Hands-on Experiences with the 950XL

[narv]

The Subway app for Band sounds encouraging. I didn't realize when I was in the store that online preorders were not open yet and was hoping to avoid another road trip to pick it up. I may be na?ve but I'm hoping now that Windows 10 is out, generally well received and because Microsoft has made it easier to design universal apps that more companies will come onboard.

Yes and no. I agree and more companies should see the benefit of such apps, but most of those same companies also have websites and not see the app store as beneficial to their strategies. For example, I think Siriusxm needs an app. None for phone. And a win10 would be great. But they also stream from the web so might not care enough to put resources towards it. Though I still think it's stupid they don't have one.

Yes of course, but will the sim2-nosim still show?

Someone posted in this thread earlier that they asked a store rep and they said that the missing 2nd sim message goes away once you put a sim in.

 

[Petru Moldovan]

Yes of course, but will the sim2-nosim still show?

In Windows 8.1 you can remove the phone and messaging "No SIM" tiles from your start screen, so why wouldn't be possible in Windows 10? Yes indeed you cannot remove the top-left icon, but it is so small, I don't eve care about it.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

Re: Played with the 950XL today, Wow!

I also played with the phone[950XL] the store didn't have the 950 yet. And yes that thing is fast. Web browsing, changing app to app, Cortana, Video, pictures. There was nothing that I wasn't expecting with the OS. But I will reiterated my statement "Hardware wise, it is still and 640XL upgrade." I will buy another unlock 1520 or 640 XL and save the money for next yr. Barcelona I am looking at you to let the Surface team surprise me with a Surface design[Phone]. I will buy the band though.

 

[Bjfcm]

Thank,

Very helpful with a visual comparison. I also have the 1520 ( best phone Ever) . My biggest gripe is the size difference. I am very use to a 6 inch screen. Now I just need to know when AT & T is going to have it for purchase.

 

[bugelrex]

Re: Played with the 950XL today, Wow!

From a software engineering point of view, one month prior to release should be code freeze. Only show stopper bugs to be addressed.
if a show stopper bug can be seen by a user within 30 minutes of using the device, it really doesn't bode well...
Bugs 1 month prior should be very obscure and very hard to reproduce, perhaps only triggered by several unexpected events/applications

 

[7a2eer]

Re: Played with the 950XL today, Wow!

I also played with the phone[950XL] the store didn't have the 950 yet. And yes that thing is fast. Web browsing, changing app to app, Cortana, Video, pictures. There was nothing that I wasn't expecting with the OS. But I will reiterated my statement "Hardware wise, it is still and 640XL upgrade." I will buy another unlock 1520 or 640 XL and save the money for next yr. Barcelona I am looking at you to let the Surface team surprise me with a Surface design[Phone]. I will buy the band though.

S400 SoC > S810 SoC is a huge leap. They are two completely different devices hardware wise.

 

[CeLL4one]

Re: Played with the 950XL today, Wow!

The Scottsdale store didn't have a 950. Which store did you go to?

Burnaby, BC

 

[o4komodo]

Someone posted in this thread earlier that they asked a store rep and they said that the missing 2nd sim message goes away once you put a sim in.

Awesome I hope that's the case!

In Windows 8.1 you can remove the phone and messaging "No SIM" tiles from your start screen, so why wouldn't be possible in Windows 10? Yes indeed you cannot remove the top-left icon, but it is so small, I don't eve care about it.

Unfortunately... I'm nitpicky like that. I don't want a no-SIM icon on the top left and I don't want to stick in a 'dummy SIM' and have it display 0 signal either. I'd want it as clean as possible...

And tiles and the icons at the top are different things.

 

[woelfel]

Yea, I tried it out and it was super fast and taking pictures was just as fast as taking it with an iPhone 6S+. I didn't get the firmware number but it's really fast. It's definitely lighter than I expected. I was impressed. I want it.

 

[winboy]

Thank,

Very helpful with a visual comparison. I also have the 1520 ( best phone Ever) . My biggest gripe is the size difference. I am very use to a 6 inch screen. Now I just need to know when AT & T is going to have it for purchase.

I preordered the unlocked black 950 XL at the local MS. You don't need to wait for at$t to sell them.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

Re: Played with the 950XL today, Wow!

S400 SoC > S810 SoC is a huge leap. They are two completely different devices hardware wise.

I know, as former owner of the 920, 925 and 1520 I know. But I can not pay full price for a product I don't like. I know people who buy em will enjoy em.

 

[RaRa85]

I made my trip to the Microsoft kiosk setup at the mall today to check out the new goodies. They had the Surface Pro 4 and the Lumia 950XL on display. They didn't know when the Band 2nd generation was arriving or the Surface Book and Lumia 950. They had a few nice Dell laptops on display as well and I came away really impressed with the Dell XPS 12 which is way out of my price range. I bought along my mirror-less Samsung NX1000 to take a few shots. After looking through the pictures I realized I didn't take any pictures of the rear of the 950XL. I walked away with yet another differing opinion on the new flagship:specs aside, these were not worth the wait. Don't get me wrong, they have everything I want in a flagship specs wise which makes them at least forgivable in that way, but these phones are not something that feels like they were specially crafted. They had the 950XL, 640, and 640XL lined up next to each other with some BLU Win and other phones on a row above them. Besides the size differences, the phones were completely identical looking at them from the front. It just doesn't look like a flagship until you turn it over and see the camera and flash setup. From my short time playing with the 950XL, I really really loved the on-screen buttons as I've grown accustomed to them on my Sony Xperia Z3 very quickly. The swipe up from the bottom is actually better implemented/or equally so than the behavior on my Z3. The camera software is unfinished so I can't fully judge it yet. The volume of the loud speaker is very crisp and offers great output. I was definitely impressed. The software was snappy and responsive so no issues there. So at this point I can almost say for sure I won't be getting this crop of flagships especially if they don't come to T-Mobile. If that changes I may change my mind on the Lumia 950 with the smaller size. I don't think its worth dropping the upfront $550 for though. Holding my Z3 next to the 950XL, it definitely didn't make me want to give up my gorgeous, premium made phone. My philosophy of what makes a flagship a flagship falls into three categories :1)simple design but with premium materials like metal and glass(basically the 950/950XL with metal finish and to me the iPhone falls into this category) (2) great design common/less than premium material(previous Lumias looked really great;Lumia 925) (3) Great design and premium materials (HTC One M7, M8, Samsung Galaxy 6 Edge/Note 5) Also hardware differentiators like removable back/battery, expandable storage, high resolution screens, fingerprint scanner/iris scanner, Qi wireless charging, fast charging (all of which Microsoft threw into these phones),camera button, great camera etc. make a flagship a flagship as well.Anyway this is just my take away. These phones will definitely be a hit with everything they offer and the gorgeous third party backs can completely change the looks of the phones' appearance as well which is a genius partnership if you ask me. Here's my pics. I really want the Surface Pro 4 but I'll probably have to settle for the still beautiful, less expensive Dell XPS 13 from last generation. Looks like I'll be waiting for the next crop of flagships as well as a truly ready Windows 10 Mobile.

 

[WinnyPhone]

Got a chance to go to the Microsoft store today to look at the 950 XL.

Overall I was really impressed with the phone. It looks very nice in person. I was thinking I was going to like white the best but after seeing it in person I prefer the black because it looks sharp with the silver around the camera and the buttons. The button placement wasn't as bad as I thought but I would have liked the volume up and down buttons to be larger, they seemed too small.

I was concerned that the size of the phone was going to be overwhelming but it was not. The phone is thin and light. Coming from a 928, reaching the whole screen is definitely more challenging. No more walking and using it with one hand like I do with my 928. Not that this is a bad thing but just something new to get used to. I know having the option to shrink the screen by holding the windows key will help alleviate this. The phone is pretty wide also. I had a hard time when holding it in one hand and trying to press the back button with my thumb (it doesn't help that the input region for the buttons seems small- have to hit them dead on). Guess I would get used to the onscreen buttons eventually.

Speed was good. I was testing loading times for apps and comparing it to my 928. Being honest here, things weren't opening that much faster on the 950 XL. My messaging app loaded faster the first time than it did on the XL (I am running the latest version of 8.1 on my 928). I know that this is not final software on the XL, just my observations. Once they get 10 optimized and ready to ship I am sure it will be great. My 928 runs great still (got it soon after it was released) so I wouldn't be worried about speed on the XL or 950 for that matter.

Hard to speak about the software since I know it is not done yet. Once again I understand that this is not final software, just giving my observations! I played with the photos app a lot . Wasn't impressed. It was pretty slow. I would take a picture and go look for it in the photos app and they wouldn't appear. Took a while for it to show up sometimes. Also when opening the photos app, occasionally the images wouldn't load and they would just be all gray squares. Used the camera app also. Speed of the camera was good and opening the app was fast. For the most part I was able to take multiple photos quickly but sometimes it would do that thing where the circle pops up on the screen indicating that it was focusing and then it took a little longer. Of the two models on display, I noticed that on one of them when I took a picture and wanted to go preview it by the button on the camera app itself the photo would not load. I would have to exit out of the camera and find it in the photos app. This didn't seem to be a problem on the other device though.

Now to some of the bad things. First complaint is not against the phone. I just wished they would of had the 950 on display so I could see the size of it and play around with it. Now on to the phone. First thing I noticed was that the phone was very warm. I am not joking about this at all. Yes I know that the phones have been on all day, plugged in, and being used, but still I was not happy at all. When I first got there one of the two phones was very warm, the other one not so bad. Someone else even mentioned that to a person working there. I mostly used the one that wasn't too warm. Even with this said after playing around with it and testing out the apps and camera etc., the phone heated up very quickly. I came back to the store after at least an hour and played with the phones once again. I went back to the phone I was using before (the one that wasn't very warm when I first got there) and noticed it wasn't warm at all. I wanted to put the phone to the test and see how much it would take to make it warm up and let's just say it didn't take much. I opened the maps app and used the aerial view with 3D and that was easily able to make it start heating it up (yes I know that app is pretty 'heavy' but I was still surprised how fast it warmed up). I do not believe that this heating issue was from too many people using the phone because I was there for a while and not many people were looking at them.

The only other 'issue' I had with the phone was the camera quality. Coming from the 928 I have no doubt that the 950 and 950 XL will take better photos. Once again I know that the software and algorithms for the camera are not complete! I took a photo of the display area that the new phones were sitting on. It was no longer than an arm's reach away. Without zooming in the photo looked fine but after zooming in things were definitely blurry. I thought they would have a lot more detail especially since the object of focus was close. Taking a photo of the store and zooming in on things like other people you could tell that the photos were not very sharp. And yes I did check to make sure the photos were being taken at the highest resolution possible. I was a little disappointed because after seeing the video Windows Central did with Juha Alakarhu I was blown away. The images he showed were amazing. I wonder if he was using a more polished version of the camera software, I can't remember if that was said or not.

That was my impression with using the phone. They definitely have things to work on but I know they will turn out great. I am looking forward to getting one. I am torn between the 950 and 950 XL. I would like to get the XL but the issue about heat concerns me. Guess I will be switching to At&t.

 

[desaideas1]

Re: My Experience with the 950 XL

So I went to my local MS store to check out the Surface Book, but they didn't have it in that store so I checked out the 950XL and to my surprise, it's not a bad looking device at all. It's definitely lighter than my 920 and 1020, it's bigger but I can hold it with my small hands. Screen is superb as well. Conclusion: I went from disliking the device's design to I may consider getting it. Oh and they didn't have the 950 so I couldn't try it. I'll go to the other store to try that and the Book. Also the new Surface pen works for SP3.

That's great that the new pen is compatible with the sp3! I hope that it is able to take advantage of whatever improvements they made in the sensor, also excited to try the different nubs.

 

[Babs75]

Re: Played with the 950XL today, Wow!

I went to the Microsoft kiosk at my local mall today. The 950XL was awesome. I already knew a lot about it so at least I sounded halfway intelligent while talking to the sales guy. His version had the double sim card but he said that the AT&T version probably would not. We also tried the pen from the Surface to see if it responded at all on the 950XL and it did not . Big disappointment. But I think I just might purchase this anyway. Really liked the camera.

 

[RL76]

Re: Played with the 950XL today, Wow!

i was really impressed with it so i pre-ordered the white XL...

 

[o4komodo]

My philosophy of what makes a flagship a flagship falls into three categories :

(1) simple design but with premium materials like metal and glass(basically the 950/950XL with metal finish and to me the iPhone falls into this category)

(2) great design regardless of material(previous Lumias looked really great;Lumia 925)

(3) Great design and premium materials (HTC One M7, M8, Samsung Galaxy 6 Edge/Note 5) Also hardware differentiators like removable back/battery, expandable storage, high resolution screens, fingerprint scanner/iris scanner, Qi wireless charging, fast charging (all of which Microsoft threw into these phones),camera button etc. make a flagship a flagship as well. Anyway this is just my take away.

Uhm.... so 2 contradicts 1 and 3 while 1 and 3 are the same things.
So really your philosophy on a flagships fall into two categories. 1) Premium design 2) Hardware differentiator.

Technically those are what flagships usually are. The design is entirely "up to the beholder" though. Top of the line hardware is a given. It's hard to have differentiation in hardware when almost every company borrows from each other. Everyone tries to one-up each other and then the year or half a year later they implement that design into their own phones.
i.e: fingerprint scanner, OIS, BSI sensors, big screens...

 

[RaRa85]

Uhm.... so 2 contradicts 1 and 3 while 1 and 3 are the same things.
So really your philosophy on a flagships fall into two categories. 1) Premium design 2) Hardware differentiator.

Technically those are what flagships usually are. The design is entirely "up to the beholder" though. Top of the line hardware is a given. It's hard to have differentiation in hardware when almost every company borrows from each other.

Well I probably could've worded it a little differently. Maybe 2 could've been good design with plastic/polycarbonate materials. Or something like that...

Sent from my D6616 using Tapatalk

 

[MP3Mike]

I went and looked at the 950XL today, and was generally impressed. Playing Candy Crush for quite a while warmed the back up some, but nothing like what happens on my 925 that gets hot.

The bad: the OS/apps are obviously not done. Text was the wrong size, and even when I went in to the display and reset the size to the recommended 350% it was wrong. (The other 950XL was also set to 350% and the size of everything was correct.) That phone also had issues with labels under the controls in the camera app. But all that could be caused by something someone else did to it. (Not that they should be able to break the OS.)

I preordered one and they said it should be in 10/26. (I said I thought they were coming in November, and she went and checked with her manager and came back and said nope, 10/26.) I don't believe it, but if it comes in that soon that would be great, but that is barely over 2 weeks for Microsoft to get the OS finished.

 

[MP3Mike]

Something else I noticed is when you pop the back off there are two connections to the phone. There is a big "plate" on the bottom 2/3 of the back which I assume is the Qi charging. Then on the top there is another coil that goes around the camera hole that has a separate connection to the phone.

Does anybody know if that is a second Qi coil? Or is it maybe one the 2 antennas?