[Quick Impressions] Who Has Gotten The Lumia 950?

[Jeff Merritt1]

That is HD voice. I was blown away Sunday when I talked to my brother who also has an HD voice handset.

Yes. The HD voice is something else. I haven't been able to understand or hear my buddy for a long time, I called him last night and I was caught off guard. It is amazing. I hadn't even heard of it until now!

 

[Jeff Merritt1]

Headphone levels are adequate and sound good, equalizer helps.

I don't think as loud as iPhone, but it is appropriate for me. I have in-ears (Klipsch) and over the ear (Polk) and they both sound great to me. I will give it a further listen this afternoon on my bike ride.

 

[Istvan Szitas]

Are the whites better than those were on the Lumia 930's display? On my 930 the white is rather grayish with standard colour settings compared to the latest iphone or galaxy.

 

[Xsled]

Hello all and congrats to the first lucky owners of the 950. I am in the waiting room in my country (Athens, Greece) for the device official launch.
User of WP since 2012 and currently with an 830 with W10M TP latest build. I like very much W10M and in general WP as they offer some key advantages, to my needs, that no other OS can offer.

I would like, if possible, any of the 950 owners to clarify the following:
1. On glance screen is the day of the week also displayed along with the date and time? Currently on my 830 with W10M TP the day of the week is only displayed and the date is not (the date is normally displayed on lock screen though). What is the situation on 950?
2. On WP8.1 when i was dismissing a notification, e.g. a call, sms or mail, from notification area at the same time the icon from lock screen and also from glance screen was removed cause i have seen the notification and had decided to dismiss it. But on W10M TP this is not the case. And even when seeing a call or sms form its application the icon from lock/glance screen may take hours to disappear. What is the situation on 950?
3. On 950 are the "resume" or "loading" screens totally disappeared?
4. With 3GB RAM, what is the case with the Edge browser if I have opened e.g. 6 pages and I move from one page to another. Then i go off Edge and after some hours I open again Edge. Are the pages I had opened still there? And if I select any of the pages is it reloaded or I can just continue seeing the page from previous state?
5. Are Mail, Calendar, Store, messages, i.e. MSFT built in apps, open really fast without lagging?
6. What about the multitasking abilities? Do we really have true multitasking on 950? I mean if i resume a previously opened app do i continue from the point i left it or the app reloads from scratch?

That's all, sorry for the long list guys.
Appreciate your feedback.

1: Yes, the day of the week shows on display. Example: Tuesday, November 24 - currently showing on my display.
2: Dismissing (swiping) the notification away from the action center removes the message icon on lock screen. Just tested and it went away immediately.
3: I don't think I have seen a loading screen yet. May have missed it due to being so used to them, but I don't believe I have seen it once.
4: Yes, even in Continuum they are still there. Just tested one I had open last night and it didn't refresh. Not sure if that is always the case, but this morning it didn't refresh.
5: Super fast, will touch more on that in #6.
6: True universal apps continue where you left off with almost zero load time. Well, almost where you left off. If you had an email open, it will launch back to inbox. But, if you have scrolled, it stays where you scrolled to.

This is my experience. Others may not have the same, but this is what I am seeing so far. I love this device, a lot.

 

[Xsled]

Are the whites better than those were on the Lumia 930's display? On my 930 the white is rather grayish with standard colour settings compared to the latest iphone or galaxy.

I use the light mode and the white is super bright. Almost too bright, I have brightness down to 50% with automatic turned on.

 

[Istvan Szitas]

I also read in a lot of reviews that the display is a little bit dim. Is it true? If true, could it be software or hardware related?

 

[Xsled]

I also read in a lot of reviews that the display is a little bit dim. Is it true? If true, could it be software or hardware related?

Oh, gosh no. I cannot leave it at 100% without feeling like my retinas are burning. It is VERY bright. Folks need to keep in mind that you can still manually adjust even with auto mode on. So... IE, I have set at 50% and it will get brighter as it needs to. But, in no way do I think it is dim, at all.

 

[Skyway]

I also read in a lot of reviews that the display is a little bit dim. Is it true? If true, could it be software or hardware related?

That person turned the brightness up though the notification center which apparently has some issues. If you go to settings and adjust it there, it is a lot brighter. I turn mine all the way down to 0 and I can still see it just fine.

 

[asikis]

1: Yes, the day of the week shows on display. Example: Tuesday, November 24 - currently showing on my display.
2: Dismissing (swiping) the notification away from the action center removes the message icon on lock screen. Just tested and it went away immediately.
3: I don't think I have seen a loading screen yet. May have missed it due to being so used to them, but I don't believe I have seen it once.
4: Yes, even in Continuum they are still there. Just tested one I had open last night and it didn't refresh. Not sure if that is always the case, but this morning it didn't refresh.
5: Super fast, will touch more on that in #6.
6: True universal apps continue where you left off with almost zero load time. Well, almost where you left off. If you had an email open, it will launch back to inbox. But, if you have scrolled, it stays where you scrolled to.

This is my experience. Others may not have the same, but this is what I am seeing so far. I love this device, a lot.

Xsled thank you so much for your detailed and clear answers! much appreciated!
From your answers I understand, firsts, that MSFT has not yet tuned W10M TP for all devices and secondly that new processor + 3GB RAM due make significant difference.
One last question, if possible. If you have set more than one mail accounts (like yahoo, gmail, corporate etc), does the notification area group the mail accounts different so that there is on grouped mail for Yahoo, another one Group for corporate etc? This is something handy in WP8.1 that during the W10M TP builds and different Outlook mail versions, sometimes it kept the 8.1 functionality by grouping account separated and sometimes it merged all the mails into one "Outlook Mail" group. Right now it still has the one "Outlook Mail" behavior which frustating. Please not that in order to check this option you need to have not set the mail accounts as merged under Mail settings.

Again thank you very much for your answers.

 

[Ben Triplett1]

Got mine on Sunday. Compared my 830 running build 10586 to the display unit and was impressed. The screens are about the same size except that the 950 has the back/home/search buttons on the screen. Was pleased to see that a simple swipe up makes the buttons drop out, and then the same gesture makes them come back.

Very impressed with the display! The text was about the same size when visiting the same website on the two phones, but the text on the 950 is extremely clear. The 830 isn't so bad, but the 950 is noticeably superior. The 950 is also has superior responsiveness. Running the 950 for two days now, quite happy, Hey Cortana is fun, and I'm about to try out the iris scanner.

The camera flat-out rocks. The adjustable flash after the photo has been taken is very cool, and glad to see slow motion video. Here's hoping they up the frame rate to 120 or better soon.

Keep it up MS!

 

[jmajid]

Got mine on Sunday. Compared my 830 running build 10586 to the display unit and was impressed. The screens are about the same size except that the 950 has the back/home/search buttons on the screen. Was pleased to see that a simple swipe up makes the buttons drop out, and then the same gesture makes them come back.

Very impressed with the display! The text was about the same size when visiting the same website on the two phones, but the text on the 950 is extremely clear. The 830 isn't so bad, but the 950 is noticeably superior. The 950 is also has superior responsiveness. Running the 950 for two days now, quite happy, Hey Cortana is fun, and I'm about to try out the iris scanner.

The camera flat-out rocks. The adjustable flash after the photo has been taken is very cool, and glad to see slow motion video. Here's hoping they up the frame rate to 120 or better soon.

Keep it up MS!

thanks for the tip about the virtual buttons and swiping up from the bottom...
I love Hey Cortana feature on my desktop - cant wait for this on the phone too.... and the sensorcore also for the step tracking

 

[Skyway]

Xsled thank you so much for your detailed and clear answers! much appreciated!
From your answers I understand, firsts, that MSFT has not yet tuned W10M TP for all devices and secondly that new processor + 3GB RAM due make significant difference.
One last question, if possible. If you have set more than one mail accounts (like yahoo, gmail, corporate etc), does the notification area group the mail accounts different so that there is on grouped mail for Yahoo, another one Group for corporate etc? This is something handy in WP8.1 that during the W10M TP builds and different Outlook mail versions, sometimes it kept the 8.1 functionality by grouping account separated and sometimes it merged all the mails into one "Outlook Mail" group. Right now it still has the one "Outlook Mail" behavior which frustating. Please not that in order to check this option you need to have not set the mail accounts as merged under Mail settings.

Again thank you very much for your answers.

My outlook has separate inboxes for each account (yahoo, google).

 

[jmf54321]

Has anyone with a 950 confirmed it will work with Band 2?

 

[ScubaDog]

First impressions of the white LUMIA 950:
1. It feels cheap, just like the 635 and 640. Does NOT feel solid and sturdy like the 920 and 1020 both do.
2. The white is easily marred, so if keeping a good finish is important to you, get a case.
3. STILL HAS SEVERAL APPS THAT WON'T UPDATE
4. Wireless charging is hit-or-miss. You have to position it just right on the pad. Never had this problem with the 920 or 1020.
5. The camera simply doesn't compare to my 1020, PARTICULARLY in low-light conditions. Images are washed out and the contrast is stark compared to the 1020 (I'm talking about images taken without making adjustments ahead of time). I'll be sticking to my 1020 for pictures, period.
6. The autofocus doesn't work very well at all on the 950, and I find I resort to manual focus 60% of the time. It tested this on my wife's identical 950 to see if I just got a bad unit, but the problem was consistent. Autofocus on the 1020 is precise every time.
7. Almost all performance is jerky. Scrolling, switching screens, selecting from drop-lists, doesn't matter. Given this is supposedly better specs than my 1020 I should see almost universal smoothness. Of course, this is W10, so I'm not at all surprised.
8. Increasing text sizes does NOTHING to fix how absolutely, stupidly TINY fonts are on the tiles. Having the TINY numbers for outstanding notifications on tiles is an idiotic choice compared to how large and bold they are on WP8.1. Major fail.
9. Icons on many third party app tiles are VERY TINY as well, creating a horrible look on the Start Screen.
10. Hello is virtually useless. Even after MULTIPLE attempts to "Improve Recognition", the stupid thing half the time says, "Couldn't detect your eyes". Several times it has come up with an error saying "Hello has been blocked due to too many failed attempts" forcing me to use the PIN. I'm turning of this ridiculous feature.
11. Motion data doesn't work correctly, rarely picking up that I have accumulated steps--even thought I've made all the motion settings are on.
12. When trying to configure individual app sounds it locks up and crashes within a few seconds of trying out different sounds. It took an hour of this just to configure custom sounds for a handful of apps. Ridiculous.
13. Battery life is "meh". I can get as much battery time out of my 1020 that's over two years old and had thousands of charges. I should get significantly better battery from a new device.
14. I see the "dots" in random cases when trying to start an app or switch screens. I'm assuming this is merely the replacement for "loading" or "resuming" used in most situations.
15. I also see the circular arrows come up randomly, also something I'm betting is analogous to "resuming".
16. Often huge delays in Cortana responding. Or you'll hear the "bleep" indicating that Cortana is listening BEFORE you get the notifications (e.g., you hear "bleep".... long pause...." You have a text from <insert name>".
17. I've decided that 5.2 inches is just too big of a device to be comfortable to use, a problem that is made worse when you put a case on it (which you absolutely will need to do because this thing feels and is built like a cheap toy).
18. All of the rest my limitless complaints about how bad Windows 10 is still apply.

 

[InsGadget]

Has anyone with a 950 confirmed it will work with Band 2?

Yep, works just fine.

 

[Ertonimus]

First impressions of the white LUMIA 950:
1. It feels cheap, just like the 635 and 640. Does NOT feel solid and sturdy like the 920 and 1020 both do.
2. The white is easily marred, so if keeping a good finish is important to you, get a case.
3. STILL HAS SEVERAL APPS THAT WON'T UPDATE
4. Wireless charging is hit-or-miss. You have to position it just right on the pad. Never had this problem with the 920 or 1020.
5. The camera simply doesn't compare to my 1020, PARTICULARLY in low-light conditions. Images are washed out and the contrast is stark compared to the 1020 (I'm talking about images taken without making adjustments ahead of time). I'll be sticking to my 1020 for pictures, period.
6. The autofocus doesn't work very well at all on the 950, and I find I resort to manual focus 60% of the time. It tested this on my wife's identical 950 to see if I just got a bad unit, but the problem was consistent. Autofocus on the 1020 is precise every time.
7. Almost all performance is jerky. Scrolling, switching screens, selecting from drop-lists, doesn't matter. Given this is supposedly better specs than my 1020 I should see almost universal smoothness. Of course, this is W10, so I'm not at all surprised.
8. Increasing text sizes does NOTHING to fix how absolutely, stupidly TINY fonts are on the tiles. Having the TINY numbers for outstanding notifications on tiles is an idiotic choice compared to how large and bold they are on WP8.1. Major fail.
9. Icons on many third party app tiles are VERY TINY as well, creating a horrible look on the Start Screen.
10. Hello is virtually useless. Even after MULTIPLE attempts to "Improve Recognition", the stupid thing half the time says, "Couldn't detect your eyes". Several times it has come up with an error saying "Hello has been blocked due to too many failed attempts" forcing me to use the PIN. I'm turning of this ridiculous feature.
11. Motion data doesn't work correctly, rarely picking up that I have accumulated steps--even thought I've made all the motion settings are on.
12. When trying to configure individual app sounds it locks up and crashes within a few seconds of trying out different sounds. It took an hour of this just to configure custom sounds for a handful of apps. Ridiculous.
13. Battery life is "meh". I can get as much battery time out of my 1020 that's over two years old and had thousands of charges. I should get significantly better battery from a new device.
14. I see the "dots" in random cases when trying to start an app or switch screens. I'm assuming this is merely the replacement for "loading" or "resuming" used in most situations.
15. I also see the circular arrows come up randomly, also something I'm betting is analogous to "resuming".
16. Often huge delays in Cortana responding. Or you'll hear the "bleep" indicating that Cortana is listening BEFORE you get the notifications (e.g., you hear "bleep".... long pause...." You have a text from <insert name>".
17. I've decided that 5.2 inches is just too big of a device to be comfortable to use, a problem that is made worse when you put a case on it (which you absolutely will need to do because this thing feels and is built like a cheap toy).
18. All of the rest my limitless complaints about how bad Windows 10 is still apply.

Not really sure why you exerted all the effort in posting that. If you're having that much trouble return your phone or better yet stop posting the "limitless complaints."

 

[Skyway]

Not really sure why you exerted all the effort in posting that. If you're having that much trouble return your phone or better yet stop posting the "limitless complaints."

I would honestly ignore his comment. He said a 5.2" phone is too big, that right there should say it all. This 950 is not a big device at all, I don't know how anyone could consider it one.

 

[deezus]

Have you updated the store and all the apps? I had issues then I disabled windows hello, its in beta btw, and phone is completely stable. Just some annoying scaling issues but that can be fixed via software.

 

[InsGadget]

ScubaDog, sounds like you have a bad unit. You should have it replaced. I have been loving my 950, for the most part, and I expect most issues to be addressed with updates. Which is literally the case with every consumer electronic device just about ever released. Addressing some of your issues:
1) While I do prefer the unibody design of the 920/1020, the 950 does not feel cheap to me, at least compared to many Android flagships.
3) There are exactly two apps that won't update, that are related to the deprecated Nokia software bits of WinMobile and need to be removed with an update. Not a big deal at all, and definitely not worth ALL CAPS OMG.
4) Wireless charging on my old Nokia charger pad has been 100% hit. You must have bad hardware.
5,6) Haven't used 1020, but the camera has been nothing but excellent for me, coming from a 920. Autofocus is quick and amazing, for a phone.
7) Performance is snappy and quick, especially compared to Win10Mobile running on my 920. And also compared to most Android phones.
10) Hello is definitely still beta, but not useless.
13) Battery life is great if you disable Hello.
16) Cortana does need to speed up, but she is better on Win10Mobile than Win8.1

Honestly, it sounds like you have bad hardware. And that you like to complain. Good luck with life.

 

[AbstractKiller]

Wow, that was a long read with both very useful and also, let's say, "less useful" comments.

Been sitting on my 920 and, unfortunately (due to a drunken drop), 'temporary' 735 for over 2 years now so keen to upgrade... but can't draw any conclusions just yet... maybe a shortfall of MS OS (for sales, but a BIG plus for users) - but, everything works on my 735 - I don't "NEED" to upgrade to run or do anything (other than continuum & hello).