Good evening all,
I'm writing this post to tell of my very positive experience with the Lumia 950. Lots of doom and gloom posts on here and I'm not in anyway trying to minimize any issues other users have had, but I have had almost none of the issues being reported. So I'm hoping this post will balance out a lot of the negativity on these forums about which in my opinion is an excellent device. I can't be the only one!
I bought my Lumia 950 Dual Sim direct from the Microsoft store here in Calgary, AB almost a month ago to the day. I had been using a Galaxy Note 4 for several months, and while it was a great phone. I still found myself missing Windows Phone (previous to the Note 4 I had a Lumia 1020).
Once home and new nano-sim installed, I powered the device up and was impressed with the look of Windows 10 mobile. It has the deep blacks and style that I loved with Windows mobile 8.1 on my 1020 but with even more sexy UI enhancements.
I did NOT do a restore from my Lumia 1020, this was a clean set up (I have a feeling a restore from an old device may have been the cause of some problems people have been having). The only thing I copied was contacts. I logged into my Microsoft account and it remembered stuff from my 1020 like app and music purchases which was nice. In particular it remembered my carrier info from my 1020 (carrier branded). So even though this is an unlocked device I can still purchase music and apps by simply adding it to my monthly cell phone bill rather than setting up a credit card. I like that and I don't think the other OS' offer anything similar.
Once I had the phone set up, it really hit me how much I missed windows mobile UI and look. To me it just downright looks way better than iOS or Android (I've used them all). Transparent live tiles and the deep blacks etc. really do it for me.
Apps:
I never was a huge app user with my other devices so the "app gap" isn't a big deal to me. All of the apps/services I use are available on Windows mobile, even my bank (RBC). The only con with the apps is I'd say they are of lower quality compared to their Android/iOS equivalents. Hopefully that will be fixed with updates or universal windows 10 apps.
Bluetooth/Cortana:
Like my 1020, my 950 syncs flawlessly with my car bluetooth and haven't had any issues with this. Unlike my Note 4 which would work with phone calls but simply would not do voice to text SMS or anything.
Call quality:
So far, every person I've done a voice call with said quality is great and superior to that of my Note 4. No issues with echo or anything.
Audio quality:
I don't use the loudspeaker much so I'm not really going to judge it. I think they all sound pretty crappy on any phone. However headphone quality (using RHA-T10i earphones) is VERY good. Closest device I've had to the sound quality of my old iphone 4S with music playback. Very happy with this!
I synced my music using the windows phone desktop application that I used with my 1020. It worked flawlessly and had no troubles loading to the microSD card (that I formatted beforehand). Still getting used to the new Groove music. Not sure if I like it better than previous Xbox music.
Camera:
This is a big one for me. I travel a lot (work for an airline) and I like to take LOTS of pics. I can safely say that the camera on the 950 is without a doubt the best overall camera on a smartphone I've ever used. Hands down. A close second would be the 1020 but the 950's speed, and low-light capabilities give it the edge. I'm EXTREMELY satisfied with the camera on my 950.
Battery Life:
Battery life was quite good when I first got the phone, and has been VERY good since the 10586.29 update. It lasts much longer than my Note 4 and uses very little juice on standby. Going to bed with it fully charged it will still be at 94-96% when I wake up. Being away from home on workday (approx 11 hours off charger) and with normal use it's still at around 65% when I get home.
Note I do not use Windows Hello iris scanner. I never passcode my phone, so perhaps leaving that off helps my battery life.
Issues/Bugs/Grievances:
The biggest issue I've had was Outlook email not displaying images in emails, however this was fixed with an app update that microsoft sent out a few days after having the phone.
The update to 10586.29 did get stuck at 30% but after rebooting the phone (NOT hard reset) it did finish the update.
Very minor bug, almost not worth mentioning but when somebody messages me in facebook messenger the little notification icon at the top doesn't go away even after I've read the message. Once I swipe down from the top it goes away.
The phone has rebooted on me twice since owning it. This is actually better than my Note 4 which would freeze up and reboot probably twice a week.
I wish more transparent live tiles were available. Especially for MS apps like Money and Health. The news app can be transparent so why not the others??
Double tap to wake from glance screen would be nice to have again.
Overall experience/Conclusion:
Well, there you have it. My experience after one month with the Lumia 950. I have to say I'm very pleased with the device and as a Windows phone fan it's the perfect device for me. It has everything that I want: Great camera, Windows mobile, Great audio quality, removable back with microSD slot etc. This phone really hit it out of the park for me personally. I just hope Windows mobile grows and improves as an ecosystem.
Hopefully others who've had positive experiences will chime in this thread
Regards,
KrisYYC
I'm writing this post to tell of my very positive experience with the Lumia 950. Lots of doom and gloom posts on here and I'm not in anyway trying to minimize any issues other users have had, but I have had almost none of the issues being reported. So I'm hoping this post will balance out a lot of the negativity on these forums about which in my opinion is an excellent device. I can't be the only one!
I bought my Lumia 950 Dual Sim direct from the Microsoft store here in Calgary, AB almost a month ago to the day. I had been using a Galaxy Note 4 for several months, and while it was a great phone. I still found myself missing Windows Phone (previous to the Note 4 I had a Lumia 1020).
Once home and new nano-sim installed, I powered the device up and was impressed with the look of Windows 10 mobile. It has the deep blacks and style that I loved with Windows mobile 8.1 on my 1020 but with even more sexy UI enhancements.
I did NOT do a restore from my Lumia 1020, this was a clean set up (I have a feeling a restore from an old device may have been the cause of some problems people have been having). The only thing I copied was contacts. I logged into my Microsoft account and it remembered stuff from my 1020 like app and music purchases which was nice. In particular it remembered my carrier info from my 1020 (carrier branded). So even though this is an unlocked device I can still purchase music and apps by simply adding it to my monthly cell phone bill rather than setting up a credit card. I like that and I don't think the other OS' offer anything similar.
Once I had the phone set up, it really hit me how much I missed windows mobile UI and look. To me it just downright looks way better than iOS or Android (I've used them all). Transparent live tiles and the deep blacks etc. really do it for me.
Apps:
I never was a huge app user with my other devices so the "app gap" isn't a big deal to me. All of the apps/services I use are available on Windows mobile, even my bank (RBC). The only con with the apps is I'd say they are of lower quality compared to their Android/iOS equivalents. Hopefully that will be fixed with updates or universal windows 10 apps.
Bluetooth/Cortana:
Like my 1020, my 950 syncs flawlessly with my car bluetooth and haven't had any issues with this. Unlike my Note 4 which would work with phone calls but simply would not do voice to text SMS or anything.
Call quality:
So far, every person I've done a voice call with said quality is great and superior to that of my Note 4. No issues with echo or anything.
Audio quality:
I don't use the loudspeaker much so I'm not really going to judge it. I think they all sound pretty crappy on any phone. However headphone quality (using RHA-T10i earphones) is VERY good. Closest device I've had to the sound quality of my old iphone 4S with music playback. Very happy with this!
I synced my music using the windows phone desktop application that I used with my 1020. It worked flawlessly and had no troubles loading to the microSD card (that I formatted beforehand). Still getting used to the new Groove music. Not sure if I like it better than previous Xbox music.
Camera:
This is a big one for me. I travel a lot (work for an airline) and I like to take LOTS of pics. I can safely say that the camera on the 950 is without a doubt the best overall camera on a smartphone I've ever used. Hands down. A close second would be the 1020 but the 950's speed, and low-light capabilities give it the edge. I'm EXTREMELY satisfied with the camera on my 950.
Battery Life:
Battery life was quite good when I first got the phone, and has been VERY good since the 10586.29 update. It lasts much longer than my Note 4 and uses very little juice on standby. Going to bed with it fully charged it will still be at 94-96% when I wake up. Being away from home on workday (approx 11 hours off charger) and with normal use it's still at around 65% when I get home.
Note I do not use Windows Hello iris scanner. I never passcode my phone, so perhaps leaving that off helps my battery life.
Issues/Bugs/Grievances:
The biggest issue I've had was Outlook email not displaying images in emails, however this was fixed with an app update that microsoft sent out a few days after having the phone.
The update to 10586.29 did get stuck at 30% but after rebooting the phone (NOT hard reset) it did finish the update.
Very minor bug, almost not worth mentioning but when somebody messages me in facebook messenger the little notification icon at the top doesn't go away even after I've read the message. Once I swipe down from the top it goes away.
The phone has rebooted on me twice since owning it. This is actually better than my Note 4 which would freeze up and reboot probably twice a week.
I wish more transparent live tiles were available. Especially for MS apps like Money and Health. The news app can be transparent so why not the others??
Double tap to wake from glance screen would be nice to have again.
Overall experience/Conclusion:
Well, there you have it. My experience after one month with the Lumia 950. I have to say I'm very pleased with the device and as a Windows phone fan it's the perfect device for me. It has everything that I want: Great camera, Windows mobile, Great audio quality, removable back with microSD slot etc. This phone really hit it out of the park for me personally. I just hope Windows mobile grows and improves as an ecosystem.
Hopefully others who've had positive experiences will chime in this thread
Regards,
KrisYYC
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