You wanna put some $ on that ? It wouldn't stand a chance against a note 5 let alone my sweet and powerful 6s+ .....sorry
Who is in charge of this junk? Seriously!
- Thread starter garyhartaz
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You wanna put some $ on that ? It wouldn't stand a chance against a note 5 let alone my sweet and powerful 6s+ .....sorry
Jazmac
New member
You are correct about know really knowing how well it'll function until you actually fit it into your schedule.
But what I am actually saying is some of what you have discovered is already out there in multiple places. Particularly those sites that actually respect the platform. WMPU, NeoWin and Winbeta to name a few. In fact, our own Daniel Rubino did several video reviews and discussed this. Making the decision to spend 800 plus bucks for me is monumental and keeping it beyond two weeks is a commitment. I have to either go all in, stay at home. You, big balla, seemingly did it without the benefit of blogs, many that get review devices for free. I don't envy your checkbook, just commenting on your "discovery." Having said that, I'm still getting one. I just won't be a Lumia early adopter anymore. Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt. They are notorious for spending more time cross-shipping than making phone calls. But when you get one that works, its a thing of beauty.
desaideas1
New member
OP is right in a lot of ways.
If you have a background like his, or even me (Silicon valley, startups, mobile, social, cloud, electronics, manufacturing). Your completely blown away with how mismanaged this investment has been.
I haven't experienced all the issues that OP has, but was still completely underwhelmed with the lack of clarity in focus that this product launch had in comparison to all the other hardware (band 2 not included, because I think it's garbage) that Microsoft launched, at least in terms of build quality and customer experience.
We do have to break the Windows Phone conundrum into two main aspects (prelaunch) into hardware/software and post launch of customer experience/marketing communication.
So I'll dive in and give my own take on each of these aspects.
1. Hardware
Specs: I for one, don't have any problem with the specifications of the device, the processor, memory, imaging sensor and ancillary pieces are relatively modern and sit well within a range for "high performance" with almost negligible gains for waiting for Snapdragon 820 (which won't be ready till Q2 16 anyways). With all things hardware, it's a pipe dream to intersect yield quality, performance and cost on the forefront of innovation and availability.
Summary: The 950/XL have fantastic specs that are innovative, capable and leave no competitive advantage to competing platforms.
Design: In terms of repairability, the 950/XL are on the right track, the removable back, ease of disassembly, etc. are highly competitive and have comparable advantages.
Design UX:
The lack of capacitative buttons is completely negligible since W10M has fantastic logic to it's positioning, availability. The Volume/Power implementation is unique, and does depart from expected operation. Personally, the positioning (grouping) is highly thumb friendly, with no buttons being out of reach of the right thumb (XL) and the left index finger (XL), I can't comment on the non XL model, but in store I found it to be similarly well placed.
Dividing the volume rocker is controversial. Without a case, I did see myself inadvertently hitting the lock screen button. With a case (caseformers) there is added resistance, which has nullified this issue for me. I actually have similar inadvertent lock screen activation with my SP3 and I question the value of a single (imo, double is preferred and should be user selectable) click lock (for what purpose is the user engaging lock? Since the expected behavior is to cease usage, success in engaging expected behavior is less important than unintended engagement of expected behavior.)
In essence, false positives are more harmful to UX than true positives.
In another use case scenario, docking (placing the phone into a car mount) I find that there is a conflict of interest in that mounts are meant to grasp a device in it's most stable position, just as your hand is meant to do. Software screen behavior in landscape can be quite frustrating.
Design Materials and Style:( Front)
The front of phones today is a screen, it leaves little creativity and choice and there are some glaring things that frustrate me. For one, there is no forward facing speaker, on the 950XL, in anything other than calls, there is no forward facing speaker. Chalk it up to the thinning nature of smartphone design and reducing the manufacturing requirements for your display vendor.
These effect which vendor you can choose, how much money they will charge for implementing Gorilla glass 4 with more points of failure? Whether the vendor is capable of producing the yields, and expected performance in relation to a weighted price point of total billable materials?
In such a large screen, it's impressive to use the latest and greatest in both screen technology and screen resilience while reducing the "work" (=price gouging) of the supplier to provide adequate supply.
Perhaps the most poignant choice is the word, "Microsoft" which believe it or not as a brand lands itself front and center on NOT A SINGLE OTHER product that is sold at the Microsoft store, or by Microsoft. In fact, this is the greatest brand positioning statement made that FURTHER degrades the value of Microsoft's brand in a COMPLETELY consumer brand dominated segment. Tip to Microsoft, you're a conglomerate of brands, the most ill regarded name in consumer tech is Microsoft...lest you be a fool to try and change the opinion outright.
(Rear)
The renders of this phone pre-launch were extremely subjective being renders, rather than real in life photos.
The leaks, were absolutely un-Microsoft, and an issue which I hope that Microsoft legal is investigating and results in firings.
Objectively, consumers, brand loyalists were in utter disdain at the state of affairs. For one, they were looking for the merging of Nokia and Microsoft to create something amazing. Especially from a 7.2 billion dollar acquisition of one of the most world renown mobile phone manufacturers.
Back to the design of the rear of these phones, the concept, and obvious design direction in having a fully replaceable rear cover for these phones is a good move, it makes sense, and its ONE of the HIGHEST cards that a manufacturer can deal to it's consumer. That card results in sentiments of OPENNESS (Pun intended) and RESPECT compared to the non secular, cult like behavior of other manufacturers.
That we have dual sim, expandable storage, replaceable battery, high reparability for components like the charger, QI/NFC, etc... is actually a HUGE play against the completely moronic (IMHO) project Aria concept from the failed Motorola/google. With the open connectors and relative ease of manufacturing custom back plates there are a ridiculous number of innovative back plates that could be implemented to completely change the use case (pun intended) of the phone. For example, I can build a back that modified the NFC to be MicroNFC capable for the manufacturing and tooling industries or add USB-C bypass for charging capabilities in a dock scenario. Building an extended battery case that has ZERO interaction via USB-C is also a potential scenario. All in all, the ports and capabilities via the replaceable back cover are industry leading.
However, when it comes to the included back, it's aesthetic design COMPLETELY fails to capture and complement the existing and newly created branding of other Microsoft products.
At the flagship price point, there was no inclination for a customer/fan/loyalist to ever show off the device unadultered by a case.
That Microsoft has all the expertise and capabilities in the world to produce a magnesium composite back cover that is CNC machined with superior durability, scratch resistance, and unmistakable build quality and chooses not to is remarkably head scratching.
The dilemma with using a metal back, and implementing QI/NFC does not escape me. QI is an issue that caused an initial rift between AT&T/Nokia/MSFT and has an unparalleled use case when implemented properly. Not only does it solve a key usability engagement, it offers a futuristic implementation in user power experience. Unfortunately, USB-C, larger batteries, better power throttling OS diminish the favorability of the use case. In my application of the 950XL (without the bugs others experience), I'm able to do full 3D gaming for hours on end and plug in for 30-45 minutes to get my self back to 50% charge.
With QI, there are issues with the large footprint of the device and appropriate placement and the significantly reduced charging capabilities when below 60% battery. In essence, many of the issues with port resilience (an issue I had with the 920, 1020), charge rates (microUSB), and battery consumption (W10M on any Nokia device) are mainly resolved.
I have several QI docks, including a Nokia, a third party, and a super slick Panasonic that auto aligns with the exact right distance/position to optimize charging rates. Unfortunately, there is a diminishing value in return for QI especially since the current implementation offers less charging speed than Quick charge 2.0 (with 3.0 on the horizon). The entire investment into QI not only conformed design requirements, ancillary accessory purchases, and universal implementations just do not compete with what could have been a simple, flat magnetic charging capability that was not USB-C based. Don't get me wrong, I loved QI on my 920, and missed it sorely on my 1020, but on the 950XL, it's a relatively moot capability. The truth is that a majority of the design of the rear of the 950/XL was a result of a further investment in a futuristic, but uncompetitive technology. It's sad to say that the lack of included QI charger (and a display dock instead) was a further reflection that Microsoft did not want to lead consumer interest (keeping their battery charged) and instead fell to consumer "wants" which, IMHO, 95% of consumers have complete garbage capability to know what they "need". NFC, in my research is not as easily effected by metal (As shown by iPhone 6/s/Galaxy) especially if thickness is reduced. Magnesium, and it's alloys offer amazing properties in comparison to it's density (International Magnesium Association (IMA): Magnesium Basics - Physical Properties). So, IMHO, QI is the leading cause of design aesthetic failure in the 950XL, leading only slightly to the brand "Microsoft" which would have been replaced with "Surface" had a similar fit and finish of the other Surface devices be implemented.
I'm getting a little winded (and in truth, detailing my analysis is more beneficial personally than however the rest of the community may appreciate it). So I'll just conclude this tldr segment with a brief synopsis.
Microsoft, despite it's internal politics and changing of the guard had a huge opportunity to re-evangelize one of their most devout bases of customers post Nokia acquisition. A lot of Joel Belfiore's amazing passion and dedication that built Windows Phone 8/.1 positioning it as the hybrid of Apple thoughtfulness and capabilities in constricted design/minimum specs, mandated capabilities has been lost. While initially the strategy offered OEM's the capability to add their own flare (even Nokia the full capability to significantly iterate upon the base OS) and removing the completely utter lack of thoughtfulness and fragmentation of Android which imo, destroyed a majority of the promise of mobile computing; it left Windows Phone without the synergies to make a viable play for marketshare in a blue ocean.
While there is a lot of cloak and dagger strategy surrounding the Nokia acquisition, we all know of the purported Android phones they were designing on the low end and to supplement the failed adoption of Windows Phone in the marketplace. Today, we know that Nadella and Gates were against the Nokia acquisition, Gates having significant doubt on the bloated dying giants capability to provide value as he had authorized over $5 Billion dollars in kick backs to both Samsung and Nokia in marketing and development investments. In one aspect, I'm absolutely flabbergasted that the Nokia acquisition came WITHOUT Nokia Here, an asset that was core to the innovation happening at Nokia AND recently valued at 3.2 Billion dollars, by major automakers which once again, was the NEXT opportunity for user engagement and profiteering. In another aspect, I'm so happy that under Nadella, Microsoft shed the dead weight of Nokia indiscriminately, throwing out the good, the bad, and the ugly apples to retain at maximum 200 million dollars per annum in talent. I'm also glad that they let the business fail for a year (as a stock holder) so that they could take the full write off of 7 billion dollars, and save ~3 billion dollars in taxes. In net, it makes the Nokia acquisition cost time (which universal apps needed) and $4 billion + change.
Coming out of the corporate strategy and into the business strategy, Windows Phone was a dead fish. Anyone in Panos Panay's position would chose to build the Surface Pro 3/4/Book because they were untapped markets with no room but to grow. On the phone front, the challenge was way beyond Microsoft's capabilities in software, especially relying on people assets that had zero job security (so much so that many fled to Apple). Microsoft's strategy however, for a company with the highest R&D investment, smartest people, and complete underdog optimism STILL should have focused on implementing the Surface vision in mobility. While I haven't covered W10M's underpinnings and challenges, they should have coveted the community that has stuck around for the past 2 years, waiting and wishing for flagship products.
Is the 950/XL a flagship device? No. Is it positioned as such? Yes. Does it have the specifications to compete as a flagship device? Yes. Does it have the aesthetics to compete as a flagship device? NO.
And why did this happen? A lack of passion and thoughtfulness in branding and consumer experience for yet another release cycle. W10M's lack of certified operating trends which led un-verified battery and performance statistics and "listening" to consumers (myself included) whining about QI, instead of innovating on the paradigm of power to an equally acceptable standard. Further divesting the investment in aesthetics and turning to a third party case manufacturer that couldn't meet demand nor in-store availability...wow what a sucker punch to your own belly.
What's truly sad is that not a single Microsoft fan in the phone category sat there with ANY other wish than a new flagship phone. We didn't ask for Surface Pro 4, which has negligible improvements over the previous generation. We weren't inclined to spend 2k on a Surface Book to achieve hybrid graphics capabilities. We weren't salivating over Apple Watch and Android Wear that practically NONE of our friends and colleagues were able to justify by waiting for Band 2. All we wanted was a new. flagship. phone. And yet they held a press conference, got our hopes up, and paper launched a half hearted attempt to satisfy the only demographic that has believed in their product and then left the experience in a perpetual beta with a wide range of unsuccessful experiences. All of the arguments on this forum have responses like, "hard reset dude", or, "did you call ATT and give them a different IMEI?", or, "You have to manually program the APN for LTE". or "It's a beta software, so I don't know why you are complaining". It's all BS that makes Steve Job's comment on Microsoft, "everything they do is mediocre" so unfortunately true.
Do I like my 950XL? Yes. Did I like my purchase experience? No.(sans store associates, they rock) Do I care about the "free display dock"?, only insofar as it was a "$100" value.
Do I show off my 950XL? No. Am I glad that I have 99.99999999% less "loading and resuming" screens? OMFGBBQ yes. And that actually sums up the entire success of the current release. I bought it because I'm a loyalist to the OS aesthetic and experience, and the older flagship devices were completely devoid of a user experience acceptable in a "Darmok at Tanagra", "Shaka when the walls fell", "In Soviet Russia phone calls u" type of way.
Anyways...I think this post is TLDR, so good luck with that.
If you have a background like his, or even me (Silicon valley, startups, mobile, social, cloud, electronics, manufacturing). Your completely blown away with how mismanaged this investment has been.
I haven't experienced all the issues that OP has, but was still completely underwhelmed with the lack of clarity in focus that this product launch had in comparison to all the other hardware (band 2 not included, because I think it's garbage) that Microsoft launched, at least in terms of build quality and customer experience.
We do have to break the Windows Phone conundrum into two main aspects (prelaunch) into hardware/software and post launch of customer experience/marketing communication.
So I'll dive in and give my own take on each of these aspects.
1. Hardware
Specs: I for one, don't have any problem with the specifications of the device, the processor, memory, imaging sensor and ancillary pieces are relatively modern and sit well within a range for "high performance" with almost negligible gains for waiting for Snapdragon 820 (which won't be ready till Q2 16 anyways). With all things hardware, it's a pipe dream to intersect yield quality, performance and cost on the forefront of innovation and availability.
Summary: The 950/XL have fantastic specs that are innovative, capable and leave no competitive advantage to competing platforms.
Design: In terms of repairability, the 950/XL are on the right track, the removable back, ease of disassembly, etc. are highly competitive and have comparable advantages.
Design UX:
The lack of capacitative buttons is completely negligible since W10M has fantastic logic to it's positioning, availability. The Volume/Power implementation is unique, and does depart from expected operation. Personally, the positioning (grouping) is highly thumb friendly, with no buttons being out of reach of the right thumb (XL) and the left index finger (XL), I can't comment on the non XL model, but in store I found it to be similarly well placed.
Dividing the volume rocker is controversial. Without a case, I did see myself inadvertently hitting the lock screen button. With a case (caseformers) there is added resistance, which has nullified this issue for me. I actually have similar inadvertent lock screen activation with my SP3 and I question the value of a single (imo, double is preferred and should be user selectable) click lock (for what purpose is the user engaging lock? Since the expected behavior is to cease usage, success in engaging expected behavior is less important than unintended engagement of expected behavior.)
In essence, false positives are more harmful to UX than true positives.
In another use case scenario, docking (placing the phone into a car mount) I find that there is a conflict of interest in that mounts are meant to grasp a device in it's most stable position, just as your hand is meant to do. Software screen behavior in landscape can be quite frustrating.
Design Materials and Style:( Front)
The front of phones today is a screen, it leaves little creativity and choice and there are some glaring things that frustrate me. For one, there is no forward facing speaker, on the 950XL, in anything other than calls, there is no forward facing speaker. Chalk it up to the thinning nature of smartphone design and reducing the manufacturing requirements for your display vendor.
These effect which vendor you can choose, how much money they will charge for implementing Gorilla glass 4 with more points of failure? Whether the vendor is capable of producing the yields, and expected performance in relation to a weighted price point of total billable materials?
In such a large screen, it's impressive to use the latest and greatest in both screen technology and screen resilience while reducing the "work" (=price gouging) of the supplier to provide adequate supply.
Perhaps the most poignant choice is the word, "Microsoft" which believe it or not as a brand lands itself front and center on NOT A SINGLE OTHER product that is sold at the Microsoft store, or by Microsoft. In fact, this is the greatest brand positioning statement made that FURTHER degrades the value of Microsoft's brand in a COMPLETELY consumer brand dominated segment. Tip to Microsoft, you're a conglomerate of brands, the most ill regarded name in consumer tech is Microsoft...lest you be a fool to try and change the opinion outright.
(Rear)
The renders of this phone pre-launch were extremely subjective being renders, rather than real in life photos.
The leaks, were absolutely un-Microsoft, and an issue which I hope that Microsoft legal is investigating and results in firings.
Objectively, consumers, brand loyalists were in utter disdain at the state of affairs. For one, they were looking for the merging of Nokia and Microsoft to create something amazing. Especially from a 7.2 billion dollar acquisition of one of the most world renown mobile phone manufacturers.
Back to the design of the rear of these phones, the concept, and obvious design direction in having a fully replaceable rear cover for these phones is a good move, it makes sense, and its ONE of the HIGHEST cards that a manufacturer can deal to it's consumer. That card results in sentiments of OPENNESS (Pun intended) and RESPECT compared to the non secular, cult like behavior of other manufacturers.
That we have dual sim, expandable storage, replaceable battery, high reparability for components like the charger, QI/NFC, etc... is actually a HUGE play against the completely moronic (IMHO) project Aria concept from the failed Motorola/google. With the open connectors and relative ease of manufacturing custom back plates there are a ridiculous number of innovative back plates that could be implemented to completely change the use case (pun intended) of the phone. For example, I can build a back that modified the NFC to be MicroNFC capable for the manufacturing and tooling industries or add USB-C bypass for charging capabilities in a dock scenario. Building an extended battery case that has ZERO interaction via USB-C is also a potential scenario. All in all, the ports and capabilities via the replaceable back cover are industry leading.
However, when it comes to the included back, it's aesthetic design COMPLETELY fails to capture and complement the existing and newly created branding of other Microsoft products.
At the flagship price point, there was no inclination for a customer/fan/loyalist to ever show off the device unadultered by a case.
That Microsoft has all the expertise and capabilities in the world to produce a magnesium composite back cover that is CNC machined with superior durability, scratch resistance, and unmistakable build quality and chooses not to is remarkably head scratching.
The dilemma with using a metal back, and implementing QI/NFC does not escape me. QI is an issue that caused an initial rift between AT&T/Nokia/MSFT and has an unparalleled use case when implemented properly. Not only does it solve a key usability engagement, it offers a futuristic implementation in user power experience. Unfortunately, USB-C, larger batteries, better power throttling OS diminish the favorability of the use case. In my application of the 950XL (without the bugs others experience), I'm able to do full 3D gaming for hours on end and plug in for 30-45 minutes to get my self back to 50% charge.
With QI, there are issues with the large footprint of the device and appropriate placement and the significantly reduced charging capabilities when below 60% battery. In essence, many of the issues with port resilience (an issue I had with the 920, 1020), charge rates (microUSB), and battery consumption (W10M on any Nokia device) are mainly resolved.
I have several QI docks, including a Nokia, a third party, and a super slick Panasonic that auto aligns with the exact right distance/position to optimize charging rates. Unfortunately, there is a diminishing value in return for QI especially since the current implementation offers less charging speed than Quick charge 2.0 (with 3.0 on the horizon). The entire investment into QI not only conformed design requirements, ancillary accessory purchases, and universal implementations just do not compete with what could have been a simple, flat magnetic charging capability that was not USB-C based. Don't get me wrong, I loved QI on my 920, and missed it sorely on my 1020, but on the 950XL, it's a relatively moot capability. The truth is that a majority of the design of the rear of the 950/XL was a result of a further investment in a futuristic, but uncompetitive technology. It's sad to say that the lack of included QI charger (and a display dock instead) was a further reflection that Microsoft did not want to lead consumer interest (keeping their battery charged) and instead fell to consumer "wants" which, IMHO, 95% of consumers have complete garbage capability to know what they "need". NFC, in my research is not as easily effected by metal (As shown by iPhone 6/s/Galaxy) especially if thickness is reduced. Magnesium, and it's alloys offer amazing properties in comparison to it's density (International Magnesium Association (IMA): Magnesium Basics - Physical Properties). So, IMHO, QI is the leading cause of design aesthetic failure in the 950XL, leading only slightly to the brand "Microsoft" which would have been replaced with "Surface" had a similar fit and finish of the other Surface devices be implemented.
I'm getting a little winded (and in truth, detailing my analysis is more beneficial personally than however the rest of the community may appreciate it). So I'll just conclude this tldr segment with a brief synopsis.
Microsoft, despite it's internal politics and changing of the guard had a huge opportunity to re-evangelize one of their most devout bases of customers post Nokia acquisition. A lot of Joel Belfiore's amazing passion and dedication that built Windows Phone 8/.1 positioning it as the hybrid of Apple thoughtfulness and capabilities in constricted design/minimum specs, mandated capabilities has been lost. While initially the strategy offered OEM's the capability to add their own flare (even Nokia the full capability to significantly iterate upon the base OS) and removing the completely utter lack of thoughtfulness and fragmentation of Android which imo, destroyed a majority of the promise of mobile computing; it left Windows Phone without the synergies to make a viable play for marketshare in a blue ocean.
While there is a lot of cloak and dagger strategy surrounding the Nokia acquisition, we all know of the purported Android phones they were designing on the low end and to supplement the failed adoption of Windows Phone in the marketplace. Today, we know that Nadella and Gates were against the Nokia acquisition, Gates having significant doubt on the bloated dying giants capability to provide value as he had authorized over $5 Billion dollars in kick backs to both Samsung and Nokia in marketing and development investments. In one aspect, I'm absolutely flabbergasted that the Nokia acquisition came WITHOUT Nokia Here, an asset that was core to the innovation happening at Nokia AND recently valued at 3.2 Billion dollars, by major automakers which once again, was the NEXT opportunity for user engagement and profiteering. In another aspect, I'm so happy that under Nadella, Microsoft shed the dead weight of Nokia indiscriminately, throwing out the good, the bad, and the ugly apples to retain at maximum 200 million dollars per annum in talent. I'm also glad that they let the business fail for a year (as a stock holder) so that they could take the full write off of 7 billion dollars, and save ~3 billion dollars in taxes. In net, it makes the Nokia acquisition cost time (which universal apps needed) and $4 billion + change.
Coming out of the corporate strategy and into the business strategy, Windows Phone was a dead fish. Anyone in Panos Panay's position would chose to build the Surface Pro 3/4/Book because they were untapped markets with no room but to grow. On the phone front, the challenge was way beyond Microsoft's capabilities in software, especially relying on people assets that had zero job security (so much so that many fled to Apple). Microsoft's strategy however, for a company with the highest R&D investment, smartest people, and complete underdog optimism STILL should have focused on implementing the Surface vision in mobility. While I haven't covered W10M's underpinnings and challenges, they should have coveted the community that has stuck around for the past 2 years, waiting and wishing for flagship products.
Is the 950/XL a flagship device? No. Is it positioned as such? Yes. Does it have the specifications to compete as a flagship device? Yes. Does it have the aesthetics to compete as a flagship device? NO.
And why did this happen? A lack of passion and thoughtfulness in branding and consumer experience for yet another release cycle. W10M's lack of certified operating trends which led un-verified battery and performance statistics and "listening" to consumers (myself included) whining about QI, instead of innovating on the paradigm of power to an equally acceptable standard. Further divesting the investment in aesthetics and turning to a third party case manufacturer that couldn't meet demand nor in-store availability...wow what a sucker punch to your own belly.
What's truly sad is that not a single Microsoft fan in the phone category sat there with ANY other wish than a new flagship phone. We didn't ask for Surface Pro 4, which has negligible improvements over the previous generation. We weren't inclined to spend 2k on a Surface Book to achieve hybrid graphics capabilities. We weren't salivating over Apple Watch and Android Wear that practically NONE of our friends and colleagues were able to justify by waiting for Band 2. All we wanted was a new. flagship. phone. And yet they held a press conference, got our hopes up, and paper launched a half hearted attempt to satisfy the only demographic that has believed in their product and then left the experience in a perpetual beta with a wide range of unsuccessful experiences. All of the arguments on this forum have responses like, "hard reset dude", or, "did you call ATT and give them a different IMEI?", or, "You have to manually program the APN for LTE". or "It's a beta software, so I don't know why you are complaining". It's all BS that makes Steve Job's comment on Microsoft, "everything they do is mediocre" so unfortunately true.
Do I like my 950XL? Yes. Did I like my purchase experience? No.(sans store associates, they rock) Do I care about the "free display dock"?, only insofar as it was a "$100" value.
Do I show off my 950XL? No. Am I glad that I have 99.99999999% less "loading and resuming" screens? OMFGBBQ yes. And that actually sums up the entire success of the current release. I bought it because I'm a loyalist to the OS aesthetic and experience, and the older flagship devices were completely devoid of a user experience acceptable in a "Darmok at Tanagra", "Shaka when the walls fell", "In Soviet Russia phone calls u" type of way.
Anyways...I think this post is TLDR, so good luck with that.
Last edited:
desaideas1 - Bravo! You have summed things up very nicely.
You point on the battery, charging, etc. is right where I am at on the 950 family. I don't get the need for a removable battery when you have fast charging options. Plus, who carries individual batteries these days? Most of the road warriors I meet have power pads capable of charging multiple devices. I really feel they let the battery dictate the design.
You point on the battery, charging, etc. is right where I am at on the 950 family. I don't get the need for a removable battery when you have fast charging options. Plus, who carries individual batteries these days? Most of the road warriors I meet have power pads capable of charging multiple devices. I really feel they let the battery dictate the design.
mark233
New member
I enjoyed reading that desaideas1 .... I read it all and gawd I hope there isn't a test later :straight:
CraigGB
New member
Well that would be because Marshmallow was a massive bugfixing and stability update after Lollipop which was pretty awful, in much the same way I expect Windows 10 Mobile to be a lot better in a year then it is now, I will compare them because when Lollipop which was a big overhaul for Android was released my battery life halved from KitKat, crashes and reboots were fairly common when it was first released only to be fixed after a few months. it was quite the mess. turns out there is a advantage unless you have a Nexus device to waiting several months for a update to the newest OS as you should get it with several months of bug fixes.
While Microsoft should be criticized for releasing Windows 10 Mobile before it is ready the problem is it isn't like they are the only ones to do it, as a user of Windows Phone, Android and iOS all 3 have suffered from it in the past, Lollipop wasn't much better then Windows Mobile 10 on release in my experience, meanwhile Apple hasn't had what I would call a stable OS upgrade since iOS6, iOS 7 was pretty bad in regards to battery life, iOS8 improved this but bought in OS stability problems and thankfully iOS9 was like Marshmallow a stability update that has improved things. though on the new phones such as my iPhone 6S Plus it had plenty of problems at launch. like it would heat up and I would experience large amounts of battery drain, randomly it would slow down to a crawl when I turned the screen on to unlock it and until iOS 9.01 (I think that was the first update) I had the home button on several occasions randomly heat up to the point it was painful to touch.
Sadly it seems to be a common trend for these big OS overhauls to be released before they are ready. it's not exclusive to Windows Phone, on Android Central or on Macrumors there are lots of unhappy people, especially around the time of new hardware or a OS update, the best advice I can give is if you want stability and don't want problems then be patient and don't buy brand new hardware running brand new software.
I'm not posting this to defend Microsoft, actually more the opposite as I think they should be criticized for it, I'm just saying it's not only them at fault for this kind of thing like some people seem to be making out.
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colinkiama
New member
There's two sides, die hard Lumia fans that are so happy about the hardware that they don't care about how buggy the software is at the moment and people who understand that the average consumer would just return the product back because the OS is too buggy.
We should be happy that there are people defending the device since they are the ones that are actually increasing Windows 10's numbers, making the platform more attractive for devs.
Josh Harman
Banned
Then there's a third set of people. Us with a 950 that's not having any issues.
DoctorSaline
New member
As shameful as this is, but when you look at what's been going on at Microsoft with regards to devices group and reorg, this wasn't unexpected. With so many layoffs in devices division, the headquarters of devices group in Helsinki Finland at least till August 2015, while the OS development team in Redmond Washington , I don't even know how they even communicate effectively with each other. Then there are other matters of laying offs of testing groups to speed up the coding development and product release cycle and we can begin to understand the extent of these problems. This thousands of miles of distance between devices and OS group, with sword of impending layoffs hanging over your head, and this changing culture of faster code development and product release cycle is clearly taking its toll. But the good news is that the reorg is almost complete. The devices and OS group has been merged together as Windows and Devices group and with Panos taking over as head of all Microsoft devices in where I presume as that secretive Building 86 in Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, I am expecting better things to come. The hardware will clearly be better and I'm sure that Microsoft will have learnt a lot with their fiasco regarding Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book with both of these shipping with unoptimized drivers and firmwares. As for OS quality assurance, I've a feeling that it will take some time for Microsoft engineers to adapt to this changing culture but they will go back to their old ways of shipping polished products soon, think the polish and finish of windows phone 8 but with a lot more features, power and versatility. I'm more glad with the as of yet seemingly positive response from the developers and services and I'm hoping that OEMs will jump aboard this bandwagon as well. Hopefully greater times ahead of us. As for the money you spent, you should return this phone. You clearly deserve better for the amount of money you spent. The rest of us here are for something more. We are a part of a community that is making windows better and we are willing to endure some tough times in order to support the platform of our choice and the platform we love.
DoctorSaline
New member
Sadly it seems to be a common trend for these big OS overhauls to be released before they are ready. it's not exclusive to Windows Phone, on Android Central or on Macrumors there are lots of unhappy people, especially around the time of new hardware or a OS update, the best advice I can give is if you want stability and don't want problems then be patient and don't buy brand new hardware running brand new software.
^ Also, this. Best advice ever.
I also support the Windows platform and this really has my concerned. What other groups are under similar strain? Are we going to start seeig Server, SQL , and Azure gaps as new versions come out? This really has my concerned as a Microsoft supporter and developer. I will return the phone on the last day I can and in the meantime, I will continue to use my 1520.
RumoredNow
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[WARN]Other users are not a topic. If you can't refrain from making personal remarks this thread will be closed.[/WARN]
Aardappelboom
New member
I love my 950xl BUT I do need to call a lot and I agree that the bluetooth connection is not reliable enough for a ? 699 phone. This should indeed get fixed faster.
Facebook is faster for me, a few bugs but all in all the phone is a lot faster than anything I ever owned. That said I came from a htc 8x, which has a track record of being slow and buggy in the end.
Facebook is faster for me, a few bugs but all in all the phone is a lot faster than anything I ever owned. That said I came from a htc 8x, which has a track record of being slow and buggy in the end.
MikeSo
New member
I had the exact same issues (BT, black screen from SMS notifications, reboots, etc) as the OP on my Icon, so whatever is causing them, it's not faulty hardware. I assumed it had to do with the OS not being optimized for the Icon, but it's disappointing to hear that the same things are happening on the 950/XL, which should've been tailor made for this OS. I was happy using W10M on my Icon, but if I bought a brand new $700 phone, I'd have been much more annoyed.
And let's not even mention the FB app. That thing needs to just be killed off and replaced by a shortcut to the website. It is seriously worse to have it on the phone than not have it.
And let's not even mention the FB app. That thing needs to just be killed off and replaced by a shortcut to the website. It is seriously worse to have it on the phone than not have it.
MikeSo
New member
So when you click on an SMS notification from the lock screen, it takes you to the SMS, and not a black screen?
MikeSo
New member
Well that would be because Marshmallow was a massive bugfixing and stability update after Lollipop which was pretty awful, in much the same way I expect Windows 10 Mobile to be a lot better in a year then it is now, I will compare them because when Lollipop which was a big overhaul for Android was released my battery life halved from KitKat, crashes and reboots were fairly common when it was first released only to be fixed after a few months. it was quite the mess. turns out there is a advantage unless you have a Nexus device to waiting several months for a update to the newest OS as you should get it with several months of bug fixes.
While Microsoft should be criticized for releasing Windows 10 Mobile before it is ready the problem is it isn't like they are the only ones to do it, as a user of Windows Phone, Android and iOS all 3 have suffered from it in the past, Lollipop wasn't much better then Windows Mobile 10 on release in my experience, meanwhile Apple hasn't had what I would call a stable OS upgrade since iOS6, iOS 7 was pretty bad in regards to battery life, iOS8 improved this but bought in OS stability problems and thankfully iOS9 was like Marshmallow a stability update that has improved things. though on the new phones such as my iPhone 6S Plus it had plenty of problems at launch. like it would heat up and I would experience large amounts of battery drain, randomly it would slow down to a crawl when I turned the screen on to unlock it and until iOS 9.01 (I think that was the first update) I had the home button on several occasions randomly heat up to the point it was painful to touch.
Sadly it seems to be a common trend for these big OS overhauls to be released before they are ready. it's not exclusive to Windows Phone, on Android Central or on Macrumors there are lots of unhappy people, especially around the time of new hardware or a OS update, the best advice I can give is if you want stability and don't want problems then be patient and don't buy brand new hardware running brand new software.
All of this is true. But when you're the market leader you can afford some problems, when you're nearly extinct you can't.
MikeSo
New member
The replaceable battery is great for when the device is 2+ years old, when you can put a new one in. These devices with non-replaceable batteries are essentially disposable. Which is how people like it I guess.
Zeem Frostmaw
New member
I don't even get SMS notifications in the first place, heh. No idea what's wrong there.
I get this exact issue. I believe I have narrowed it down to the Messaging + Skype app. I will post details later if I am correct.
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