Lumia 950

[Justinian84]

The 950 I have has been steadily getting worse the more I use it. Edge often chugs to a crawl intermittently and freezes for 20 seconds at a time, while nothing about it feels particularly great an experience. It's obvious Microsoft is not putting any effort into the phone right now, but hopefully that changes in the future. They will have to show an overwhelming commitment to phones going forward (if they do announce a Surface Phone) for me to even consider staying with Microsoft for phones.

 

[shafiqjetha]

My Lumia 930 suffers from the same issues with the camera that you mentioned. I think it might be more related to the OS than to a specific device (I'm running the 930 on the Preview Release ring).

I had the issue happen multiple times today but I had time to take the picture so I switched to ProShot. Once the app launched, it hung and then crashed. I opened it once more and after waiting 10 or 15 seconds I was able to take the picture. I then jumped back to the Camera app and was able to take pictures again.

I had thought that there might be something wrong with the installation and had, on multiple occasions, contemplated resetting the OS and seeing if that helped, but it seems that this is an acceptable workaround, at least for me.

Hope that helps,
Shafiq.

 

[SlideWRX]

Generally speaking, my phone works fine. Only when I want to show something to someone else (or take a quick pic) does it usually act up. here is the list of things that bug me about the phone:

1. It gets twisted, literally. now that I have a slightly bigger case it hasn't bent as much recently, but after the first month I'd pull it out of my pocket and twist it back to flat! At least nothing broke...
2. The speaker on the back is in the wrong place for anything I do. If I'm on speakerphone, I usually have the bottom mic toward me and my mouth, and incidentally my ears as well. the speaker on the back is aimed... nowhere. If I'm watching video, the speaker is aimed exactly opposite of where my head (and thus, my ears) are. Pretty much any other place for the speaker other than where they put it would be better.
3. Live tiles are horribly slow to update. My SMS tile shouldn't be showing me a text that I looked at an hour ago. my email tile shouldn't be showing me old, already read (and marked read) emails.
4. Notifications can stay there for days after I have looked at the notification pull down, and the note (text/email) itself.
5. Attaching pics to messages often gets a 'too large to attach' error. re-do it, and it works fine (eventually...)
6. Yep the camera will occasionally crash the phone.
7. Sometimes the camera appears ready to shoot, and when I click the shutter, it freezes for a couple seconds, *then* takes the shot.
7. (FIXED!) Lock screen would be unresponsive while MS sent out updates relating to the OS. I used to know when a bigger update was coming... This was fixed because there are no more big updates. :-(
8. About 10-20% of the time the lock screen is unresponsive to touch. I can't swipe up to unlock with a code. I have to hit the power button a couple more times to get it to work. I tried windows hello, and it wasn't just the lock screen; after logging in without touching the screen, it was still unresponsive.
9. Map app quality appears to have degraded. location on maps is off by ~100 feet pretty consistently.

Other than that stuff I enjoy my phone. Don't care much about an app gap.

 

[Hejt]

I'm about to send my L950 xl to repair as it is constantly freezing and restarting itself. I'm worried if they can repair it - if not and if they give me back my money, I might just buy S7... I'd never think I'd say that, but L950XL brought me here. It's poorly made and the OS is just enormly bad, I used to be proud of Windows back in WP 8 times, but with L950XL I was ashamed almost all the time, so... if I get it back repaired, great. If not, I'm on my way. Sorry guys, but I've seen phones of my friends and even the older ones behaved MUCH better than mine. I had to hit the ground and may appologize to my friends and family for a bad siggestion...

 

[Florin Musetoiu]

Let`s see ...

The Good:
1. nice tiles (got used to them hated them at start)
2. amazing camera
3. good screen for watching my TV series in bed at night.

The Bad

1. Poor battery life even if i don`t use it ... 4-5% power loss over night .. usually 1% on Android/apple devices.
2. Poor apps support, Facebook / Messenger takes forever to load, sometimes i even give up to even check them.
3. Poor GPS signal even on a clean phone ... sometimes the GPS shows "GPS signal lost" and it takes time to get it back.
4. I think it fixed the GPS Signal Lost with the insider build but now I have black screen when the person i`m talking on the phone ends the conversation before me.
5. No future for the platform since MS reboots it each year ... after so many reboots no developer will ever take Windows mobile as a serious platform.

Wife already got an iPhone 6S Plus to replace her Lumia 930 ..... i never thought i`ll ever say this but my next phone will pe an iPhone after my 950 dies or becomes obsolete. MS just sits on their desktop monopoly OS and can`t get their $hit toghether to make a coherent mobile - desktop environment.

Even the Outlook app on iPhone is miles ahead of what i have on my Lumia 950. ... If Apple never managed to make them like them ... the lack of interest from MS side for the platform did .....

 

[rromerof]

My lumia 950 is getting worst day by day. I just bought this phone 5 month ago, and already behave like it's dying. Photo app won't view HDR image, with text written it can't show this image at this moment, the camera button won't take the picture when I pressed it. This does not happen frequently but randomly. But can you guys imagine this kind of problem happen when I'm in the middle of ceremony? I had to restart the phone in front of people that asked me to take a picture of em, not once, twice. The second one I had to remove the battery and put it back again, in front of people in the ceremony. This phone is ****ed up. I don't even play games at this phone. Only bought this phone just for the camera, but the performance is forcing me to throw away this phone at a wall. And of course I can't get a refund, my country is not supported for most of Microsoft's services.

:smile: Stories like this one, makes me feel happy not having bought any high-end lumias after my beloved Lumia 1020. It is curious that with W10M also applies what my friends and I call "the Windows Protocol" for solving issues that is "restarting the whole Operating System". Even when Windows is the most used desktop OS in the world, I feel that it was developed just for accomplish new versions rather than focusing in quality. :eck:

 

[rromerof]

(...), even as horrible as W10M and the 950 is, it's still better than lowering ourselves to switch to an iPhone or Android product.

I will always prefer, hands down, eyes closed, without thinking twice, iOS experience (FTW) or even Android than being always frustrated, annoyed and disappointed for what I call the worst Mobile OS ever, yes, W10M (any build). Mobile OS from Windows, never again.

 

[devinlars]

NEW BATTERY! Seriously, I had similar issues with my 950xl and my wife's 950 and I read in another blog post that it is a battery issue. We just replaced the batteries last week and ALL of our problems went away. I MEAN ALL! No more Bluetooth issues, black screen issues, freeze and reboot issues... nothing, I haven't even had to restart my phone sine then, it's been 9 days! I found the batteries on Amazon for cheap, about $17 (USD) I hope this information helps. I seriously can't recommend this strategy enough! Replaceable Batteries FTW!

 

[ddn123]

I think there are power management issues. Sometimes the battery is low and never recharges. If I put on a charging pad, charges perfectly. If I use the Jack, no so much. Replaced battery once. I do believe the OS is being compromised by a lack of effort to improve. maybe that is by design in that MSFT is deploying software manpower to iOS/Android code to push Cortana into the iOS/Android ecosystem and integrating Outlook and other apps to be iOS/W10/Android neutral.

Will W10M ever get the resources to match the promises of one OS to flow across any device? Or is MSFT writing apps to bridge between W10 and iOS and Android?

I prefer the W10M interface, but currently looking at new devices. Maybe Nokia new android will do the trick. Not sold on iPhone price. If I do buy and iPhone it will be the 6s.

 

[ManofGod1000]

My only real issue with the 950 I have is very poor bluetooth support. That is because of the OS itself and not the hardware I am trying to connect to it. To the person above though, the Outlook in Windows Mobile is far better than what is on Android or iOS.) The fact is, there is no way to show separate accounts on the home screen like you can do with Windows Mobile.

 

[devinlars]

I think you may have had a bad sim or sim slot, I used a 4g LTE sim in it from Rogers in Canada (when I was on vacation last year) and the 2nd sim worked just fine with the LTE

 

[infinidim]

My lumia 950 is getting worst day by day. I just bought this phone 5 month ago, and already behave like it's dying. Photo app won't view HDR image, with text written it can't show this image at this moment, the camera button won't take the picture when I pressed it. This does not happen frequently but randomly. But can you guys imagine this kind of problem happen when I'm in the middle of ceremony? I had to restart the phone in front of people that asked me to take a picture of em, not once, twice. The second one I had to remove the battery and put it back again, in front of people in the ceremony. This phone is ****ed up. I don't even play games at this phone. Only bought this phone just for the camera, but the performance is forcing me to throw away this phone at a wall. And of course I can't get a refund, my country is not supported for most of Microsoft's services.

I've had my Lumia 950 since they first came out and have been very happy with it but now it is getting a bit temperamental. The Phone app seems to not show all the incoming and out going calls - it only shows the last week now but I know there are about 3 months worth of calls that are on my phone. The camera since the last update seems to not focus as well - but only sometimes. There is sometimes delays between apps - this has got worse since the last cumulative update. The battery drain since the last cumulative update has got worse as well.

I have been with Microsoft phones since Windows CE 1 was running on a phone - does anybody remember Windows CE - is was simple and it worked "as it said on the tin". I like the concept of Windows 10 Mobile as well but have to say that now that Microsoft - and it's their own fault that they got into this situation - have side-lined Windows 10 Mobile because of its profitability I will not be getting another Windows 10 Phone; either new or second hand.

The day that Microsoft outsourced the support for Windows 10 Mobile was the day that they lost my support. I have raised a number of issues with B2X which they have not been able to answer, not been able to escalate and not even been able to solve. In the end the "user forums" can support Windows 10 Mobile better than B2X - they are actually a waste of space.

I have worked in the telecoms and technology business for many years and have written some of the data networking and mobile data networking standards in the past. The mobile data networking standard that I helped write is implemented on every mobile device in the world currently so I actually understand how things should be implemented and Windows 10 Mobile is currently lacking in many areas.

So where will I go next, I won't go to Apple as they are over priced but xxx% when you look at what is implemented at a hardware level. I think I will go to Android next as most of the devices are competitively priced and if you have "pure Android" they work well.

That's the end of my "rant".

If Microsoft had kept their promise of supporting devices like the Lumia 950 and not outsourcing it and had committed to developing Windows 10 Mobile with some decent features then I would not be getting rid of my Lumia 950 and going elsewhere.

Infinidim

 

[Gonzalo Ruiz]

My lumia 950 is getting worst day by day. I just bought this phone 5 month ago, and already behave like it's dying. Photo app won't view HDR image, with text written it can't show this image at this moment, the camera button won't take the picture when I pressed it. This does not happen frequently but randomly. But can you guys imagine this kind of problem happen when I'm in the middle of ceremony? I had to restart the phone in front of people that asked me to take a picture of em, not once, twice. The second one I had to remove the battery and put it back again, in front of people in the ceremony. This phone is ****ed up. I don't even play games at this phone. Only bought this phone just for the camera, but the performance is forcing me to throw away this phone at a wall. And of course I can't get a refund, my country is not supported for most of Microsoft's services.

Hi i from argentina, first sorry for my bad English, i have the same problem, my phone i buy in march 2016 (i use iPhone from 2009 to march 2016) and this year the phone have freeze, restart frequently, when i take a photo, use WhatsApp, when the battery down to 20%, when i use Edge, and some apps to.
Last week i think i know where is the problem, its micro SD? I have micro SD xd 200gb SanDisk ultra, and this week in two days i quit de micro SD and the phone freeze 1 time, today i use the micro SD again and freeze and restart 3 times in 4 hours, the micro SD it's fine but when I use the phone the temperature up easily, so i dont know if the problem is the phone o the micro SD. I try other micro SD class 10 32gb and have the ame issue. I think meaby try new micro SD lite Samsung pro + but first i need to know where is the error.

So i dint know what can i do, buy Samsung Pro + or change the phone to Ho Elite X3 ;(

 

[SvenJ]

I'm actually reasonably happy with my 950 and 950XL. Currently using the 950XL daily on a production build. The 950 is n fast ring (no SIM). The both have Mozo backs which makes them seem more premium than the plain stock backs. I think they should be faster and have better battery life for what the specs would suggest, but they are fine. I don't have any of the severe software issues reported above, but am fairly reserved about the third party stuff I use, so that may contribute. I have to say the camera on the 950XL is excellent, though it is no 1020. Just recently I had the opportunity to compare the same shot taken with the 950XL, iPhone 6s and Pixel. On screen they were comparable, but once you zoomed in the XL was significantly sharper. This was a daylight outdoor shot, but they all had the same scene.
As it is, I do own both those other phones, and I have the option of sticking my daily SIM in either one. It stays in the 950XL because I just like the way Win 10 Mobile works, better than the other two OSs. When you get right down to it, mobile OSs are largely app launchers. The differences are in what you can do without launching an app, and I think WM provides more useful information with the tiled interface. Might be just me. The app gap, and there certainly is one, isn't an issue for me personally, but I get it. The lower quality on some of the apps we do have does bother me, but I blame the devs, not the OS. I get that too, but if you are going to half-a$$ the Windows app compared to the iOS and Android, just don't bother. Do it right or don't do it. (Goes for MS too).
As far as fixing peoples issues, nothing does more than just starting over with the recovery tool, and don't restore from a backup. Re-install what you 'need' judiciously. For battery issues, that may be just old batteries, at least we can get a new one and put it in ourselves. No such option on my iPhone or Pixel. BTW, I use a Band 2 with my 950XL, so I'm sort of a unicorn I guess. It works for me. Would I recommend Windows Phone/Win 10 Mobile to someone looking for a new device? Probably not. But then, I don't think MS would either.

 

[Scott McBurney]

I've got the Lumia 950 (previously 920), and have had it for 15 months. I keep mine in a rugged case (I've destroyed a few of the cases over the years, but the phones have come through without a scratch). And I run the latest windows insider builds. I can say, for the most part, I have had no problems at all with the phone. The only real problems I have encountered were always defects associated with insider builds.

I, however, am not your typical casual end user. I'm a software developer at a company with over 700 employees (at least 250 developers). So I'm always using email and calendar, slack, skype, skype for business, office apps, remote desktop, media players, photos and the camera, edge, facebook, twitter, Instagram, and occasionally weather apps. I don't play games on my phone, I would much rather use an xbox or laptop. I do use Cortana often, and I use continuum occasionally. I use the camera often, especially when travelling (it was great to have when I spent 3 weeks in Europe last year). Not to mention, I have used the second sim slot twice while travelling (Europe and Canada).

I can honestly say that I am EXTREMELY satisfied with the Luma 950. It does everything that I need and want it to do, and I'm happy with it.

 

[Gonzalo Ruiz]

I think the gps its great

https://www.strava.com/athletes/22362651

Better than iPhone and other phone gps

 

[Yangstax]

My wife is using a L950 while I use a L950XL. We are relatively happy with their performance during the last 18 months. W10M is quite stable now. I bought a HP Desk Dock to support the Continuum usage on the big screen for the sake of its Ethernet port. Running Continuum on the wired network (220Mbps download) is quite a pleasant experience. I plan to get a x3 in case my L950XL fails. As long as HP keeps making W10M phones, I would stay with W10M. The rumored 'ultramobile PC' device could be a long wait if ever.

 

[Ceicob]

My 950 XL have so many problems since about 2 months ago, probably because of some update.

First of all it freezes. I'm using phone normally and then black screen happens and I can't do anything beside restarting phone. Once I left it to see what happens if I don't restart it and it got so hot. It was painful to hold it really. That's a one thing.

Second is that my NFC just stops working. When it happens I can do two things. One I go to setting and turn it off and on again but then it works for like 30 minutes. Two I can restart phone and NFC works for like 10 hours.

Third mayor complaint is that battery normally lasts full day, well till 20/21:00. But in some cases after one of the necessary restarts, it becomes twice as good. When I have this kind of restart it leaves me at ~40% at 20:00. And of course the usage of phone isn't different that day than any other.

I really am hoping some magical update will fix it all but I know its probably foolish to have this hope at this point. I think Android phone is just around the corner for me and I'm not happy about it

 

[DiAlDi]

I've owned my 950 since 12/16. Positive experience in general.

The Good

• Powerful Mobile OS. It can be customized in lots of ways. I can't live without a dedicated "back" button and live-tiles anymore!
  Superior keyboard. Great layout and support for multiple languages.
• Battery life has been good so far.
• Camera takes great pictures/videos.
• Cortana "understands" my accent in English most of the time, after enabling such an option in the OS.
• The OS has been very stable for me during my daily usage. It has rarely crashed. I don't use pre-release builds on it though.
• Bluetooth has been working fine for me.
• The productivity and banking apps I happen to need are available for W10Mobile. E.g. Slack, MS Teams, Bank Of America, among others.

Mixed feelings

• Iris-scanner. It works more often than not, but not as reliable as a fingerprint scanner.
• It has all the apps I usually need (I'm certainly not a Millennial ), but several of those apps are more polished/have more features in other platforms (e.g. Plex). Seeing that trend even with Microsoft's apps is certainly demotivating.
• I wish the rules to enable different languages for Cortana weren't so strict! e.g. I wish I could enable Cortana in Spanish while still leaving my country and regional settings as "USA" where I live. Switching them to "Mexico" just to have Cortana in Spanish is not a valid option for me. I'm not even Mexican!

The Bad

• Long wait to load some pages in Edge.
• Video-streaming via Wifi (any app, including Skype) is laggy / unstable. Not sure if I got a defective Wifi antenna. It seems to get even worse if I use my Mozo wood back-cover.
• Every once in awhile, the touchscreen doesn't work right after I log-in. I need to push the power button to turn the screen off, then back on, and the touchscreen works again.
• The long wait for Chase to roll out support for Wallet 2.0/Tap-to-pay.
• I typically keep GPS/location off, but when I turn it on, GPS sometimes doesn't work: Apps can't find my location. It works again after reboot. However, it wasn't fun that it happened while I was driving my pregnant wife to deliver our little one to the hospital .:unhappysweat:

 

[Andreja Dodov]

I see mostly bad reviews.
Lumia 950, fast ring. 1.5 year of usage and:

I'm havy user, aprox. 20-40calls / day, 2-10 photos, mail, viber 5-10 calls and photo sharing, few skype calls... without any flaw.
Battery: from 07 to 16h without charger battery lives aprox. 20% But with my wireless charger on my desk, i'm living my office with aprox 60% battery.
speed: comparing to my wife Mi5, the phones are almost identical in usage speed. Lumia is a little bit slower but considering the much older cpu i can say L950 is great!
I cant understand only that i cant share anything to skype...
Maybe all those who have problems should hard reset the phone, limit background task for unused apps.
And nobody mentions that if your phone drops frequently, his mainboard slowly degrade and then phone hangs and etc..