Microsoft has been trying to get a foothold in the mobile market for a few years now and although it has had limited success with lower-end handsets in a few markets, it has yet to crack the mainstream and higher-end segments. The biggest challenge Microsoft is facing is getting app developers onboard. It just doesn’t make sense for most developers to allocate resources to a platform that has minimal market share. To tackle this, Microsoft released Windows 10 with support for Universal Apps that run on everything from your desktop to your tablet and your mobile. And the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL are the first phones that bring this new updated OS. Will Microsoft succeed in converting Android or iOS users? Let’s find out.
Lumia 950 Design
Our phones have become our most personal gadgets. In fact, most of us probably spend more time on our phones than with our families. Thus, the look and feel of the phone has become very important, especially in the higher-end segment with companies using metal and glass to create a luxurious product. The Lumia 950, which is what I am reviewing today, looks uninspiring and won’t turn any heads.
It’s a black slab that doesn’t look like it got a lot of attention during the designing phase. In fact, it could easily quality as a development unit- a phone passed on to developers to test their apps on. This is rather unfortunate because previous Lumia devices have been stunning- the 930 in particular is still one of my favorites as far as design is concerned.
The button placement on the 950 is similar to the 930 with the volume keys, the power button and the dedicated camera button all residing on the right side of the device. The 3.5mm jack sits on top while a USB Type C connector is present at the bottom. The back snaps of and reveals the replaceable battery, two nano SIM card slots and a MicroSD slot.
Lumia 950 Specs
Although the design of the Lumia 950 isn’t exciting, the hardware is definitely on par with the best phones out there. It’s equipped with the six core Snapdragon 808 processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded using a MicroSD card. The phone also comes with support for dual SIM cards making it a great companion to travel with to avoid roaming costs.
The Lumia 950 is equipped with a 5.2-inch AMOLED screen with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels. I found this screen size perfect- it’s neither unyieldingly large nor too cramped up. And the super high resolution makes everything appear very crisp. AMOLED panels generally produce a more popping color which works in the favour of the Lumia 950, especially with the lock screen pictures that you can set to change on a daily basis.
Microsoft has also built a front camera that supports Windows Hello. This allows you to use your face to login instead of a password or a pin code. While this works great on my Surface Pro 4 it’s not that useful on the Lumia 950. I had to reposition the phone every time to try and get it to recognize me which still didn’t always work.
Lumia 950 Software
One of the reasons we haven’t seen a new flagship Windows phone for over a year is because Windows 10 on the mobile wasn’t quite ready. Microsoft has finally delivered this latest version of Windows and the two new Lumia phones are the first phones being released with it. There are some nice, subtle touches in Windows 10 mobile such as displaying your upcoming appointment when you power the phone off or creating contact groups that lets you message or share media with no matter what device your contacts use.
