Canadians! Who's got their 950 XL?

[mythos13]

My pre-order from the MS Store has been in the "In Progress" state since ordered last week.

 

[BBJonbo]

I went to WEM at 10:30am this morning. They said they had no inventory but it was coming in later in the day. They had no clue how many pre-orders they had to fill or how many they would receive so couldn't state whether there would be any beyond pre-orders. They said to call back as they wouldn't take my number and I couldn't leave a deposit to hold 2 950XLs. I have tried to phone the WEM store so often and get the call center which of course is not in Canada and gives bogus info. Knowing it would be near impossible to actually phone and get someone at the store I decided to call the Southgate MS Kiosk.

To my delight they had 1 available for general sale. I drove down immediately and got there in time and actually was able to buy 2. There was a lady there that cancelled her pre-order that was held at the kiosk as her credit card from the Microsoft Canada On-line Store charged her for her on-line pre-order. Lucky me as I wanted to buy 1 for myself and 1 for my father for XMAS. Guess mine is a from-me to-me XMAS gift of sorts. Also decided to buy the Band 2 as an impulse buy.

I got the last 2 at Southgate and they too are suppose to get more stock this week. At least they answer the phone unlike WEM ( at least my experience ).

So call both before going there and good luck getting through at WEM.

 

[Thallanor]

Has anyone tested this phone on Telus? I think it should but I'd like to know for sure.

I'll be testing mine w/ Bell shortly. Same network, so I'll give an update.

 

[anthonyng]

I have the Lumia 930 as well. Out of curiosity since you have both which do you prefer overall in terms of build and functionality?

Still on first impressions only, honeymoon phase lol,

I miss the pillowy feel of the 930 glass, I liked the 920 feel too. The 950xl is pretty flat.

On my 930, I tired of the metal frame and the buttons for me were getting annoying cause of unevenness in how depressed they were.

I am a fan of how both the 920 and 930 feel very solid with heft. The 950xl surprises me in weight and thinness and the poly is more comfortable in the hand compared with the metal band on the 930. But I would still say I like the 930 more for the size and overall feel, heft. This is compared to out of the box though and I fully expect to change out the back cover so this would change depending on what I picked. But that's a good thing about removable back I guess. Make it your liking.

Even with the size difference, I found no trouble transitioning to the new size.... being able to adjust the keyboard is helpful. I like the metal buttons of the 950xl, it feels solid and you can really tell they are there.

I don't feel a difference going from hardware buttons to on screen buttons.

I don't feel regret in getting it, I don't feel like it's the most amazing transition either but happy so far nonetheless. I'll make use of that extra screen real estate soon enough

 

[vincentwansink]

Anybody know if there's any units to buy in west Ed? Also a normal 950

I picked up my pre-order phone there today. I'm assuming they have others in stock but I didn't ask.

 

[vincentwansink]

I just got back from the WEM Microsoft Store and picked up my pre-order Lumia 950XL. The lady there indicated that today they were only selling to those who pre-ordered. I never thought to ask when general sale would start, but I'm assuming within 1-2 days. Kinda knee-jerked and bought the essentials bundle and accidental damage coverage too... ouch. I'm hobbling a little bit now.

Wow. That extra coverage was an additional $99. I said no thanks to that one. :winktongue:

 

[Thallanor]

I don't think it'll affect most people one way or another, but my 950XL from the WEM Microsoft Store appears to be single SIM. I was kinda interested in dual, one for my business, one for personal, but meh, I'll survive.

 

[Thallanor]

Wow. That extra coverage was an additional $99. I said no thanks to that one. :winktongue:

Yeah, I think I'm hemmoraging internally right now. Then again, I tend to keep my phones a long time, and like the option that without a case, dropping it is less an issue (minus downtime, which I admit _is_ still money. But still!)

 

[Thallanor]

LOL! Whoops. I'm special. After trying to figure out how to put in my SIM, I finally pulled the battery. That's when I see both SIM1 and SIM2. Sorry. I'm a wee bit special today, it seems! Well, most days, really...

 

[anon(8966963)]

Do you guys think that the $99 Microsoft complete Warranty thing is worth it? I got it but might decide to forget about it and return it.... If that's even possible

 

[vincentwansink]

So, first impressions:

Hardware

• The screen quality is amazing
• Love that it's dual sim, cause I need a second line to separate personal from business.
• The camera takes amazing photos and is really fast too. The pics on my 1020 were looking rather pathetic with the W10M preview software.
• The phone is nice, thin and light but it's not gonna turn any heads by its appearance (at least not until I get that brown leather back with the white stitching).
• Call quality is good.

Software

• The first time setup experience is pretty slick, and the default start screen looks nice. I think new users to windows mobile will have a good first experience.
• Backup options were turned off by default, which I thought was kinda strange.
• Region, language and keyboard are all set to United States, which is also kinda strange.
• Windows HELLO works beautifully.
• Hey Cortana finally works for me. Could never get it to work on the preview versions of W10M.
• The END CALL button is bigger (taller) which is good cause on the preview versions it didn't seem very responsive and I was never sure if I touched it correctly.
• Everything is much more responsive than on the preview version of W10M, which is good cause on the preview version it still felt a little bit beta. Even the flashlight on/off is instantaneous.

All this is making me realize how old and slow my 1020 is.

 

[vincentwansink]

LOL! Whoops. I'm special. After trying to figure out how to put in my SIM, I finally pulled the battery. That's when I see both SIM1 and SIM2. Sorry. I'm a wee bit special today, it seems! Well, most days, really...

Ya, I was gonna correct you on that, but you figured it out. :wink:

 

[Thallanor]

Has anyone tested this phone on Telus? I think it should but I'd like to know for sure.

I have an LTE connection through Bell, so you should be alright with Telus.

 

[anthonyng]

Do you guys think that the $99 Microsoft complete Warranty thing is worth it? I got it but might decide to forget about it and return it.... If that's even possible

I got it cause I broke my 930, twice and no option for complete for that one. I repaired it myself for over $200 the first time. Never broke a screen before until the 930.... Now I have a bigger screen to break hahaha

 

[vincentwansink]

Do you guys think that the $99 Microsoft complete Warranty thing is worth it? I got it but might decide to forget about it and return it.... If that's even possible

That's an impossible question to answer. It's worth it if you ever need it, otherwise it's a waste of money.

Personally I always play the odds on things like this and the odds are in the retailer's favour so I (almost) always say no. If I had bought warranty on every tech item I'd ever bought I would've wasted a lot of money by now. The one time that I do break something it's still cheaper to replace that one item at full price than to buy warranty for every single item.

My only exception was the MS Band 2. The warranty on that was $39 (IIRC) and I figured with it swinging around on my wrist it might be more prone to damage, so I coughed up for that one.

 

[Thallanor]

Do you guys think that the $99 Microsoft complete Warranty thing is worth it? I got it but might decide to forget about it and return it.... If that's even possible

It is steep, but if you keep your phone for awhile (I've had my 1520 since it was released) and you prefer going without a case, it's likely a worthwhile investment.

 

[Thallanor]

Personally I always play the odds on things like this and the odds are in the retailer's favour so I (almost) always say no. If I had bought warranty on every tech item I'd ever bought I would've wasted a lot of money by now. The one time that I do break something it's still cheaper to replace that one item at full price than to buy warranty for every single item.

You're certainly right there. I've played the game both ways. Biggest "win" so far was a $10K extended warranty on a vehicle. Yeah, steep. But Had a drivetrain failure to the tune of $35K after 4 years. Without that warranty, I would have had to have left it parked.

But many add-on warranties are garbage. I bought a 1 TB Samsung Pro SSD which comes w/ a factory 10-year warranty. The store tried selling me their 3-year in-store warranty for $75 and couldn't understand why I wouldn't purchase that amazing deal.

 

[Thallanor]

All this is making me realize how old and slow my 1020 is.

I use my wife's Lumia 1020 w/ 8.1 and it seems alright, but I agree from what I've read of people running W10M, it was beginning to show it's age. Even my 1520 seems to churn with some tasks in W10M.

 

[vincentwansink]

Ya, I think 8.1 doesn't need as much horse power as 10 does.

 

[Thallanor]

I'm pretty happy having gotten the Incipio tempered glass screen protector too. It's a lot more slick than the display alone. I'm using one of their tempered glass screen protectors on my Surface Pro 3 and it's weathered well. Still on the fence with the case. (I got mine with the bundle. It's the little wrap-around cover.) They offered me one of the other designer cases if I paid the difference, but what I couldn't stand with them, from what I saw in pictures, is the ugly cutouts on the side where the buttons are. For those with the Incipio screen protector, the cutouts on the designer case looked about the same as those on the alignment frame for the screen protector. It just looked really unpolished.