Hands-on Experiences with the 950XL

[Kole Zivic]

I have 520 about two years,and i am feeling happy,but now have 735 and this is huge jump forward,Hoppe that some day will have 950,this is the best looking phone,but the camera on lumias is something that is rocking all smartphones,with Carl Zeiss,and of course wp,very fluid os!

 

[HoosierDaddy]

in my opinion, it's a better thing to by the phone with a carrier at 200$ or less with a 2 year contract then at full price a 849 CAD...

it's not avery body which have this much money available for a phone...

I understand its your opinion. My neighbor's opinion is that smoking doesn't effect your health. The amount of water an opinion holds varies greatly.

First, you do not necessarily pay less for the phone if you pay $200 up front and then a bunch every month for two years. BUT you definitely have all the following downsides:

If you want to get rid of that phone any time in the 2 years, you are screwed. Maybe you move to somewhere the carrier doesn't service, maybe you fall on hard times and can't afford the monthly fees, maybe you fall head over heels in love with some new killer phone from left field.

If you OWN your phone, none of those are a problem. You simply SELL the phone you no longer want or need and move on.

Now I understand you may not believe or don't comprehend that those things could ever happen to you but that's the same kind of logic that people who eschew seat-belts use.

Then there are the issues with carriers delaying or denying updates or otherwise crippling a device (less memory, no Qi charging, etc.).

If you can afford to pay $200 up front and pay a monthly fee to some carrier for 2 years, you should be able to put all but $200 on your CC and avoid all the downsides of carrying a contract phone from your carrier. And you'll save a bunch on things like damage insurance. Carriers charge a fortune for that while other phone retailers will sell a 2 year zero deductible for about what the carrier will charge you for a few months.

Don't be a slave to a carrier.

 

[oldpueblo]

One of the huge benefits of using windows phone for me is the MS store insurance. $100 up front and $50 deductible when you break your device. That's overall lower than the cost of insurance through a carrier, and no shipping and receiving a refurbished device in return. You just walk in and get a new phone the same day. If they don't have your phone in stock they let you choose another device, which can be leveraged into a new phone sometimes. At the end of the day think of it like this, if you break your phone instead of getting nothing you get the chance to buy the same phone for only "$150".

 

[Dush Ku]

It had glance but I couldn't figure out how to get the double tap to wake to work.

 

[Wyn6]

Double tap to wake has to be turned on in the settings.

 

[TexasLabRat]

The only thing that I didn't like about the phone was the razor sharp edges on the buttons. You can almost shave with those things. I'm still going to get one..but I have to wonder who thought that was a good idea ergonomically.

 

[Ben Schmidt1]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

The only thing missing is a notification led light. That would be the cherry on top of the whipped cream. Yummy.:winktongue:

Nope. Please don't add that cheap red notification light. That's what the Glance feature is for. I don't want the world knowing whether or not I have unanswered notifications.

 

[anon(631531)]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

Nope. Please don't add that cheap red notification light. That's what the Glance feature is for. I don't want the world knowing whether or not I have unanswered notifications.

HaHa. I like a green notification light, and i don't care about the world, i want to know about whether or not i have notifications without having to open the phone to "glance" at the screen.:winktongue:

 

[MikeSo]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

HaHa. I like a green notification light, and i don't care about the world, i want to know about whether or not i have notifications without having to open the phone to "glance" at the screen.:winktongue:

You don't have to "open" the phone for Glance. It's always there, just like a light.

 

[anon(631531)]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

You don't have to "open" the phone for Glance. It's always there, just like a light.

OK, so when the email hits the phone, i can hear the notification. Does the screen stay on until i actually open the phone, or is it just for five or ten seconds?:winktongue:

 

[oldpueblo]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

OK, so when the email hits the phone, i can hear the notification. Does the screen stay on until i actually open the phone, or is it just for five or ten seconds?:winktongue:

Assuming it's as customizable as before, yes. You can set it to never be on, peek which is it kicks on with movement, or just always on. In the 950 announcement he did mention it uses 0 battery life, so I think I'll just leave mine on all the time instead of peek.



Glance Screen | Windows Central

 

[Sedp23]

I understand its your opinion. My neighbor's opinion is that smoking doesn't effect your health. The amount of water an opinion holds varies greatly.

First, you do not necessarily pay less for the phone if you pay $200 up front and then a bunch every month for two years. BUT you definitely have all the following downsides:

If you want to get rid of that phone any time in the 2 years, you are screwed. Maybe you move to somewhere the carrier doesn't service, maybe you fall on hard times and can't afford the monthly fees, maybe you fall head over heels in love with some new killer phone from left field.

If you OWN your phone, none of those are a problem. You simply SELL the phone you no longer want or need and move on.

Now I understand you may not believe or don't comprehend that those things could ever happen to you but that's the same kind of logic that people who eschew seat-belts use.

Then there are the issues with carriers delaying or denying updates or otherwise crippling a device (less memory, no Qi charging, etc.).

If you can afford to pay $200 up front and pay a monthly fee to some carrier for 2 years, you should be able to put all but $200 on your CC and avoid all the downsides of carrying a contract phone from your carrier. And you'll save a bunch on things like damage insurance. Carriers charge a fortune for that while other phone retailers will sell a 2 year zero deductible for about what the carrier will charge you for a few months.

Don't be a slave to a carrier.

Who does a 2 year zero deductible?

 

[anon(631531)]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

Assuming it's as customizable as before, yes. You can set it to never be on, peek which is it kicks on with movement, or just always on. In the 950 announcement he did mention it uses 0 battery life, so I think I'll just leave mine on all the time instead of peek.

View attachment 114189

Glance Screen | Windows Central

OK. So coming from Android, this is all new to me. Let me give you a scenario. I can set an email tone for my notifications, right? Now, if i use "always on", when i wake in the morning, my forty or fifty emails will be on the screen or the corresponding number of emails will be on the screen, right? This change is being forced upon me, by my company, and i'm not a big fan of change. That being said, i want to learn all i can, so i'll be ready by the new year. It doesn't look good, if the manager knows less than the workers.:winktongue:

 

[camptime]

Quick question for someone who has seen both the black and white 950 xl, What would be your choice of colour?
No sign of the new phones coming to Thailand before Christmas so might order one online In Australia so I can have it when I head home for Xmas mid December. Probably not going to matter much though as those new Mozo cases are to good to resist.

 

[narv]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

OK. So coming from Android, this is all new to me. Let me give you a scenario. I can set an email tone for my notifications, right? Now, if i use "always on", when i wake in the morning, my forty or fifty emails will be on the screen or the corresponding number of emails will be on the screen, right? This change is being forced upon me, by my company, and i'm not a big fan of change. That being said, i want to learn all i can, so i'll be ready by the new year. It doesn't look good, if the manager knows less than the workers.:winktongue:

The glance screen is a "lite" version of your locked screen. It will show you an email icon with the number of notifications next to it. You can set which apps show their notification count (and in which order) on the lock screen. But glance is otherwise just that, a quick peak at your lock screen.

So in your scenario, you have your "ding" sound each time you get an email (or once an hour or whatever your settings are). And if you wish to disable that via quiet hours since you probably don't want it waking you up since your scenario is "when I wake in the morning". So you look over at your always on phone, which is a very dim but easy to see (the way they light the pixels) and you see the time, and the mail icon in the mail icon spot with a 40 next to it. So you know you have 40 notifications. Then since "glance" is basically your phone being off but also on (difficult concept if you haven't used it). You then can turn your phone on with double tap, power button, etc. Then unlock or whatever and go to the mail app (or go to the notification center and see your emails and act accordingly).

Hope that helped. Sorry if I misunderstood your question.

 

[anon(631531)]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

The glance screen is a "lite" version of your locked screen. It will show you an email icon with the number of notifications next to it. You can set which apps show their notification count (and in which order) on the lock screen. But glance is otherwise just that, a quick peak at your lock screen.

So in your scenario, you have your "ding" sound each time you get an email (or once an hour or whatever your settings are). And if you wish to disable that via quiet hours since you probably don't want it waking you up since your scenario is "when I wake in the morning". So you look over at your always on phone, which is a very dim but easy to see (the way they light the pixels) and you see the time, and the mail icon in the mail icon spot with a 40 next to it. So you know you have 40 notifications. Then since "glance" is basically your phone being off but also on (difficult concept if you haven't used it). You then can turn your phone on with double tap, power button, etc. Then unlock or whatever and go to the mail app (or go to the notification center and see your emails and act accordingly).

Hope that helped. Sorry if I misunderstood your question.

Thank you for the explanation. I think that i can work with that set-up.:winktongue:

 

[bo_woods]

Quick question for someone who has seen both the black and white 950 xl, What would be your choice of colour?
No sign of the new phones coming to Thailand before Christmas so might order one online In Australia so I can have it when I head home for Xmas mid December. Probably not going to matter much though as those new Mozo cases are to good to resist.

I would go for white! I love the way the Glossy Black Front Glass Panel Contrasts with the white body of the 950 XL like on the 928... Also the silver aluminum details look better with the white IMO...

But like you said, it doesn't matter. You can always get both back plus some Mozo shells...

I personally wish Mozo would sell these metal rimmed Housings with polycarbonate backs like the 930... I dislike the leather look.

 

[michail71]

Not as bad as I thought

I just handled one at the store. Unfortunately they couldn't demo Hello but otherwise it wasn't as bad as people at making it out to be. They claimed the retina scan is faster than entering a pin.

I did notice something funny. The demo unit had the people app on the small tile. Not sure if that is on purpose to hide those animated tiles.

 

[narv]

Quick question for someone who has seen both the black and white 950 xl, What would be your choice of colour?
No sign of the new phones coming to Thailand before Christmas so might order one online In Australia so I can have it when I head home for Xmas mid December. Probably not going to matter much though as those new Mozo cases are to good to resist.

I've had a white 920 this whole time.. and the white 950 looks really good. But I currently have my eye on that red and gold mozo back..

 

[ALpHa.Q.RoUgH]

Quick question for someone who has seen both the black and white 950 xl, What would be your choice of colour?
No sign of the new phones coming to Thailand before Christmas so might order one online In Australia so I can have it when I head home for Xmas mid December. Probably not going to matter much though as those new Mozo cases are to good to resist.

Just came from a Microsoft store earlier today. I preordered the black, with the reason being that it looked better and look more uniformed. The 950XL with the white cover looks odd with the black front and the white back, it doesn't look as uniform as the old phones like the 920 or the 1020 that came in white could be the design.

On a side note, I went to the mall today in preparation of getting a 128gb Iphone 6S plus for $44 a month and instead left with a preorder for the 950 XL even though it has no release date. I played with it today and it just felt so familiar and smooth and the camera is hella improved from my 1520. On the demo model I couldn't find where to do live photos at.