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

[Babs75]

Re: [Real Users] My Lumia 950 XL Review

I'm down about 1/2 by the end of the day. Battery life isn't an issue for me. I charge my phone every morning before work anyway so it's no problem.

 

[BrandonLiveuh]

Unfortunately Here Maps and Here Drive is no longer supported for installation in Windows Mobile 10. I even Here Drive installed on my 1520 and it therefore restored a tile shortcut to it on my 950xl but it was greyed out. When trying to launch it.. it would open to the Windows Store and stated that it was discontinued. Which sucks because Here Drive was the only turn by turn driving app that would give speed warnings without first having to setting a destination. Just open the app and start driving. Probably already saved me few tickets.

I had hoped there would soon be an app that would auto launch an app when pairing with specific bluetooth devices... and lo and behold there is one now preinstalled on the 950xl called "Gadgets" which does just that. But... now there's only "Maps" which.. although it does do speed warning... it requires you to first set a destination and get driving directions before it will start warning.
So one step forward, one step back. Right back where I started.

 

[aimulaidni]

Got my 950XL today! Somewhat of a roller coaster ride. I had preordered my phone at the store located in downtown Chicago, but due to the protests, the whole avenue was blocked. Had to park the car a mile away and walk. All the stores were blocked but still decided to give it a try. When we got to the building, the cops told us they couldn't let us in, so I decided to go around the building and enter from the other side. Luckily no one was blocking that and we got to the store. Since I had already preordered, they had one for me in stock. But they wouldn't give me a student discount, because it's only for laptops and other stuff needed for school. So I showed them the receipt for the phone I ordered online, for which I could get the student discount. The rep told me she had never seen anything like that before but since the online store allowed it, she would give me one as well. Left the place a happy man.

Now, the initial impressions. The phone feels light and the build quality is solid, but the buttons feel like they'll come off any minute. The phone is kinda slippery too. Screen is amazing! I just want to keep looking at it. Windows Hello works well. The first time it will ask you to remove your glasses but after that, you can improve the recognition by wearing your glasses. Camera is damn fast, just clicked some sample photos but need to play around with it more. Store is still giving me issues (like the one on TP), the apps look like they've been installed but the store still has them in the 'Downloads and Updates' queue. And it's taking forever to install them. One annoying thing is that you can't keep the screen unlocked for more than 5 mins. I thought I would dislike the capacitive buttons, but I kinda like them. I'm a little bit concerned about the battery life though, the store installing the apps seems to be draining the battery but I won't come to conclusions here. Will test it out for a day or two and see how it goes. Windows 10 is good, but there are some bugs that need to be ironed out, like the one with the mail. It keeps giving me an error that my mail settings are out of date. And double tap to wake, I keep tapping the phone, only to realize that this feature has not yet been enabled. Just nitpicking. The OS is fast and runs smooth. Had been using the 920 for close to three years, so am really excited about this one.

Overall, love the phone!

 

[Cartman]

Anyone else notice the back cover creaks when you pinch it using your forefinger and thumb on the bottom left corner with the screen facing you? There seems to be a slight gap that causes a noise. I am positive the back cover is attached as tightly as possible.

The creaking completely diminishes any impression of a high quality flagship device.

 

[ChavasRegal]

Has anyone tested their 950xl with the Nokia QI wireless charger?

 

[Rvacha]

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

Restore didn't keep
- Cortana quiet mode rules
- maps that were on the SD card, had to redownload all
- photo and video recording preferences

I saw this map bug too. I happened to go to Offline Maps before it started downloading them. What I did was to remove all maps (I only have three so not a big pain), changed the storage location to SD Card, then selected my maps again. The phone then saw the maps on the SD card and didn't bother to re-download them

 

[outoftime84]

hey, I've been charging it on the old Nokia QI chargers and it works just fine. I believe QI is a standard that doesn't vary between products.

 

[mwgeek]

The one qi charger it won't work with is the Nokia car adapter, coil is too high, tylt charger should work and it's on sale now for black Friday

 

[elindalyne]

Are you absolutely sure it's on 100% flush? Mine does not make any creaking noises.

 

[alodar101]

Got mine and Friday, plugged in the old sim and it just worked. So I thought. eventully found the VM not working and can't text stored pics. Ran down to the ATT store and they got the VM working fine. guy spent an hour working on it, eventually go to the same resolution posted about the LTE fix for ATT. That also brought back VM...So that was good. No luck with pics though...yet.

Battery life has been fine. Getting used to the buttons. Device speed is good. Only Major complaint is sound. I don't really use the sound all that much, but the wife likes her music, and its a big step down from the HTC one....

Other than that....I like the xl and the wife likes the 950.

 

[RumoredNow]

Only Major complaint is sound. I don't really use the sound all that much, but the wife likes her music, and its a big step down from the HTC one....

By all accounts the HTC One (M8) has one of the best external speaker set ups ever... I wouldn't expect 950 XL to equal it.

Now, let's talk camera. :winktongue:

 

[Istvan Szitas]

How does the sound really compare to the competition and to the L930? I'm speaking of both the speaker and the headphone audio output.

 

[jdballard]

Re: I really like my new Lumia 950XL

I am now planning to quit MS Lumia since I doubt their hardware quality.

I get the frustration, but there is no manufacturing process that doesn't produce defective units. It just happens. Stinks when it's the one you got. Exchange it for another before quitting Lumias altogether.

 

[Krystianpants]

So I have been using it for a few days and it's definitely an amazing phone.

The design: I have seen both black and white and the black just looks so nice. The whole phone becomes really deep black and the microsoft logo and even the ring around the lens really pop, yet blend well enough with the black to give it a more premium look. The black has this rubbery look too.. The feeling is definitely in the same area where I would say is it is plastic with a slight rubbery/grippy feel. Honestly, unless they come out with some really cool back covers that I must have, I will be sticking with this black one. The white just doesn't create that full dark theme that the glass is going for. But everyone has their own subjective views. So not trying to put anyone else's tastes down. Just trying to explain my reasoning for why I really like the black over the white.

Display: This thing is phenomenal if configured properly or to your own taste. First of all most reviewers have said the 950 screen is dim. And I had the same issue at first with the 950 XL. Even if I put it to 100% it just looked dimmer than other phones. So I went into display and turned off auto brightness. Even when you swapped between 25%-100% the auto brightness would still take control making it dimmer (There should be an additional action button for auto brightness). If you remove it man you will see a super bright screen at 100%. Couple that with a nice colour profile and this puppy looks glorious. Although sometimes I notice some points where the screen will light up say a box of blue pixels. This happens during the microsoft logo at first boot very quickly. This is typically in the upper left corner. The same happens on some other app on the bottom corner super quickly at load. I hope it's just the software itself and not a sign of future problems.

1 Issue with the display is that it gets smudgy quicker and has a bit more stick to it than my lumia 830. On the lumia 830 my finger glides much easier no doubt.



Everything else:

* Big but feels more comfortable to hold than my lumia 830. No corners jamming into palm and wider grip allows a better cupping effect.
* Battery was draining fast but I found the culprits in my apps list. Photos/readit. Switched to baconit for now and have been closing photos task in task switcher. So far this has improved the battery.
*Unit gets a bit warm in some scenarios but never hot and the warmth is distributed very well. Looks like the 810 issues don't seem to effect it thus far. Played asphalt 8 on it for quite a while, settings are maxed out, looks gorgeous. Maintained warmth never got hot.
*Runs apps/games smoothly. Even noticed some games that I played on lumia 830 suddenly feel so different. As if more animations have been enabled and quicker fps. Guess most games are detecting hardware and automatically applying settings.
*W10 has been running well for the most part. I still will get a crash here and there but never have to deal with any resuming/loading screens.
*Windows Hello: Hell yah! Optimize at different distances, angles, lighting and you will get a pretty nicely working login that is super quick. I have optimized it so well I can turn it on without having to raise the phone to my face. I just need to make sure I can look at the red light at an angle the camera supports. And this you can figure out in optimization when you're trying to optimize diff angles/distances.
*No display dock so can't test continuum. I do have a tracking number and it has been processed already.

So thus far no major problems really. Hope to see MS release frequent official updates to the lumia 950 phones without needing to be a windows insider.

 

[snakebitten]

Aimulaini,

Manually install the "Store" app update first! Then you will find the store working much better. The other 39 app updates should go much faster afterwards.

I too love the phone.

 

[Joe920]

On the lumia 830 my finger glides much easier no doubt.

This comment doesn't go well with your user name. :evil:

 

[Iain_S]

This may be a silly question, but do they still have Here maps and Drive? Love that Satnav.

Just use the maps app in windows 10, it has most of the same functions as the nokia suite of apps. Satnav works great from Maps.

 

[horseybob]

I snagged the very last one at the Boise Microsoft store yesterday. w00t! This thing rocks...

 

[peachy001]

Just use the maps app in windows 10, it has most of the same functions as the nokia suite of apps. Satnav works great from Maps.

Tried it today, kept crashing. Here Drive rocked. Does the other have spoken navigation?

 

[Musicman247]

I use the built-in Maps app more than HERE. It does have spoken navigation.

Did you restore from backup or start fresh, Hoosier? Seems that most of the problems have been coming from those who restored. I have never restored and have never had Maps crash on my L925.