950 XL vs 1520 - Which is best for the basics?

[Takenforgranted]

I've posted this on the 1520 forum as a reply to an existing thread, but figure it's more constructive to put it here:

I've decided the time has come to upgrade from my (t)rusty 920 to something larger (mainly to save my ageing eyes!) and the 1520 or 950 XL are the two possibles at the top of my list, simply because I'm so used to the architecture of Windows mobiles OS's.

I see as many proponents of the 1520 as I do for the 950 XL. The things that matter to me are:

• The quality and clarity of the display. I have a soft spot for a good IPS screen....
• Phone reception and speech clarity. I don't live in an area of the UK with a strong signal. The 920 suffers in that respect.
• Battery life. I don't game, engage social media or watch videos, but I do surf a fair bit. Lots of business calls and emails.
• Build quality, fit, finish and general 'feel'. I love the 920 in this respect (a phone that I hated when I first bought it!)
• Quality of camera in low light shots (VERY important). My work means I'm often taking pictures in and under dimly lit trains
• Decent maps, especially for use on foot.
• I love Photosynth. It is one of the most useful things I've got for quickly surveying the inside of vehicles. I mourn its passing :crying:
• Integration of MS Office apps with their desktop counterparts
• Good WiFi. I use the 920 as a makeshift browser at home, mainly because I don't have a tablet. One of the reasons for wanting a larger screen....
• Longevity. I keep my phones for 3+ years.

What doesn't matter to me:

• Extremely hi-res screens. Once the pixel count goes much beyond 350/inch, the rest is wasted, on me at least.
• Iris detection/other security cleverness. I'm fine with a PIN.
• Probably Continuum, though I do quite like the idea. However, with these larger screen phones, I can imagine that being able to hook up a pocket Bluetooth keyboard might be of use to me.

I've never seen either a 1520 or 950 XL in the flesh. Is the 1520 a '920 on steroids'? If so, I'd be sorely tempted. It sounds as though it has the better build quality. Within reason, cost doesn't matter to me. Does W10 run equally well on both phones? What would I miss out on by going with the 1520 in this respect?

My other left-field choice is an LG G4, mainly because of its camera. I've had a play with one and was very impressed.

What should I do???

 

[Pete]

Logic dictates that you'd need a test drive of each, but of course that's not really possible.

Since the 950XL is launching in a few days here in the UK, you might well find people offloading their old phones and may be able to pick up a 1520 relatively cheaply. If you find you don't get the results you want out of it, you can sell it on and not lose much money in the transfer (might even earn a small profit).

I live in an area of poor reception as well, and the 1520 isn't much better than any other phone I've had (even when I'm using 4G).

In terms of longevity, I've had my 1520 for the past two years and it's stood up very well. I have no scratches on my screen and only light scuffs on the case (I don't use a screen protector or case). And Windows 10 Mobile runs very well for me on the 1520.

 

[Dzik]

Some 1520s suffer from "phantom touch" issue; you can Bing it. Mine did which is the reason I upgraded to 950XL.

 

[Lundon44]

I'm not gonna lie, with the amount of bugs my 950XL has I'm actually really starting to miss my 1520. Sure, the 1520 wasn't perfect either. It has annoyances like the random "phantom" touches as mentioned above. I also hated that apps would always "resume" and camera pics took long to finalise. Also hated that everyone and myself would always hit the hard back and Windows button accidentally when trying to view things.

BUT.. At the same time, everything just WORKED. The amount of things that don't just work as they should on my 950XL is a joke. The bugs I've encountered in Win10 aren't just a few, there's a lot. I reset my 950XL about 10 times a day. My 1520.. maybe a couple times a week at best.

Personally, I'd stick with a 1520 for now. Camera takes noticeably better pics on the 950XL but that's all you're really missing. Wait until a bunch of major updates are released for Win10 then I'd consider the move.

 

[Takenforgranted]

Thanks for the feedback. It's all very helpful. Must admit, camera capabilities aside, I'm leaning towards the 1520.

Out of curiosity, if I swap the SIM over from my 920, will there be any why I could get Photosynth on a (new) 1520? Also, what Sketchbook-like apps are available that would run on either the 1520 or 950 XL?

 

[snakebitten]

It's a valid question, that's for sure. And my ONLY reluctance to acquiring a 1520 at this date is the age of the unreplaceable battery. (Although it has a BIG battery)

I have both. In fact I have 2 1520,s and 1 950XL.
With the 1520, it is a love relationship. That is the most amazingly reliable smartphone and they have served me with distinction for 2 years and 2 months. I keep one 1520 on 8.1 just to keep myself acquainted as I spend so many hours in W10M that I want to be honest with my own personal evaluation. But the 1520 running 10586.11 is my most cherished phone.

My new 950XL? I don't think it is for the feint of heart. It is a BEAST on the hardware side. Pure power! But it suffers from the dual SIM complexities AND the immature code of W10M. Ironic to me that the 1520 runs 10586 more solid than the device that was actually designed to run W10M. Having said that, I am so dang intrigued at getting this monster power phone into well behaved submission. lol

I expect it to improve in short order. My Surface Pro 4 is improving almost daily as it's bleeding edge issues are addressed.

I hope I didn't make it even harder to decide.

 

[Uncled1023]

I had the 1520 for about a year and then picked up a 950 XL last week.

The 1520 has a more solid feel and better build quality. It is noticeably heavier though, and now that I'm used to the weight of the 950 XL, the 1520 feels too heavy. The backplate on the 950 feels cheap, and taking it off is a chore (the Touch pro 2 backplate was a dream, this feels like you might break it). But once you have everything in, you shouldn't need to take it off much again and it feels fine (plus 3rd party backplates).

The new button configuration for the 950 is taking some getting used to, and I keep hitting the volume button instead of power.

The square corners of the 1520 created holes in my jeans, while the 950's rounded corners don't apply that same pressure.

Unless you have large hands, the 1520 will be fairly large to hold and would need 2 hands. The 950 is smaller but still fairly large. Haven't had to use 2 hands as much though. Both have the 'hold home button' option to bring the active screen down half way.

The 950 XL has Wireless charging which the AT&T 1520 does not (not sure if you are getting unlocked 1520 or not).

The addition of Dual Sim on the 950 hasn't been too detrimental for me (loss of VVM, but using a 3rd party for that anyways, so no effect).

The screen is beautiful on the 950, but the 1520 also has a very nice screen.

The 1520 has dedicated navigation buttons while the 950 has on screen buttons. It was a shock at first, but I'm slowly getting used to the on screen. It allowed the bezel to be much smaller (and, the total bottom bezel + on screen nav is almost exactly the same as the bezel and dedicated buttons on the 1520).You can hide the buttons as well easily (and in some modes does it automagically).

Battery for the 950 XL is lasting me with heavy usage for about 8 hours. Can't give a count for moderate or every day usage yet as I'm still in the 'play with everything' mode with the device. The 1520 could get me through the day without a charge. The charging on the 950 XL is amazing though. Plug it in for 30 min and it fills up 50%.

The USB-C is amazing. I got a USB-C to USB-A 3.0 adapter and tried plugging random things in. Plug in a mouse, and a mouse cursor shows up on my phone and I can use a mouse immediately. Hook up a keyboard, it just works. I can even charge other devices off my phone.

I'm still waiting on my free display dock (tomorrow!), so no opinion on continuum yet.

Windows 10 on the 950 XL has been a dream for me vs the 1520. On the 1520, I kept getting resume/loading screens, lag, crashes, etc. On the 950 everything is very noticeably faster and win 10 just works.

The Iris scanning is alright sometimes, but the distance requirement for it to be to your eyes makes it a pain to use in certain scenarios. But, it still has the old methods of PIN so it doesn't remove any functionality.

The double tap to wake is gone in the 950 which I am missing, but that should hopefully be a software fix later.

The camera on the 950 is MUCH faster than the 1520. The fastest camera I've used. The quality of the camera is good for both. I haven't done a direct comparison yet, but there are posts around that have.

The 1520 had a phantom touch issue that was VERY annoying. I would be doing something and all of a sudden cortana would go off, and it wouldn't respond for minutes.

All in all, the 1520 has better build quality, but the design of the 950 xl is better imo. The 950 XL has a noticeable performance gain over the 1520. The battery seems better on my 1520, but too early to throw in the towel on that yet. Win 10 runs much better on the 950 XL than my 1520.

Hopefully this helps you out.

 

[Takenforgranted]

I hope I didn't make it even harder to decide.

Err - yes, you probably did, but I asked for it The battery change for a 1520 isn't an issue for me a) because there are still a few brand new 1520's floating around on ebay in Europe and b) it's still possible to get hold of new, genuine Nokia batteries for the 1520 from reputable sources in the UK. The same can't be said for the 920 unfortunately, as I've found out to my cost on more than one occasion :angry:

Whichever way I turn, I can't find my ideal device. I've been taking a look for something similar to Sketchbook Pro or a simple line drawing/dimensioning utility in the Windows Store, but it looks like I fell in a pretty sizeable App Gap. Sigh.

Thanks for the informed comments, Uncled1023. The USB-C does indeed sound trick and is just the kind of thing Windows needs to play on if it is to save its phone platform. I sooooo want to stay with WM OS, but MS are making it difficult for me.