[Real Users] My Lumia 650 Review

[patcherd]

You could have just gotten a bad device...it happens. Get a refund or a replacement. I could see if you had a couple of bad 650's that would be a problem...but it's only the one. You have nothing to lose

 

[Mach_E]

Re: Money down the drain

I bought a Lumia 650 - huge mistake. The phone looks good, has a great screen and is a good price but that's it.
I wasn't expecting the performance of premium phone, but I was expecting it to work properly and be usable, if a little slow....
....
The Lumia 650 using Win10 is the worst phone I have ever used. I don't know whether to try and find another fool to buy it or just smash it to pieces.

I have no issues with my phone... It is running AU build very well.

May be you should update to AU if not done so.
To stop radio streaming apps, i am not sure if this will work but in WP8 we used to have some apps which would stop the music completely. Try one of those.
Outlook live tile works perfectly for me. I have a Microsoft account.
Facebook is a large app and a little slow but it has never crashed for me. I use it sparingly though.

If you still feel a need to smash it let me know, I'd be more than willing to take it off you.

 

[Mach_E]

Btw, i use it on 3G or Wi-Fi. Are you using on 2G? Slow internet may be a problem at times.

 

[BuzzinBear]

Glad to see it works for some people.
Phone has AU installed. WiFi is speed is 25meg, mobile is 4G, both of which I assume are too fast for this slow dog of a phone
Today, Spotify was stuck on resume screen, doesn't show as running, won't open, but is still playing!
Both the radio apps worked OK in 8.1 on my Lumia 1020.
Will try going back to the store, hopefully for a refund!

 

[libra89]

This review might be slightly premature but it's been 6 days. I probably could have written what I'm about to write, yesterday but I needed it to go through a workday test first.

Anyway:

-To start, I really appreciate the fact that this phone appears to have a little more screen over the 640 and yet, it's not as wide. It feels like home to me because I also own an Honor 8 and this phone basically has the same width (the difference is 0.01 in) as it. I really like how I can use it one handed without having my thumb feel tired.
-The design and the screen are both nice. I prefer IPS so that I don't have to be concerned about burn in but I have to give props where it is due.
-Performance and that 16GB has been nice for me. I haven't found myself frustrated at all.
-Speaker volume is kind of quiet (to me), but far from barely being able to hear it.
-The cameras have been a pleasant surprise. Shots have been a bit better imo over the 640 but I haven't done a shootout or anything of that nature yet between the two.
-The connectivity is pretty good, which has actually shocked me, considering that the 950 and the 550 were both just OK. It did a good job at work (which kind of sucks in general), I was even able to load Instagram Stories at times on my break.
-As for the battery, that's really been one of the not so good areas. I am able to go into the next day, but barely sometimes. If I run it down to 20-25%, I can make it a day and 6 hours, which isn't bad, but I hate to run it down so low. It seems like I have to do the daily charge thing, which is a bummer.*
-Speaking of charging, the charger it comes with seems to take forever to charge wow. I'm pretty sure that my iPhone SE charges faster. Also not a fan of that either.

Overall, this phone has been a surprise in a good way. Windows 10 Mobile has been just fine on it. I am using an unlocked Cricket variant to get Band 12 for data on T-Mobile, no regrets there, aside from no double tap to wake but eh.

*I use the phone in an average way, but since the app for reading library books on here sucks, I have to use Edge to read my books. Edge needs to improve with how much battery it drains when used.

 

[jrdatrackstar1223]

So I just got my 650 free through Cricket. In short...I am glad I got it free...

I am a long time Windows Phone user (first phone was the Arrive) and I stuck it out until 5 months ago. I was using an Icon (with Windows 10 latest insider build at the time) and loved that phone to death, but apps performed poorly (Modern Combat 5 was the last straw, that game lags so bad it's ridiculous), so I switched to a Nexus 5 (while still keeping my Icon). I got an iPhone 6 off Craigslist and ended up trading that for an SE.....

It may be the speed of the SE (and I understand this is an unfair comparison as far as specs go), but Windows Phone has gotten worse since I left. Even compared to the Nexus 5, the OS has just gotten unbearably slow. When I left the Icon, I saw at least potential and hope because the OS wasn't unbearably slow, laggy, and buggy to the point to where I could not even consider using the phone as my main phone. I know the hardware of the 650 isn't the BEST, but it has more than enough to at least run the OS at a decent frame rate and speed; this has not been the case with my 650. I've updated to all the commercial builds, as well as getting back into the Insider Builds. I am currently on 14393.576, version is 1607.

I love the build and how light it is, and that it is built by Microsoft. I especially love the screen, and that the touch latency has FINALLY been fixed. If you compare the time it takes for movement to happen between an iPhone and a Nokia built Windows Phone, Windows Phone always took a few seconds to respond. Now that the screen has been updated, the latency is almost on par (close enough) to the iPhone. This is evident in gaming, where the phone response is quicker to your finger when playing.

I will keep this phone for the next updates to see what Microsoft does, especially in light of the news of full Windows on phone possibility announced. This gives me hope that Microsoft is at least exploring technologies that makes it POSSIBLE for the OS to improve (even if they never capitalize on it, which we've seen them doing as of now)...

 

[Daedriel]

As a total newb to the smartphone world (prior to this I had been using a Nokia flip-phone I got with a prepaid account that only cost me about $30 per year) I have been pleasantly surprised by this phone which I got for Christmas and moved my sim card over to from the Nokia. I frankly was not expecting much from a phone that cost under $100 CAD, but despite a few stumbles (VLC occasionally crashing while opening remote videos, occasional instances when the phone is frozen for a few seconds) it's been reasonably responsive, no lockups or need for reboots, and the screen is so gorgeous I can easily use it for book reading without visual fatigue. Images and videos look stunning on that absolutely black OLED screen - I am hooked, OLED TV next.

Despite the dearth of apps available I have been able to find what I need - even my online bank had an app for Windows phone. Streaming music, videos, and images from my Win 7 PC: check. Effective voice navigation for driving, with traffic: check. Opening MS Office files: check. Synced Outlook mail accounts and Skype: check. NYT, The Guardian, even read access to our public library system's virtual books: check.

Probably the only area it's going to fall down is offering no (usable) 3D gameplay, but that is not a big deal for me. I am a bit disappointed that there is no phone call recording app but I assume there is a least a voice memoing app somewhere (yes, just saw it).

So far it's been fun, although setting certain things up (particularly getting wireless access to my PC drives) was a time-chewer.

 

[greedo_greedy]

I'd recommend sticking with Groove and the Movies & TV for listening to music and watching videos.

They're built in and are far less resource intensive than a 3rd party solution.

 

[Daedriel]

I'd recommend sticking with Groove and the Movies & TV for listening to music and watching videos.

They're built in and are far less resource intensive than a 3rd party solution.

Thanks, I just checked both out - neither support streaming from a PC which is what I want.

One file copying tip: I could not copy an excel spreadsheet over to my phone, got a "cannot copy" error message - turned out it was because that sheet was open in Excel on my PC..

 

[RumoredNow]

I am a bit disappointed that there is no phone call recording app

Go to Settings > System > Phone > Default Apps\choose apps > "Choose the app you want to use to manage recorded phone calls" > select Voice Recorder from the drop down menu

 

[Daedriel]

Go to Settings > System > Phone > Default Apps\choose apps > "Choose the app you want to use to manage recorded phone calls" > select Voice Recorder from the drop down menu

Thanks, would have taken a long time to figure that one out. I occasionally have to record interviews, this saves me having to acquire and hook up extra equipment if I give up my land line. Tested the voice recording quality, it is excellent (at least on this side of a call - have not recorded a phone call yet).