I have been seeing a lot of threads about issues with the 950 XL that the 1520 never had. I wanted to put down my experience as it is differeent than the ones that people are posting about.
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). Holding the 950 by the sides makes it feel very solid. The 950 is more blocky than the 1520 (shaper edges, etc).
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).
Phone call quality is good and don't notice anything worse or better than the 1520. I don't make many calls, so my review for call quality is not the most representative.
I have seen issues around about the Wifi bands not working correctly but I have not tested that so far. My wifi has been working just fine, just as it has on my 1520.
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 (12-16 hours moderate use). 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. This alone made me want to get a new phone and made the 1520 unusable at times.
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 all out.
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). Holding the 950 by the sides makes it feel very solid. The 950 is more blocky than the 1520 (shaper edges, etc).
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).
Phone call quality is good and don't notice anything worse or better than the 1520. I don't make many calls, so my review for call quality is not the most representative.
I have seen issues around about the Wifi bands not working correctly but I have not tested that so far. My wifi has been working just fine, just as it has on my 1520.
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 (12-16 hours moderate use). 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. This alone made me want to get a new phone and made the 1520 unusable at times.
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 all out.
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