Hands-on Experiences with the 950XL

[Waughy]

Re: Not as bad as I thought

It's terrible I'm going to keep hidden in a folder or keep it small.

I'll keep it small when I set my phone up. I only use it for contacts anyway, so no need to have the icon any larger.

I'm jealous so many of you are getting a hands on already. Nowhere in Australia has the phone on display yet, and nowhere will until they are released for sale most likely. Even then only some places will have them, others will just have dummy units that you can hold but not use to give them a good check out. Sounds like heat isn't a big issue. All phones get warm with use, including every iPhone I've owned from the 3G to the 6+ I'm currently using. As long as it only gets warm, which would be normal if you are giving it a good workout, and performance doesn't drop because of heat, then the phones will be fine.

The wait continues.

 

[Ben Schmidt1]

Re: Not as bad as I thought

I'll keep it small when I set my phone up. I only use it for contacts anyway, so no need to have the icon any larger.

I'm jealous so many of you are getting a hands on already. Nowhere in Australia has the phone on display yet, and nowhere will until they are released for sale most likely. Even then only some places will have them, others will just have dummy units that you can hold but not use to give them a good check out. Sounds like heat isn't a big issue. All phones get warm with use, including every iPhone I've owned from the 3G to the 6+ I'm currently using. As long as it only gets warm, which would be normal if you are giving it a good workout, and performance doesn't drop because of heat, then the phones will be fine.

The wait continues.

Yeah, my ICON gets hot if I put it through some heavy use. If the new phones just get warm, I can handle that, as long as they don't get to the temperatures my ICON gets to.

 

[MikeSo]

Re: Not as bad as I thought

Yeah, my ICON gets hot if I put it through some heavy use. If the new phones just get warm, I can handle that, as long as they don't get to the temperatures my ICON gets to.

The worst thing about my Icon is that it uses an insane amount of battery when surfing the web to sites like disqus.com or using messaging. I can get 60%/hour rate of battery use and it gets very hot. I hope they've made that somewhat better...

 

[o4komodo]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

it has, also nfc

says it does

[FONT=wf_SegoeUI]Connectivity
[/FONT][FONT=wf_SegoeUI]...
Bluetooth profiles: Advanced Audio Distribution Profile (A2DP) 1.2, Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) 1.4, Generic Attribute Profile (GATT), Hands-free profile (HFP) 1.6, Human Interface Device Profile (HID), Object Push profile (OPP) 1.1, Personal Area Network Profile (PAN) 1.0, Phone Book Access Profile (PBAP) 1.1, HID over GATT profile (HOGP) 1.0, Message Access Profile (MAP)
NFC: Pairing, secure NFC for payment, sharing, tagging
[/FONT]...

[FONT=wf_SegoeUI]
[/FONT]

 

[narv]

so just to update everyone I went back to the MS store and played with the 950 XL some more (and the band and pro 4 but different thread). For those asking it didn't seem to have double tap to wake ( I couldn't find it anywhere) but it does have double tap to turn off (double tap nav bar. I actually REALLY liked that feature.... so much better than hitting the button). To the uservoice people! request double tap to open on the 950(XL)!!

The lady at the front put windows hello on for me and so she scanned my eyes. You have to look right into the sensor but the "angle" you hold the phone doesn't matter as long as you're looking into the sensor directly (so if you tilt your head down). It took about 3 seconds to setup my eyes for use. Then she held it up and took about a second to unlock but honestly it really didn't feel like it took that long. And with it in Beta I'm sure there will be some speed improvements coming.

The camera loads incredibly fast because it's "always running". So it doesn't need to load the camera app, it just has to open it. Took great photos and video and I played with some of the video settings (differnet resolutions and FPS). Still highest of 60 FPS.

So the phone was quite snappy and I double checked that it's still running 10546. It was running Netflix, candy crush, word, camera, edge (with 4 tabs including youtube and win central (yay me! hah)), the photos app, 2 different settings windows and maps. The phone at the bottom you could feel getting warm but to me it was not HOT.. my 920 gets hold, like it's going to melt butter. This is more "ok.. I feel heat.. but it's not bad".. Actually when I played with the surface pro 4, it was hotter than the 950XL.. so I closed to camera app and put the phone down for a minute. Picked it back up and it was cool to the touch again so it cooled down very quickly. I would be curious though if the new cases will eliminate some of the heat issues with having different than polycarbonate plastic as a backing (be it glass, metal, leather or whatever else someone uses as their backing). Then of course there are cases that you don't feel it through.

I messed around with glance some more and I couldn't get the background to show up even though I had the option selected so possibly a bug. Again double tap would be awesome here.

Last time I commented that at 100% battery and unplugged it told me 15 hours.. This time I got 1 day 15 hours from 96% battery (so who knows, maybe it needed a restart before). So that makes me happier about the battery. And in all the 10 minutes I spent with it, it went from 96% to 95%. With all the apps you see above running. While that's not really "good", for me that's not "bad".. since for all I know it could be rounding issues. But I'm also using a 920 that lasts 3 hours with 0 use and being restart first thing in the morning at 100%.. and by the 30 minute mark I could cook eggs with it.

Overall the phone was very speedy and I loved it. I preordered it there and for those asking, it's no money down. They said they will give you a call once they come in, you go in and get your reserved phone and pay for it then.

Right now I'm very excited for the phone, though I'm more excited for the hardware more so than the software because I'm so used to the OS from the insider preview that it's not new and shiny to me, but I'll still love the phone

 

[oldpueblo]

I just hope that AT&T will carry the 950XL...I will NOT pay the current asking price @$690....from a Microsoft store...

You realize you're paying that price regardless of where you get it right? NEXT or two year contract just spread the payment out, just like you would with a credit card. Heck do PayPal credit, no interest for 6 months if you want.

 

[Waughy]

Re: Not as bad as I thought

Yeah, my ICON gets hot if I put it through some heavy use. If the new phones just get warm, I can handle that, as long as they don't get to the temperatures my ICON gets to.

I had a 930 for a few months and it got pretty warm with good use too, but still I wouldn't say it was ever too hot. It was never uncomfortable to hold due to heat. If the 950XL gets about half as warm it'll be sweet.

 

[robertre]

Re: Not as bad as I thought

I went to the Microsoft Store 2 times. When I got home the first time, I kept kicking myself for not preordering one. I am really impressed that the 950XL is so light,and I love that it looks like the complete front is glass (because of the very small black metal trim around the outside. I found everything about it extremely snappy, I did get it to run warm when I was running the maps program, but from my experience, every smartphone I have used gets hot when running mapping software. Every other time, it seemed to be fairly cool. Coming from my 920 and 640 recently (that I have been using to get used to a larger screen) the 950XL does not look that big because it is thin and the bezels are relatively small. There definitely are still some bugs in the software they are running, but a lot better than at he version of 10 I have on my 640. I have never spent a lot on a smartphone, but this phone is so nice, that I preordered one today. I figure I have a month or more to get my wife used to me spending so much. I am hoping they announce some kind of bundle or promotion before they arrive, but even without it, I am sold. The phone pretty much has everything I was hoping to get in a phone... Windows 10, big screen, light, expandable memory, removable battery, great camera, wireless charging, swappable rear cover, and everything else. It is so nice to see a Windows phone that matches or beats all of the other flagship devices in specs and features... having a fancy metal or glass case is not important to me, especially when you see that most IPhones and Androids have covers on them that hide their looks anyway.

 

[oldpueblo]

So for whoever this applies to, I took my Nokia CR-200 QI car mount into the store and the 950XL fit just perfectly including button spacing. The clamp touches right between the volume down and the camera button, so as long as the case isn't too thick those of you that have one will be fine. However, I couldn't test wireless charging pad placement. I assume it'll charge just fine, but we'll find out.

 

[wasim sallam]

I played with it for about 30 minutes and it definitely warmed up within the first 5-10 minutes for me.

how much heat did it have?
I hope not so hot like L920 or like that

 

[anon(9630986)]

Does anyone want to complain about the bezel?

 

[bo_woods]

The bezel on the 950 Xl is really nothing to complain about. The top is the only part that is a little big. The sides and bottom are SLIMMER than on my 1520!

 

[narv]

So for whoever this applies to, I took my Nokia CR-200 QI car mount into the store and the 950XL fit just perfectly including button spacing. The clamp touches right between the volume down and the camera button, so as long as the case isn't too thick those of you that have one will be fine. However, I couldn't test wireless charging pad placement. I assume it'll charge just fine, but we'll find out.

I asked the lady if I could use the same wireless charger I already had and she said yes. But would need a new special charger to get the quick charge.

how much heat did it have?
I hope not so hot like L920 or like that

it's NOTHING compared to the 920. It was warm, you could feel a temp change but it was not super warm or hot at all.

 

[anon(9630986)]

The bezel on the 950 Xl is really nothing to complain about. The top is the only part that is a little big. The sides and bottom are SLIMMER than on my 1520!

Exactly! I'm still laughing about and slightly irritated with all the people who moaned about the bezel in the renders. Idiots. Just rubbing it in.

 

[ScubaDog]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

Well, of COURSE THAT one was fast. As I've pointed out numerous times Windows Phone 7 and 8 were exceptionally fast and didn't NEED latest specs to run smoothly. W10M is a dog, absolutely requiring hefty specs just to run acceptably.

 

[deepak12345]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

Well, of COURSE THAT one was fast. As I've pointed out numerous times Windows Phone 7 and 8 were exceptionally fast and didn't NEED latest specs to run smoothly. W10M is a dog, absolutely requiring hefty specs just to run acceptably.

if thats the case i dont think ms would even plan to update the older windows phone 8 devices except the lumia 1520.. :3 .. but they said they would try to update as many lumia devices as possible... Lets see even the 435 gets the update . so i guess it should work well with old devices nah?

 

[MikeSo]

Well, of COURSE THAT one was fast. As I've pointed out numerous times Windows Phone 7 and 8 were exceptionally fast and didn't NEED latest specs to run smoothly. W10M is a dog, absolutely requiring hefty specs just to run acceptably.

This is true.

However, let's not allow our memory of those phones to become too rosy. Windows Phone 7 was fast - it also wouldn't allow you to run hardly anything in the background except music.

When you pressed the lock button to turn off the display, your GPS stopped working, as did the networking. You couldn't use Nokia Drive in the background at all, so for example it was not possible to have the navigation on when driving and you wanted to have the music player up.

You couldn't use an app like Runkeeper (which I think is gone now, probably because it sucked in WP7), because it stopped working as soon as you put your phone in your pocket.

Etc etc etc etc... so many things were so much less useful in Windows Phone 7, and in WP8 it started to slow down, because much more could be done (and people complained about that!). But yes, WP looked great and it was fast. Personally, I trade a little slowness for a lot more functionality. I think part of what killed WP was Microsoft's insistence on performance over features. I can't think of any tech in history that has won on performance over features/ease of use.

I hope that W10M is optimized to run faster, but comparing it to WP7 is not very useful.

 

[narv]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

This is true.

However, let's not allow our memory of those phones to become too rosy. Windows Phone 7 was fast - it also wouldn't allow you to run hardly anything in the background except music.

When you pressed the lock button to turn off the display, your GPS stopped working, as did the networking. You couldn't use Nokia Drive in the background at all, so for example it was not possible to have the navigation on when driving and you wanted to have the music player up.

You couldn't use an app like Runkeeper (which I think is gone now, probably because it sucked in WP7), because it stopped working as soon as you put your phone in your pocket.

Etc etc etc etc... so many things were so much less useful in Windows Phone 7, and in WP8 it started to slow down, because much more could be done (and people complained about that!). But yes, WP looked great and it was fast. Personally, I trade a little slowness for a lot more functionality.

I hope that W10M is optimized to run faster, but comparing it to WP7 is not very useful.

I agree. I think it's a catch 22 to have the insider program because people are helping via input, suggestions, etc. But they are also seeing the bugs and such that normally happen in the build cycle for an OS and think MS is so far behind when.. I mean they are.. but they aren't.. remember too that build 10546 is running on these phones, which is farther ahead of what we have in the insider program, and has been out since at least the 6th. But if it was there on the 6th, that means that when it was tested and pushed through, the programmers didn't just stop and wait, they kept working. So they are much farther along that what we will even get this week (hopefully) from the build.

That being said yes everything is super snappy on the 950 XL but we don't know if that's the hardware or the software for sure because that isn't being tested on the older devices yet. It could really be a super improved build *shrug*.

now a lot of problems we are having with WM10 are slowness, resuming, etc. BUT it's also *BUGS* that are known and not that the systems can't handle them. my 920 isn't really slow per say. It just sometimes gets into bugs and stutters. but that's the OS.. I don't think the hardware of the older phones will not be able to handle WM10.

And like MikeSo said, remember that for a long time, WP8 would turn your wifi off when the scree was off and reconnect it when you unlocked your phone. There were a lot of issues like that. So to say that the old OS was so speedy, well it did about 1/3 of the current features of WM10 (yes that's a bit of an exaggeration) so there is bound to be some issues. And chances are with this being an insider preview build there is probably more DEBUG statements and sending data to MS that slows it down a bit. If they are trying to get telemetry from all the devices to be able to see all types of use vs specs vs whatever they have to be sending some data back not just anecdotal evidence from what users perceive.

 

[B T C]

I'm not paying $550-$650 for a phone. Maybe I'm just old, but that $hit is effing insanity to me. I'm really hoping that AT&T will have some kind of deal like they did with the 920, which was $99 with a 2 year contract at launch.

 

[PepperdotNet]

I'm not paying $550-$650 for a phone. Maybe I'm just old, but that $hit is effing insanity to me. I'm really hoping that AT&T will have some kind of deal like they did with the 920, which was $99 with a 2 year contract at launch.

And how much did you pay for that phone over those two years? About $500+, right?