AT&T Lumia 950s are lemons

[DLong4]

I'm considering following in your footsteps. This branded AT&T 950 is the pits, I believe from the lack of firmware updates by the carrier. I had purchased mine up front on almost the same day you had acquired yours. My AT&T rep suggested that apart from enrolling in the Next plan, that I could sell it to someone else and recoup some of my money. It would be a very cold-hearted thing to do to anyone, to foist this AT&T phone onto anyone else. I'm trying to hold on for the firmware vaporware updates, as each morning the alarm might actually anunciate to wake me up and I won't be late for work, or the camera and the built-in flash utility might not fail or disappear this day, or Edge might have a connection to the network, or the caller to my phone might not hear a horrible echo every time, etc. Short of AT&T vaporware, I might just limp along and jump ship to the next appropriate Windows10 device, but never an AT&T branded phone again.

 

[philharmonik]

I tried factory resetting my 950 this morning. The hands free texting stopped working entirely (even when set to always on). Once the reset was complete, it was on Windows 8.1. Shouldn't it reset back to W10??

 

[ncxcstud]

the only issue that I have been having with my 950 is that at times when the phone has been 'asleep' for an extended period of time it takes a few seconds or so for the screen to become responsive. At first, i thoguht it was because of the tempered glass screen I had on it... So, I took it off and still have that issue. If/when the firmware update gets pushed by ATT, I might just hard reset the phone then and hope that that fixes it... I'm running the latest Insider Preview build.

 

[InsGadget]

On AT&T 950, Fast Ring since day 1 in November. Battery life has improved significantly (I can leave it unplugged overnight and only lose about 10-15% of battery), although it still sucks down fast during actual use. The screen is a huge power draw, but I feel is worth it due to the excellent image quality. I have had a few random resets since November, but I wouldn't consider it a huge problem. I am annoyed by the ever-widening app gap; TuneIn Radio, for instance, has a perfectly working UWP app that they won't even bother to re-enable for Windows 10 Mobile, and probably never will. Makes me sigh.

I recommended Windows Phone 8 for people like my parents, who don't need apps, and just want something simple and effective. I don't recommend Windows 10 Mobile for anyone, though, unless (like me) they have zero interest in the Apple or Google ecosystem. Even then, I would recommend a WP8.1 device for most people. W10Mobile just SUCKS, plain and simple.

 

[richwolf]

Had mine since day one with no problems.

 

[runamuck83]

Had mine since day one with no problems.

If it's an AT&T variant I find that hard to believe

 

[uselessrobot]

Yesterday I noticed my phone reset itself for the first time. It's probably happened before, but I've never seen it occur myself.

What I've been experiencing with increasing frequency is that the messaging app is incredibly unstable. Sometimes it takes multiple attempts before it starts up. Other times there's lag when I try sending messages. It locks up for a moment before the message sends, assuming it doesn't crash in the process.

Smartwatch functionality with the Band is intermittent. I've given up on using it for anything other than fitness tracking, but every so often I discover that it's working properly. Then when I start using that functionality for a couple of days it breaks again.

There's no other way to put it; this phone is garbage. Of course, I'm on AT&T which means I'm locked out of firmware updates, but from what I keep reading here it doesn't look like those help a whole lot.

What really gets me is how starkly the mobile OS contrasts with Windows 10 desktop, which I find to be very stable and immensely useable. If my Lumia 950 has done anything, it's make me less confident about the future of Windows and Microsoft in general. It's really galling that they botched these phones so badly, where even core functionality is unstable.

 

[MerlotC]

Ive had no significant issues with my day one att 950. Was a bit buggy before first upgrade but had no problems with 107 build. Now on latest Redstone I have had a couple freezes when editing photos and a random reset but overall still functions fine. It is my only phone (for personal and my business) and hasn't let me down.