[Quick Impressions] Who Just Got The Lumia 950 XL?

[HOTDAWG]

Got mine late last night. Going from 928 to 650 to this.
Store was not as busy as they had expected to be which was a bit depressing (but no line for me!). It was still pretty full at 9:00 PM

Quick first impressions:
Big! But not too big. The size and the button placement only took a few minutes to get used to.
Restore / update was very quick, less then half an hour.
I had installed the W10 preview on both my other phones at various times and had to pull it off due to various issues like OneNote not working, etc. I see no immediate problems with W10 now. There are some things that can be updated, sure, but in general it's VERY nice. Extremely smooth.
Will test camera today. Popped in a 64gb msd, recognized immediately upon boot.

So, the hardware seems perfectly fine. I don't mind the back. I'll probably replace it when some more options are available, but it's fine. (Mozo looks nice, but we will ALL have that before long! ) I have white, black for my husband. Not quite as nice as my 928, though.The buttons surprised me in that they are part of the case, which is good because I thought the edges were a bit sharp, so I would assume a premium case would have nicer buttons. Yay, camera button!
Screen is gorgeous, some of the fonts get pretty small, tho.
I don't seem to have any of the color aberrations I've been reading about here.

The software is probably going to be the biggest adjustment - lots of new menus to learn. But that's fun.
More to come!
Forgot to say - don't listen to all the negative stuff in the forums here. It's a beautiful Windows phone, it's slick and I'm very happy with it. Some people seem disappointed it's not something earth-shattering, but if you want an upgraded Windows phone, this is it.

 

[houkoholic]

Screen is gorgeous, some of the fonts get pretty small, tho.

Lots of ways to change this - either increase the scale adjustment in the display settings or use text resize in ease of access.

 

[Jimmie Lee]

I got my 950XL in the mail from Microsoft this past Wednesday. I took it to an AT&T store and a guy helped set me up there. I was told, they don't sell the docks there, but the app was on my phone to get the free dock. The AT&T guy was impressed with the phone. The more he kept holding it, the more he wanted to get one. He'd say things like, "Man! This is a nice phone. Makes me wanna' get one!".

 

[Jimmie Lee]

Is it a Lumia thing regarding the screen never going to sleep? The 'never' option to be available on all WPhones, I say.

 

[Expat-GAD]

Hate to tell you but most sales people are suck ups like that. or would you prefer to hear "oh jeez that plasticity thing cost you how much" ?

 

[Chintan1987]

Re: I really like my new Lumia 950XL

Hi All,

I recieved my Lumia 950 XL on 25 Nov after a long wait. I am Lumia 1020 satisfied user. After unboxing, phone worked great for me until I inserted SIM card in first slot. I came to realize that 'Airplane Mode' is off and not getting turned OFF at all. I did hard reset,soft reset and every possible solution I could apply. When I called technical support I realize that it is product fault in terms of hardware and not software. This leads to me complete dissatisfaction since I was waiting for 2 months for this and paid $650 which is huge amount for any smartphone. I am now planning to quit MS Lumia since I doubt their hardware quality.

 

[TheDvlsAdvc8]

True, but thus far everyone I've shown it too has really liked the quality of the device, and they love the pictures (took some pics in dim light at the bar and they absolutely blew their phones out of the water). Only one is considering buying one though, due to missing apps. I have the stitched leather mozo back. It looks great and people ask about it.

 

[Corvodin]

Well given that he bought the phone from MS and just brought it in the store to have it set up, I'd say that the sales clerk didn't have much of a reason to suck up. And besides, a lot of them go no, don't buy that when you want to buy a WP.

 

[TennisGuy45]

So far I am very unimpressed with battery life.
Barely getting 12 hours of use before battery going critical.
This is with moderate usage, no gaming.
It seems the screen is absolutely draining the battery. I tried reducing brightness to 25% but does not seem to make much a difference so car.
I woke up at 4:30 today and it was down to 60% by noon and I was not talking on it more than 10 minutes and had some moderate web surfing for black friday deals.

 

[Byrese]

So far I am very unimpressed with battery life.
Barely getting 12 hours of use before battery going critical.
This is with moderate usage, no gaming.
It seems the screen is absolutely draining the battery. I tried reducing brightness to 25% but does not seem to make much a difference so car.
I woke up at 4:30 today and it was down to 60% by noon and I was not talking on it more than 10 minutes and had some moderate web surfing for black friday deals.

How long have you head it. These pictures usually take a a few days to "bake in".

 

[TennisGuy45]

re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 XL Detailed Review

So far I am very unimpressed with battery life.
Barely getting 12 hours of use before battery going critical.
This is with moderate usage, no gaming.
It seems the screen is absolutely draining the battery. I tried reducing brightness to 25% but does not seem to make much a difference so car.
I woke up at 4:30 today and it was down to 60% by noon and I was not talking on it more than 10 minutes and had some moderate web surfing for black friday deals.

Screen is beautiful.
Camera takes amazing pictures.
Phone was slow the first evening but after it had an entire night to finish updating and restarting it has been LIGHTNING fast since. It makes my 1520 feel like a slow dog.
White plastic back is just cheap but I do appreciate how light the phone is and how easy it is to hold.
Rapid charging certainly does not get me 50% in 430 minutes but it is noticeably faster than regular charging.
Phone gets warm when you have the screen on for a long time and gets extremely warm when you have it fast charging.

So far I am on the fence about returning it due to the battery life. I could use my 1520 all day long and put it on the charger at night with 50% battery left.
If I can't get 12 hours of use with this thing and will be constantly afraid to use it because it will drain the battery then I don't want it.

 

[ferretzombie]

Anyone else notice that the phone crushes blacks a lot in videos? Makes dark scenes look terrible.

 

[Leslielbk]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 XL Review

I hope to decide which phone to get to replace the "troublesome" 830. A feature I dislike intensely is the removable back, since my 830's back doesn't stay on and the phone has hit the floor too many times to count. The frame is so distorted now even the extra back that came in the box won't stay snapped in. This is the first phone I've ever had that wasn't - what's the term for it? - all one piece.
So the removable back worries me.
Here's the giant question: I've been wanting the HTC One, and could get one for a few hundred bucks. I could also order the 950 or 950XL (haven't decided) from Microsoft and try them side by side, returning the one I don't want. Can I do that? I only have the one SIM, so could I test drive both at the same time? Is this the stupidest idea ever? Is this something I should even be doing?
Such is the state of my mind.

 

[lerimer]

Got mines on Wednesday night. Walked in to the San Francisco microsoft store and got a white one with a microsoft band 2 as well!!!

 

[Zulfigar]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 XL Review

By all means, I'd go into a Microsoft store, if there's one near you, and just pick up both phones. The biggest difference with the two is the size, if you can handle the XL's size, then go for the XL. If not and you believe it's too big, then there's your choice, the normal 950. Unless Daniel says there's a big difference in raw power and battery life (I kind of doubt there is), then size is the biggest aspect to consider.

Good luck in your choice, Leslielbk!

 

[Leslielbk]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 XL Review

As usual I wasn't clear.:straight: I meant to say I could order the htc one on amazon or ebay, and also order the 950, and have them in the privacy of my own home to fiddle with. Do I need a sim card? I only have one.
And there is a Microsoft store close-ish, but it's black Friday....shuddderrrr...:shocked:

 

[Babs75]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 XL Review

I got my phone on Wednesday and so far so good. I love it. Ordered free dock today!

 

[Captpt]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 XL Review

I got my phone on Wednesday and so far so good. I love it. Ordered free dock today!

How's your battery life going??? Hearing many reports of lousy battery life, people are reporting not even getting 12 hours without it going critical

 

[TexasLabRat]

re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 XL Detailed Review

I woke up at 4:30 today and it was down to 60% by noon and I was not talking on it more than 10 minutes and had some moderate web surfing for black friday deals.

i don't follow your math. You say you're barely getting 12 hours out of it with moderate use, but then you say you used about 40% over nearly 8 hours with moderate use? Extrapolating your 7.5 hours out that.s 15 hours of moderate use before battery saver kicking in @20%. Sounds pretty reasonable to me..maybe I'm missing something?

 

[Joe920]

re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 XL Detailed Review

Impressions after one day:

The good
- Nice and light, suits me better than the heavy and angular 1520.
- 'Hello' works perfectly for me, I do really like that feature as my organization enforces long passwords.
- Unexpected improvement: Easier to stand on its side than the slippery L1520.
- Camera is really fast, very noticeable.
- Super dark page in the Kindle app with page set to black, a major improvement over the L1520. Thanks, AMOLED!
- I like that you can just keep talking after 'Hey Cortana', rather than waiting for the app to open
- I'm loving the dual SIM, no more separate phone or sim swapping for travel abroad
- Lucky, it decided to color my foreign T-mobile sim purple.
- Really nice to be able to use the old charging plates again. No more fumbling for the USB cable at night.

The bad / minor niggles
- To me the plastic doesn't 'feel' cheap, but it definitely sounds a bit cheap when you tap on the back. It sounds kind of hollow.
- The edges of buttons on the side are a bit too sharp, doesn't feel comfortable or premium.
- I do really miss double tap to wake, I hope they add this ASAP.
- Hitting power to activate screen will show media info, which blocks Hello for a few seconds.
- Windows Hello shouldn't come on when you place the phone on a charger, only after button press or double tap to start (once that returns)
- Cell reception seems a bit weaker than on my ole' 1520
- Seems kind of slow detecting Bluetooth devices for pairing. One-time problem though.
- On-screen buttons are not terrible, but not great either. They steal a little screen real estate, my lowest row of tiles is now more clipped than before.
- Phone is definitely warm slooowly downloading the USA map while on the USB charger. Hope it cools off once all data is in.
- I see the tiniest color change as I tilt the screen, but only if I look really closely. No issue IMO.
- I can't hide the on-screen buttons while in the Kindle app. On the 1520 you could at least disable them with Battery Saver.
- Lost HERE Drive, and new WP maps nav is pretty terrible in landscape (HUGE banner along the top). Back to Garmin, which has its own issues.
- At least once the phone ended up super hot on the wireless charging plate, with 83% battery after a night of charging.
- All the little (and big) WP10 bugs.

Settings lost after restore
- Cortana automatic quiet hours
- maps that were on the SD card didn't get detected, had to redownload all (fixable, see this post)
- photo and video recording preferences
- haptic feedback - turned back on
- some (all?) email passwords
- notification choices - all apps show in action center again
- keyboard: preferences on emoticon suggestions lost
- app settings lost: Kindle, Tapatalk Classic, Songza, Facebook

Overall it's a very nice update to the 1520. So much lighter, quite a bit smaller, I'm pretty happy. Should (and probably will) be quite a bit cheaper, but hey, gotta donate to this struggling little company trying to compete in the mobile market.