New 950xl Owner - Insider Or Not?

[garak0410]

I picked up an unlocked 950xl with the free display dock with this recent sale. At the moment, this is strickly as an enthuiest and not a daily driver. My work is on Verizon and pays for my phone for work and personal, so it saves me money personally. We have AT&T at home so if I ever wanted to add a line to the 950xl, I could. My main interest was the camera and the Continuum Dock.

Question...should I be on an insider on this phone on just accept the updates as they come available? I assume I do as there hasn't been a public Windows 10 Mobile push since 1511.

 

[Bobvfr]

Big update on Tuesday 9th (We hope) to the Anniversary update.

I used to be on the insider program on my 1520 but at one time it screwed up Groove so I went back to standard build, and have kept away from it on my 950XL and PC's, but it's your choice entirely, but for example, when the anniversary update comes out, you will very soon after get the first of maybe 20 updates over the next five months or so, and when that one comes out, another 20 or so before another one, if this appeals to you and some of these updates break things, by all means jump in.

I think I am happier with life in the slow lane and that way ever six months I have a single large update to look forwards to...........

 

[Thazal]

Since your new phone isn't a daily driver, I'd throw it in the insider Fast if only to get a couple app updates like panorama for windows camera now instead of waiting. Just turn off insider if you want after you receive that update. I'm running 14393.5 in Fast for right now with my daily driver and haven't had any issues yet.

 

[XboxRacer159]

If you are simply using it as an enthusiast it may be fun to see new updates though. I have a few windows phones running W10 Mobile and recently haven't really had too many bugs or issues even on the fast ring, and remember there is always the slow retail ring if you want the most stability from the insider builds. As Bobvfr says though you could also wait until the 9th :wink:

 

[garak0410]

Thanks for all of the tips. I've been waiting for a price cut with a free dock for some time and finally picked one up, despite being a current Verizon customer. Don't really need it for the calls right now. I want to give the phone a good work out, especially "Continuum"...Right now, even if I did go ahead and moved back to my AT&T account (which I'd be crazy to since my work pays for phone plan and upgrades on Verizon), I am just not so sure I can use Windows 10 Mobile. I love my Android Wear watch, even if the Band could fill in some gaps. There are some apps I use daily the WP doesn't have. Most of the HTML5 websites will work but I noticed ALEXA website for the Amazon Echo doesn't unless you "request" Desktop site...sadly, you can't pick and choose which sites use desktop site and which ones use Mobile...it's all or nothing.

So, I plan to set it up to be as functional as my Note 5, using Website's in place of missing apps and give a good "review" of it.

 

[Scott Pisciotta]

Hell to the NO to the Z!

Especially if you are not a huge Windows Phone fan. Stay on the production Ring. The insider ring will just make you mad and want to throw your phone away.

Now, if you don't mind having to restore your phone from scratch every now and then, and take 4 hours doing so then jump in the ring.

 

[coolj40041]

Yes. With fast and even slow rings, you will see lots of bugs. If this is your first foray into Windows mobile phones, your first impressions might be jaded because of all the bugs. You will see new features, yes, but they will likely be flawed in the first few iterations. If you are new, I would hold off putting it on insider for the first couple of months so you can play with the stable version and get a good feel for what it's really capable of doing and soak in the good times of this awesome OS. Personally, I'm a computer tech, so I see stuff fail all the time and have to fix it. I don't want to go home and work with a buggy phone that I constantly have to reset to get it working again. Thats why im not on Insider. I'm jaded like that
Plus it's fun/hilarious to just read about other people's frustration with Insider without having to experience it myself. Muahaha!!! I'M bad like that.

 

[garak0410]

Yes. With fast and even slow rings, you will see lots of bugs. If this is your first foray into Windows mobile phones, your first impressions might be jaded because of all the bugs. You will see new features, yes, but they will likely be flawed in the first few iterations. If you are new, I would hold off putting it on insider for the first couple of months so you can play with the stable version and get a good feel for what it's really capable of doing and soak in the good times of this awesome OS. Personally, I'm a computer tech, so I see stuff fail all the time and have to fix it. I don't want to go home and work with a buggy phone that I constantly have to reset to get it working again. Thats why im not on Insider. I'm jaded like that
Plus it's fun/hilarious to just read about other people's frustration with Insider without having to experience it myself. Muahaha!!! I'M bad like that.

Actually, I am a Windows Phone fan from Windows Mobile days to Series 7, to 8/8.1 and little bit of 10 until my ICON died and on Verizon, I had to move to Android Note 5 when it was confirmed that there will be no 950xl on Verizon.

So, I'd be good with the Insider Build, bugs and all but was just seeing what the norm was...seems to be 50/50 for/against.

 

[garak0410]

And again, thanks for the advice...I've deiced to WAIT for now on the insider...if simply for the fact that I can't add a Google Account right now under the latest insider build (Fast)...it goes to Edge and says this browser is no longer supported and it will not continue adding the Google account. I am currently using it for contacts/calendar...

 

[garak0410]

And again, thanks for the advice...I've deiced to WAIT for now on the insider...if simply for the fact that I can't add a Google Account right now under the latest insider build (Fast)...it goes to Edge and says this browser is no longer supported and it will not continue adding the Google account. I am currently using it for contacts/calendar...

Well, scratch that...can't add a Google Account on stock 950XL (after NON insider updates...)...still say Edge is not supported.

 

[coolj40041]

That's not normal. I can add Google account fine on my 950xl. Email, calendar, and contacts all work.

 

[Thazal]

Well, scratch that...can't add a Google Account on stock 950XL (after NON insider updates...)...still say Edge is not supported.

Yep, it's a known issue and hopefully a fix comes soon.

 

[abhishek singh21]

n't add a Google Account on stock 950XL (after NON insider updates...)...still say Edge is not supported.

google is blocking it intentionally , so the ball is in googles court ;D

 

[fdruid]

I was on Insider in my old 920. When I got my 950 XL I just stayed in Production builds. But every new thing comes out for Insider first. After Anniversary I'll consider entering Insider. At least in Slow or Release rings it should be safe enough. Also, you get new features first. But also bug fixes. There's risk, of course.

 

[Iain_S]

Since your new phone isn't a daily driver, I'd throw it in the insider Fast if only to get a couple app updates like panorama for windows camera now instead of waiting. Just turn off insider if you want after you receive that update. I'm running 14393.5 in Fast for right now with my daily driver and haven't had any issues yet.

Just remember is you put it on the fast ring you will be receiving very early builds of RS2 later in August. Maybe update to anniversary build then change to preview or back to production.

 

[libra89]

Well, scratch that...can't add a Google Account on stock 950XL (after NON insider updates...)...still say Edge is not supported.

I saw a guide on how to do this on Windows Central:

Here's how you can add a Gmail account to Outlook Mail in Windows 10 Mobile as a temporary fix | Windows Central

Try that. Nice to see you around these forums again.

 

[rollindice]

with anniversary update right round the corner , no need for you to be insider

 

[garak0410]

A side note...it seems the Google Account problem (not working woth Edge) is fixed now...I couldn't even add Netgen Reader when this problem occurred. And for those curious...I did try to activate the 950xl on Verizon and the IMEI was basically blocked and it said it couldn't be activated. I know a lot of Verizon users have been curious...

 

[JRDEMASKUS]

I Factory Reset over the weekend. First time since we got the first OTA update after the device was released.
Can't say it improved anything, but I did notice a couple of changes.

Setting up my Google account was effortless through the Settings/ Accounts Page. I was worried after seeing some of those comments.

I stayed on the RTM(?)/ Production build, as I find the device too buggy for experimentation as a daily driver, or a device I want to use.

Overall the 950XL is performing like a low RAM device. Not sure if it is the hardware or software,(OS/ apps)

Still hopeful it will continue to ramp up and stabilize before I am drooling over the next CONFIRMED MS device.