Would you still buy a L950?

[anon(9603734)]

I have a very similar question to the original,
however, I have already decided to get a Lumia 950, but can't find any new devices, only 'used' or 'as good as new'.

My question is, would you recommend a L950, even if it is used?
How is your phone holding up after several months/ a year of use? have you noticed any kind of slow down? How often do you see the ...Resuming... screen etc? can you feel from the software/ using it that it is already a slightly older device, or does it still run smooth as butter for you?
In terms of used devices often having physical wear, I don't mind scratches, as long as they are minor, especially as I can replace the cover, and I would probably end up scratching it just as much within the first few weeks of using it.

A couple of years ago I had an iPhone 4s and was on the lookout for a new flagship phone as the iOS updates had slowed the phone down. I considered a Windows Phone and used my mum's old L635 (1GB RAM version) on the Insider programme throughout the summer and autumn of 2015. I'd enjoyed using the L635, however, at the time that Microsoft settled on the very first production build for W10M that would ship with the new phones it was too buggy for me to warrant spending flagship money with the state that W10M was in at that time. So I ended up buying an iPhone 6s.

I still, from time to time, would boot up the L635 and test the Insider builds though. I saw improvements had been made to the OS from my playarounds with it, and also from reading this site from those who used a W10M device on a daily basis.

Recently my iPhone 6s has been playing up, sometimes switching off when it shows ~30% battery and stating it needs charging. So I can't rely on it now, and it's out of warranty.

For me, I'm not a massive user of apps and so Windows phone is fine for my needs - it has the apps I do use and I am content to use the browser for where there isn't an app. So last week I decided to buy a used L950 for £170 on eBay. It is in very good condition, it seemingly had been well looked after. I am unsure whether the previous owner bought it when it was first released in 2015 or how often it was used by him.

It came with build 14965 installed, so presumably the previous owner had been on the Insider programme.

I used WDRT to revert back to build 10586 and then the phone updated to the latest production build 14393.693. I decided to hard reset at that point and set up the phone as new.

Having used the L635 I admit that I was a bit concerned with how the speed of the phone and apps would be, but expected it to be faster on the L950 because of the better processors, RAM, etc. But WOW, what a difference in performance!!!

Edge was so slow on the L635, but on the L950 it loads pages really quickly (well, at least it does with the ones I look at).

I leave the following apps running in the background - Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp.

I leave my phone on 24/7.

If you were to switch your phone off overnight and back on again in the morning for example, then Facebook and Facebook Messenger take quite a few seconds to load (showing their 'splash' screens) when you launch them. When I exit the apps I use the Windows icon on the Nav Bar to get back to the Start screen. When I next launch those apps from the Start screen they load instantly - as I say as I've not 'killed' the app via the task switcher.

WhatsApp does have a "loading..." and "resuming..." but it's only a couple of seconds.

Things that I need to work, do work. For example, I've not missed an alarm and Quiet Hours comes on as scheduled. Windows Hello is working like a charm for me; I used the "improve recognition" a few times making my eyes look at different areas of the screen, and have gotten used to where to hold the phone and where to look at on the screen to get pretty much instantaneous access from the lock screen.

Would I recommend a used L950? Based on my experience, yes. However, with all things used, you take a risk. I checked the feedback of the seller on eBay and saw that he had sold other devices (phones and laptops) before and had been given positive feedback for those items, so I was confident that I was buying something in great condition as was described in the product description.

For me, the OS is fast. But as I say, I'm not sure how frequently used the device has been prior to me purchasing it.

Microsoft has made huge improvements to get the OS to the condition it is in now from where it was at launch. I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

 

[OriginalLucy]

I've been looking to pick up the 950 for a while back now, and from reading all the posts here, I think you've convinced me. Thanks for all the pros and cons of it.

 

[Wpbass]

I had started on an AT&T Lumia 830 on launch day, became too impatient waiting for the Lumia Camera 5 update and bought a refurb Lumia 1520 (green, FTW!). I thoroughly enjoyed my 1520...save for the "Ghost Touch" screen issues.

The "Ghost Touch" issues for me started as a mere nuisance, and for a while, it had gone away. Then around July or August of last year, the "Ghost Touches" began disabling my phone by entering the wrong passcode too many times. Got sick of it, and picked up a white Lumia 950 when they were $299 back in November 2016.

At that price, it's a great phone! The 950 feels faster than my 1520 (hexacore Snapdragon 808 & 3 GB RAM), and the camera worked even better (granted, the lens on my 1520 arrived with a significant gouge). At this price, the polycarbonate back isn't a detractor for me (I also have the phone in a clear gel case), and should the ever-mythical-Unicorn-Surface Phone/Surface Mobile launch, I would easily be able to pay off the 950 before upgrading.

Wireless Continuum has been working decently enough through screen-sharing on our Roku 4, but I'm very tempted to track down a Microsoft Display Dock (also curious to see if it will my also-recently-acquired Acer Aspire Switch Alpha 12 Win10 tablet!) for some more serious Continuum work.

All said, I can't say I'm not tempted by the unlocked Alcatel Idol 4S that the Microsoft Store is now selling: https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...OL-4S--Unlocked%2F8R7WV7WMJTZ1&token=mI9YDxp9

 

[mweflen]

A couple of years ago I had an iPhone 4s and was on the lookout for a new flagship phone as the iOS updates had slowed the phone down. I considered a Windows Phone and used my mum's old L635 (1GB RAM version) on the Insider programme throughout the summer and autumn of 2015. I'd enjoyed using the L635, however, at the time that Microsoft settled on the very first production build for W10M that would ship with the new phones it was too buggy for me to warrant spending flagship money with the state that W10M was in at that time. So I ended up buying an iPhone 6s.

I still, from time to time, would boot up the L635 and test the Insider builds though. I saw improvements had been made to the OS from my playarounds with it, and also from reading this site from those who used a W10M device on a daily basis.

Recently my iPhone 6s has been playing up, sometimes switching off when it shows ~30% battery and stating it needs charging. So I can't rely on it now, and it's out of warranty.

For me, I'm not a massive user of apps and so Windows phone is fine for my needs - it has the apps I do use and I am content to use the browser for where there isn't an app. So last week I decided to buy a used L950 for £170 on eBay. It is in very good condition, it seemingly had been well looked after. I am unsure whether the previous owner bought it when it was first released in 2015 or how often it was used by him.

It came with build 14965 installed, so presumably the previous owner had been on the Insider programme.

I used WDRT to revert back to build 10586 and then the phone updated to the latest production build 14393.693. I decided to hard reset at that point and set up the phone as new.

Having used the L635 I admit that I was a bit concerned with how the speed of the phone and apps would be, but expected it to be faster on the L950 because of the better processors, RAM, etc. But WOW, what a difference in performance!!!

Edge was so slow on the L635, but on the L950 it loads pages really quickly (well, at least it does with the ones I look at).

I leave the following apps running in the background - Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp.

I leave my phone on 24/7.

If you were to switch your phone off overnight and back on again in the morning for example, then Facebook and Facebook Messenger take quite a few seconds to load (showing their 'splash' screens) when you launch them. When I exit the apps I use the Windows icon on the Nav Bar to get back to the Start screen. When I next launch those apps from the Start screen they load instantly - as I say as I've not 'killed' the app via the task switcher.

WhatsApp does have a "loading..." and "resuming..." but it's only a couple of seconds.

Things that I need to work, do work. For example, I've not missed an alarm and Quiet Hours comes on as scheduled. Windows Hello is working like a charm for me; I used the "improve recognition" a few times making my eyes look at different areas of the screen, and have gotten used to where to hold the phone and where to look at on the screen to get pretty much instantaneous access from the lock screen.

Would I recommend a used L950? Based on my experience, yes. However, with all things used, you take a risk. I checked the feedback of the seller on eBay and saw that he had sold other devices (phones and laptops) before and had been given positive feedback for those items, so I was confident that I was buying something in great condition as was described in the product description.

For me, the OS is fast. But as I say, I'm not sure how frequently used the device has been prior to me purchasing it.

Microsoft has made huge improvements to get the OS to the condition it is in now from where it was at launch. I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

This poster's experience is very close to mine.

When I start up the phone, I'm like "urgh, why is this so slow?!?? My wife's iPhone isn't like this..."

But throughout the day, without force killing apps, things are extremely fluid.

The phone runs warm under load. Constant use burns about 10% of battery per hour. Moderate use is more like 5-6%. Idle is around 1-2%. So it's not that hard to get a full day as long as you're not on it all the time. I have a bus ride to and from work, about an hour each way. If I surf or read news/FB the whole time, I'll be around 60-70% when I get home, down from a full charge in the morning. By bedtime, I'll be around 50% if I don't top off.

I have no hesitation recommending a 950 to someone who isn't wedded to Apple or Google. If you are a heavy user of those services, it might not be for you. But if you are platform agnostic or a MS user already, it's kind of a no brainer.

300 bucks for a Snapdragon 808 phone, with 3gb ram, and SD expansion is a comparable deal with the mid-rangers out there spec-wise, but the 20mp camera is flagship level, so that puts it over the top. If you can get it lightly used for 100 less, why not?

 

[Aneres11]

My answer to this is yes.

I picked one up on Gumtree for £100 last week and have spent a week with the device.
I've owned 2 950's before. A normal sized for a few months earlier last year, and an XL a couple of weeks ago.

I got rid of them as I constantly chop and change but have been a bit weary doing that of late, so have been a little less inclined to keep buying and selling.

The original 950 I had was a revelation camera wise. I'd known the Lumia's were renowned for having good cameras, but I didn't quite know just how good until I saw for myself.

When I got the XL I enjoyed that too, particularly the big screen, however I didn't last too long with that as I found that it was a little too big to be carting round with my 7 Plus which is my main device.

I picked up an Xperia XZ and have been using that until it developed a screen fault. During the lengthy repair I hankered for the Lumia once again, so picked the one up on Gumtree.

Well, am I glad I did again. This time it is going nowhere. At the very least for the £100 I paid it will be docked onto my computer monitor and left on my desk to use as a little PC.
The size of the 950 is just better in the hand. It still has a really decent sized screen yet the screen to body ratio feels spot on, which was the opposite experience to when I had the XL.

I went away to York earlier this week and took some photos of the cathedral and churches etc. I also took my DLSR and when I got home I uploaded them to my MacBook.
Now I do only have an entry level DLSR, but apparently it is one of the best for beginners (which I am) - its a Nikon D3400.
The pictures I got with the Lumia 950 are virtually on a par with the DLSR. I couldn't believe it.
I will upload some in the photos thread later tonight but they've come out fantastically well. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice sunny day so perfect shooting conditions but even still I was mighty impressed.

The actual phone itself does have shortcomings. Shooting in HDR mode produces 4 of the same images. It's unnecessary to keep these as 4 separate photos but that's how the photos app likes to play it.
I also have lost photos. I took a bunch in a retro gaming shop and went back into the photosapp later and they'd all gone despite being their earlier in the day? What gives with that?

The battery life is fine for me. I took photos, shot video and still had a lot of battery left mid day and only low battery by bed time. It's all I can ask of it.

The app gap is an issue, but only if you want it to be. If you want the apps it doesn't have, don't buy it. It's a no brainer. It's like buying a 2 bedroom house when you need 3. No brainer. You either take it for what it is and live with it, or move along. Sure, be nice if it had them, but there are apps that IMO perform just as well as their iOS and Android counterparts. Barclays online banking, O2 Priority, Twitter, the GAME rewards app - all great. But there are some that just stutter and lag a little which is annoying. Facebook and Instagram being the main 2. But they are supported, and the functions are added that the other versions have which softens the blow somewhat.

I love live tiles, they're just great. Customisation is so much fun with this device.

Do I recommend it, yes I do. If you are interested in getting involved with WM then this is the device you ideally want. It's easy to pick up fairly cheap now (used) and has a lot going for it, particularly the camera which is just sensational.

I do love my Lumia

 

[Bai]

950? No. 950XL? sure. I have both. battery life is equally bad, there are little things in the XL make it a better exp. faster, extra quick action icon, bigger screen and dedicated language button on keyboard.

 

[ZombieXboxBlog]

I've been hanging on for a Surface Phone for a year or two now, and my Lumia 1020 is feeling it's age a bit. If it looks like any Surface Phone wouldn't be until 2018 at the earliest I'm tempted to get a 950 for the sake of £100 or so. Reviews on here make it seem like it's worth it.

 

[anon(50597)]

I've been hanging on for a Surface Phone for a year or two now, and my Lumia 1020 is feeling it's age a bit. If it looks like any Surface Phone wouldn't be until 2018 at the earliest I'm tempted to get a 950 for the sake of £100 or so. Reviews on here make it seem like it's worth it.

A very good bridge device at a great price.

Sent from my Alcatel Idol 4S

 

[slivy58]

I've been hanging on for a Surface Phone for a year or two now, and my Lumia 1020 is feeling it's age a bit. If it looks like any Surface Phone wouldn't be until 2018 at the earliest I'm tempted to get a 950 for the sake of £100 or so. Reviews on here make it seem like it's worth it.

For that price I'd say give er a shot. Just got one myself and so far so good, some extra $$$ and curiosity got the better of me. :grin:

 

[agaskew]

I've had a 950 since September, and also have a Note 4. I like to flit between the two - there are some apps I use for work that don't exist on W10M (eg Zoom). I never run any Insider builds - I find them a bit too painful. The 950 has some neat features of its own that I like, such as wirelss charging, Glance, USB-C, SD Card.

W10M makes a much much better job of integrating with my Office 365, especially for Contacts which Android regularly messes up. Battery life is about the same for each device. I find there are still bugs and glitches in W10M but it has improved a lot over the last year. The only time I ever see 'resuming' is from WhatsApp, but that particular app is a PITA on any platform. I really like the Skype integration (send/receive SMS from desktop PC), and sending/receiving SMS via Cortana/voice dictation in the car is a godsend. I really wish MS had allowed different browsers though IMO Android is way more flexible in that you can get it to do just about anything, if you can be bothered to work through a million different apps to find the one you want. For example, the shipped Android phone/email/calendar/contacts apps are IMO awful, but there are dozens of alternatives available - some terrible, some great. Every time I pick up an iPhone I'm reminded why I can't stand iOS :winktongue:

I'd say if you can pick up a good used 950 and you like W10M, give it a go. Just bear in mind that as a hardware/software combination it probably isn't going anywhere in terms of major new features or funtionality.

 

[mhc48]

Just did now that the unlocked version is at a lower price at the MS Store. I've been juggling between the features of a 930 vs 650 for a long while now, each had some feature(s) the other lacked. The 950 has them all. I liked it from the beginning, but not the original price.

 

[libra89]

Just did now that the unlocked version is at a lower price at the MS Store. I've been juggling between the features of a 930 vs 650 for a long while now, each had some feature(s) the other lacked. The 950 has them all. I liked it from the beginning, but not the original price.

Welcome to the club! Hope you'll like it!

 

[Chubbynaga]

Swappa is a great place to buy

 

[ramyZgHR]

Bought black 950 about 2 months ago. Today I bought white Mozo cover at a bargain price in Croatia at retail store for about 20€! I'm happy like a pig in mud!

Sent from mTalk

 

[ramyZgHR]

There should be an picture of Mozo cover here. I guess there is some bug in mTalk.
Sent from mTalk

 

[camaroz1985]

Had one, sold it when I switched to iOS and now Android. Now keeping an eye out for a deal on a 950 or 950XL. I still have a 640 that I use to keep up with W10M, but the 950 was such a good phone, I want another one.

 

[luis silva5]

Have one and...looking for a good deal on amazon to get a 950xl.
My wife has my old galaxy S4 and i just can´t work with it.
Guess windows phone are like Volvo´s: for life

If you(we) have a phone that shares software platform with almost the entyre pc/tablet, why on earth you would change to another OS?

 

[davede]

I moved to Huawei P9 (my Lumia 950 is still near to me) but I miss many things. Leica's camera is marketing. There is no way to compare P9's and 950's camera. PureView is much, much better. Android gives me a lot of apps, but it has diffrent user interface. I like Windows UI because everything is really simple and clean.

Unfortunately I am a social user who needs good social apps. Windows apps are... something between poor and average. What is more, OneDrive and Skype on Android OS are much better. What a pity!

I hope one day I will see good social and Microsoft's apps. What about phone? I like my Lumia 950 because is compact. I wish I didn't buy XL version because sometimes normal 950 becomes really warm and its battery sucks... It would be great to see Lumia 950 with colder procesor.

 

[njstol01]

evidently yes for me....just upgraded from 640 to 950. Lets see how the battery plays out. (routinely got 48 hrs with the 640)

 

[ManofGod1000]

Had one, sold it when I switched to iOS and now Android. Now keeping an eye out for a deal on a 950 or 950XL. I still have a 640 that I use to keep up with W10M, but the 950 was such a good phone, I want another one.

I know this is an old post but, I am keeping an eye out for one as well. I sold my about 2 months back and miss it from time to time. I am on a Sony Xperia XA1 and very much enjoy it, it is just the right size. However, I still miss the 950 and had I expected that, I would have kept it just because.