I received my Lumia 950 XL from Microsoft Store Italia this week-end, and I played (a lot) with it for 2 days.
Here's my detailed Review:
Design and Overall build quality
When I first opened the box, and kept the phone in my hand, my initial reaction was: WOW. And that was genuine. It was the same "WOW" I said when I first held my Surface Pro 3, so it says a lot about the REAL quality of this phone. How can "Tech Press" like The Verge and many others say and write so much bull***t without no one suing them is out of my mind.
Anyway: the phone is really solid and sleek. So BIG display but still extremely compact and confortable to hold in one hand too, the back is NO "plasticky" at all, it's slightly rugged and so solid it seems the same magnesium used for Surface line while holding it. It's still very light for its size (much lighter than my 920) and very thin (MUCH thinner than my 920). If no one tells you that's "polycarbonate", and you just hold it, it looks and FEELS a Premium device, with just the advantages of a better resistence and Qi charging. Period.
The new volume rockers are a bitt odd at first, but they respond nicely, and after 20 minutes become the new normal.
Removing the back cover it's a bit difficult the first time, and my Nano-Sim was a bit difficult to "click" in position, but after a few tries I was up and running without problems.
Display
This is the best smartphone display I ever seen till now. It feels like you're watching on an animated brochure/paper (when on max brightness) and not a screen, colors are perfectly calibrated, and darks are darker than a black hole. Black virtual nav-bar just MELTS with real black lower bezel, so it feels it always was hardware (and it fastly became the new normal too). On 100% Max brightness with no automatic brightness it feels the best setting for me, and for everyday usage. On automatic it's a bit too dim for me. It is really a GLORIOUS display. No artifacts or problems for me.
Performance and Heat
The first phase of setting all up does NOT represent how the phone acts on normal everyday usage. 34+ Apps updates were processing in background on first sign-in, while W10M was asking me to fine tune settings, and while I was downloading Maps data, and doing many other configurations. All of that still remaining fast and responsive, with just a bit "warm" (never HOT) around the whole phone (and not only on a single area). My 920, in the same circumstances, would have burned my hand
After all the initial setups, and after it settled down, the phone is "Cold-LittleWarm" 80% of the time even after 30+ minutes of usage, and "Just Warm, Never Hot" during the other 20% heavy usage.
No "Resume/Loading" screens (except 1 or 2 times on the VERY first configuration of Camera or some app, and then Gone forever).
Everything is snappy, fluid, responsive 99% of the time. Very rarely some animations drop, but I think it's OS related, not an hardware limit. It will be patched for sure.
Overall: Snapdragon 810 + Liquid Cooling = Epic Win for Microsoft, I would say. :angel:
Camera
This is the second GLORIOUS selling point of this device. The Camera on this phone blows away the competition with a blink of an eye. Camera starts and shoots photos istantly, even 10-15 consecutive fast shots., with UNBELIEVABLE details (even zooming).
I disabled "Rich Capture" but left Auto-Flash and Auto-Quality enabled for best results, and instantaneous Camera Roll viewing.
Those are my first Lumia 950 XL shots (early morning in Turin), so judge for yourselves:
http://s4.postimg.org/4jvkvd1f1/WP_20151130_08_17_52_Pro_LI.jpg
http://s4.postimg.org/l537b0sj1/WP_20151130_08_47_27_Pro_LI.jpg
http://s4.postimg.org/pppdpyc8d/WP_20151130_08_48_16_Pro_LI.jpg
http://s4.postimg.org/qhs1p5gfh/WP_20151130_08_54_10_Pro_LI.jpg
Simply stunning.
OS/Apps
There are still some little quirks here and there, but I prefer W10M 1000x times over WP8. Much more elegant, well organized, efficient, and featured. It's a mature ecosystem now, and it's the same OS everywhere.
Devs have no more excuses.
I already had all the apps I needed on my 920, so I have them too here, and now they work 5x time faster and better. Seeing 4K/60fps video smoothly with "myTube", on this screen, is truly something special, and not possible on other phones. Hope Microsoft will bring the first Official updates to fix just some little annoyances (see later), but it's already a finished product right now for me.
Windows Hello
Yeah, the first time you set it up is not so accurate. But after some calibration (with different angles, lights and environment conditions, with glasses on and of, on a completely dark room), NOW it's really something magic.
It succeded all my 15-20 tries, and today at work my collegues simply jaw-dropped on the floor with those results (especially on glasses on).
It's magical!
Battery life
After the initial setup, battery seems a solid improvements over my 920.
With 100% Max Brightness, a lot of photo shots, listening to music, browsing with Edge, and some tinkering with the device: battery dropped from 100% to 66% in approxymately 4-5 hours. Not bad at all.
Plus: cable-charging from 0% to 53% in 27 minutes is INSANE. Qi charing still works on my first Nokia Qi charging plate in bundle with 920 launch, obviously slower than cable.
Continuum
Haven't tried it for now. I tried via Wireless to my Xbox One, but I haven't managed. Sorry
Waiting for my free Continuum Dock, already reedemed on MS Store Italia through "Lumia Offers" app redeem code anyway.
On the (very short) Negative side:
-W10M OS is still a bit rough: some animations freeze or dropped frames on rare occasions (for example: rotating the phone while updating store apps), upper bar volume icon temporarely disappearing, Groove Music sometime stuck on starting playlist and just some little things. All easy fixable with next OS update anyway;
-Removing the back cover and inserting the Nano Sim was a bit clumsy;
-The Italian version has Earphones in the box! -> Unfortunately they SUCK: very poor quality, and unconfortable to put on. Already replaced with good ones.
P.S.
Oh, the Italian version is Single-SIM variant. No Dual SIM, so no double icons/tiles problem
OVERALL
Lumia 950 XL IS the best Lumia ever made, and IS the real first Microsoft Premium-Flagship on the market. This IS the "Surface-Quality Phone" we're all waiting for, so don't be misleaded by biased "journalists": this is the real deal. If you want to wait for a new "Surface Phone", you will probabily wait another year for a Lumia 960 XL (with Snapdragon 820 inside it), or a business-focused Phone variant that will be lesser than 950 XL for normal everyday usage.
So:
If you're already "All-In" in Microsoft new ecosystem: Go.Buy.This.Phone.NOW
If you're not, well: this is time to seriously think about it.