M info I thought I pen my view down here for people and maybe tips.

Coming from an iPhone 5 which has served me very well the last 2-3 years. Why I wanted to try the 950?

• Bit more display real estate
• CameraCameraCamera
• outlook/onedrive/MS integration
• Continium
• Good review of previous WM versions

So I've had mine since 16-12 and have to decide before 30-12 if it's going back.
It's on the 10586.36 OS version.

The good:

• The camera is great at making pictures in almost any lighting.
• The screen is amazing!
• The OS is snappy and the live tiles are flexibel and handy.
• The design for me is nice and it's build well.
• Almost all the apps I use are available and work okay to good. Layout does take a little getting used to.
• Call quality is very decent.
• OS updates like iOS, no waiting for the manufacturer!
• Charging is very fast, although only from a wall outlet.
• Hardware specs are good.
• With my use I know average about a day to a day and a half on a charge. Although it took almost a week before the 950 got there. Maybe less fiddling with it now, or less or better updates?

The bad:

• Camera focus is sometimes confused and not focusing right even when selecting a manual focuspoint.
• No possibilty to favorites or folders within mailboxes in the linked inbox. Or any other possibilty to have notifications on them.
• Solved: Edge only has Bing as search provider.
• No Google Maps app although that's more of an Google thing
• You can set swiping as a delete action, but not for SMS messaging?! There you have to long press.
• Copy/paste doesn't seem to work everywhere. Sometimes it's long press, sometimes an icon above the keyboard?!
• Inconsistency in OS, details for example are sometimes ... sometimes hamburger menu etc.
• Calendar items open on the details page, but for details like reminder time etc I have to press the ... 'detail' menu at the bottom.
• For me the 950 is just a little bit too wide. I don't have very small hands but compared to the S6 which is a couple of mm narrower I just can't get a nice grip on the 950.

The ugly:

• The time it takes between taking a picture and getting the final result in the app.
• Mobile tethering to my TomTom Rider 400 to use the data connection does not work!
  It's supposed to be able to switch to Mobile Hotspot by itself, but it can't most of the time. Only when I'm in that menu or something which means I have to switch the Mobile Hotspot toggle manually every time!
• Edge is really bad at webpage layout, where android and iOS focus nicely on text etc in Edge it zooms out very far because of some styling element I think. Double tap to focus on text works sometimes, though not very well.
• In Egde some webpages tend to be very stuttering. The dropdowns on the Ryanair site for example are totally fluid on iOS but stutter away on the 950.
• Outlook mail also has a formatting issue. Mails with picture headers or something zoom out so you see the entire header and leave you with a tiny column of text to read.

The meh:

• Windows hello, it works okay. However I don't get the point, it's just a tad too slow compared to the modern finger print scanners. They are finished by the time the device is in front of me. The 950 then has to start looking at my eyes. If the devices is on my desk, I have to go and pick it up or hover above it to unlock. Sure you can use the PIN the but then why use hello anyway?!
  Also it does not work while on the move. I have to stop, let it unlock and the continue.
  Maybe it's personal but I prefer the fingerprint things.

I really wanted to be able to keep the 950. Al tough most my gripes seem small, they're too annoying to live with for me.
I'll probably be trying the Samsung S6 or Nexus 5X after returning the 950 next week. The iPhone 6S has just gone to a point at which I can't really get myself to pay that kind of money for a phone.

Edit:
Point below works! Egde now with google as search provider. Hopefully my biggest issue, the mobile hotspot setting, will also find a solution.

 

[Roderick Aspiras]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

No. Edge can use Google but its tricky. You have to go to google.com first and then go to options/advance...you should see Google there as a replacement to Bing search.

 

[cactuspete23]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

Thanks for the all the great phone reviews

 

[Luc Vo Van]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

Thanks for the review!

 

[Cindy Evans1]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

I just got my 950 2 days ago, and I am still fiddling with it, discovering new stuff. Transferring contacts (1200 +) was a breeze, and just took a couple of minutes. Setting up the work Outlook email was a little tougher. Having said all that, I fell in love at first sight with my 950. Yes, the back of the phone is plasticky but the 950 is so much lighter than the 920 that I was using. I like the interface, and everything is nicely ordered. The phone (and W10) is much 'smarter' now. Iris scanning works well in the day but can be a hassle if you were trying to use it while driving or when the environment is dark.

 

[Tiiger88]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 Detailed Review

huuh, i was really frustrated until today when i discovered how to get notifications so that the screen doesn't wake up. It now notifies me, makes a mark on lock screen and glance screen also. Most of my notifications is from telegram app. So i did this:

Settings>System>Notifications

Scrolled to telegram and clicked. On there i shut off "Display notifications bar" Only option i left active is "Notifications".

And yes, now i'm really happy, and when notifications arrive, there is no big impact to battery drain as well
At first i thought the notification icon dont show up glance screen, but after notification arrives, it takes 30 sec or so. This is just more perfect phone now

 

[mariusmuntean]

My view over the Lumia 950 and W10 Mobile

Hello guys,
After using my L950 for a month and a half I have reached a few conclusions. I was a long time windows phone user, with 820,920,928,1020,930,1520 from which I've had more than once a model. I have switched in the past two years from platform to platform and compared all the things: good and bad.
This time I've decided to ditch my S6 Edge and try the 950 as my local operator was selling it already unlocked. So I did and for the past month I've been testing it within all aspects while also comparing to my old 1020, which still is alive and going well.

Unfortunately, I have some bad points about both 950 and Windows 10 Mobile. But let me start with the good stuff first:
The phone is very nice despite it's not all metal or glass. It's slim and weights much less than the s6 Edge. The display is gorgeous with great colors, crisp text display and very good viewing angle. The camera continues to be a strong point although it has a problem which I'll detail here. Audio quality with headphones is very good, call quality is ok without any issues.
Now with the bad parts, and here most are related to the fact that MS doesn't seem to give a damn about respecting it's loyal customers:

• Wifi performance is terrible. On the same network with an ipad, iphone 6 and a galaxy note 5 my L950 scored 18mbps down, while the other scored over 80mbps!
• Quiet hours automatic rule doesn't work ok. Most of the time the option does not kick in or out.
• Outlook Email app renders the emails in Word resulting in bad viewing for 99% of the emails
• Even with a super speed microSD card the actual read/write on it is slowww!!! and also the phone itself runs slower with the card inserted.Tried formatting it in several ways, nothing positive!
• Indoor pictures get an excessive processing. Too much HDR, contrast is applied although RichCaptur is off. Photos come out darkened, colors darkened somehow.
• Edge browser sometimes reboots the phone and works slow, way too slow compared to IE on my 1020 on 8.1
• Facebook app, while new, still has issues and it's slow
• Call & SMS Blocker sometimes refuse to actually filter what I've set to filter
• Dark scenes in movies have artefacts! lol
• Overall the OS is slow, lags here and there, apps crash for no reason or refuse to load the content.

Above I've listed also issues related to the OS besides ones related directly to the phone. As you can see, the phone itself is very good, but the entire OS on it is a total mess! Say what you wanna say, but this is no way to release a phone to the public, with such a buggy OS. I am an Insider and I know about it, that is why I still keep my 1020, to test, but I cannot accept my main phone to be running a buggy OS, such a buggy OS, not anymore!
I am simply tired of the same story all over again: wait for it to come, wait for the fix, it will be fixed next time....while I am happy using a beta product for which I've paid the same amount of cash as for any other smartphone. I've paid for a working product, not for a test device, and this is why I've returned it. Everybody is saying how big MS is as a company. Yes, they are huge, not big, and still are not capable of delivering a working OS, a good, bug free OS. why? If anyone has any sense, can figure it out why. Because they do not care for the W10 Mobile to be a total success.It's impossible after a whole year of development, to still have a buggy OS! With so many bugs. It's a clear sign that Nadella doesn't care at all about the mobile division, hence the layoffs, and I've heard more will come in the same department.All that guy can think of is cutting costs, he seems obsessed about this. He killed what ever MS had nice in the mobile division. I've grown tired of defending MS...when they simply serve us nothing more than illusions. MS released the two 950s rushed, like they were nothing, just for the fans. Sorry but I do not feel respected at all by MS as a customer and a fan with such a terrible experience.
Now the update to 10 for the other models is delayed, some say until February, some say it will go beyond Feb. It's clear why, it's so buggy that it does not work on the older devices as it should, and as the carriers will control the update from 8.1 to 10, imagine what will happen if a buggy build is sent to the carriers for testing? they will reject it, they do not care and do not have the patience to "just wait for the next update"! I have managed to speak to a mobile technician from my local operator. they have the 10 .29 and 10 .63 in testing, and he told me that it does not reach their quality for release standars and it's not even close for the older models: 640,640XL,1020,920,1320,535,930 and 635 and by the looks, they expect the testing period to extend until mid summer this year.
I will keep my 1020 because it runs well and it has a great camera, but I won;t update it to 10 until a year from now. it runs perfectly on 8.1 as it is, maybe I'll try the insider from time to time, but to use it on 10 as it is now...never!

 

[Woodchuck3400]

My month with the Lumia 950

I just complete 1 month with the Lumia 950 and here is my review/concerns.

Just a little background. I started with Windows Mobile 6 with the Samsung Omnia, Lumia 820, Lumia 920, Lumia 1020, Lumia 830 and finally the 950. I was very happy with the Lumia 830. Everything worked. I had that phantom restart/shut down on the 1020 which was frustrating but was fixed with Windows 8.1.

I was very hesitant to get the 950. I liked the specs, the look of the phone with the Mozo cover and I was due for an upgrade. Still, $600 bucks was a lot for a phone that I know will be available for half that in a few months. Fate pushed me to buy it however when my son dropped and smashed his 830. Easy enough, I would just give him mine and buy the 950 guilt free.

First of all, I love the hardware on this phone. The IRIS scanner is just a hair slower than it probably needs to be, but it has potential. It?s usually fast, has a fantastic display and perfect size for me. The quick charge feature works as advertised and is phenomenal. I personally like the new Outlook email and calendar clients, although not everyone does. The camera is also as good as most reviewers say.

The OS is a major problem for me. There are apps that won?t work, prime among them for me is the Insteon app. Bing Vision is also gone, which I really thought was handy. The Facebook app doesn?t seem to want to update. I can always see posts from a week ago though. Some apps just won?t work at all and crash when you open them. This shouldn?t be a big deal, but we are already working with less apps then most people.

I loved Cortana on my 830 and thought it would be great to have her on the 950 with the ?Hey Cortana? capability. Truth is, she is moody at best on 10 mobile. I can?t get her to pull up songs from my Grove collection and she instead insists on searching the internet for songs. It used to be, that while playing songs, I could hit the Cortana button to respond to a text. Now she pauses the music for a split second, then resumes it, then says she can?t hear me over the music.

Aside from Cortana, what is supposed to set Windows Phone apart from other OSes is Live Tiles. I love the look and feel of Windows Mobile, always have. Live Tiles do not work well in Windows 10 mobile. As I sit here, I can tell you that Facebook is still showing the same 2 updates I?ve had for weeks, Messenger is showing the same unread message I read last week, Email is slow to update, and my pinned contacts show now updates with the number of texts and phone calls I missed. Those 2 are Microsoft apps. The Weather Channel app and Windows Central do work well though.

Custom ringtones don?t seem to want to work either. Frequently, I?m not getting a tone with new texts. My phone occasionally restarts itself and sometimes it just freezes. I have noticed that after I connect to my Plantronics headset, everything seems to move slower and the screen seems dimmer, even after turning off Bluetooth. The only remedy seems to be a soft reset. This does not seem to happen with me Bose wireless speaker or the BT in my car.

1 of my Nokia wireless charging stands, doesn?t seem to like this phone. The other 2 are fine as is the car charger, but you have to place it carefully. I think the Qi charging coil is just a bit hire the previous Lumias. For some reason, when downloading my backup, the 950 decided it didn?t like my texts from 2015, so make sure you transfer those manually. I didn?t have the time to do that and trusted my cloud backup would work, I was wrong.

The voice dictation and text prediction that I thought was awesome on the 830, do not have the same zip on the 950. It frequently picks the wrong words, even though I can see it dictating exactly what I said at times, it chooses a different final answer.

I scoured over the forums here before I decided to hold off on purchasing my 950. Then my son forced my hand. If anyone out there is in the same situation as far as being on the fence, all I can say is please wait until the price comes down to $300. You won?t feel so bad about the purchase. I may just cut my losses and make my son swap phones.

Has anyone out there experienced better performance on their 950 with the Insider program? At this point, as long as email and text work, I figure it can?t be worse. Microsoft sure better get this Surface Phone right or I guess I?ll have to start looking at Androids.

 

[Cosmyc]

Re: My month with the Lumia 950

Yes, the experience with today's latest insider build it's definitely better, it just needs a few software updates, it's a fantastic phone.

 

[vhl71]

Re: My month with the Lumia 950

I've had my first windows phone Lumia 950 for almost 2 weeks now. Not experiencing the issues you've mentioned here - live tiles work all the time with messages and emails.

Only today, I noticed that I couldn't hear the phone calls in normal mode, when I go to speaker it was working. Reboot fixed the issue

Other than that everything seems to be fine



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