GPC reviews Microsoft Lumia 950
We’re bringing you another review of Lumia models, this time Microsoft Lumia 950 XL. Continue reading and find out more about this device, as well as spare parts & accessories we offer at GPC.
Specifications
Dimension/Mass: 151.9 x 78.4 x 8.1 mm & 165 g
Display: 5.7” AMOLED 1440 x 2560 (~518 ppi); ClearBlack; Gorilla Glass 4
CPU/GPU: octa-core Snapdragon 810 2.0 GHz; / Adreno 430
RAM / ROM: 3 GB / 32 GB + microSD up to 200 GB
Camera: Main 20 MP; 4K; Triple RGB LED; OIS; PureView / Front: 5 MP; 1080p
Battery: Li-ion 3340 mAh changeable; wireless charging
OS: Windows 10 Mobile
Design
Just as her sister, Microsoft has equipped Lumia 950 XL with pretty solid hardware, but not accompanied with design and manufacturing quality as it deserves. Appearance and impression 950 XL leaves is, easily said, under all expectations.
Already seen and normal square housing design with plastic and creaking mat back cover also dominated on this model’s outside. Manufacturers offer various back covers that should enhance the outside design of your phone, and they go for approximately €20. The fact that you have to set aside more money for a flagship to actually look like flagship, is just outrageous.
The 950 XL front is covered with Gorilla Glass 4 which hides big 5.7 inch AMOLED display. Microsoft logo with headphone speaker, sensors, front camera lens and iris scanner is placed above display. There’s no standard notification LED light.
Left side is clean and the right one has solidly made, yet sharp under fingers, volume control buttons, Power button and 2-step camera button. The 3.5 mm headphone jack is placed on top, while the bottom has new USB C slot for synchronization and charging.
Lumia 950 XL’s back side contains slightly convex 20 MP camera with triple LED flash. A little bit to the left is a speaker with little holes which is backed up with four holes of secondary microphone. Microsoft logo is in the middle. Under the back cover you can findslots for nano SIM and microSD card, plus there’s a changeable battery with capacity of 3340 mAh.
Lumia 950 XL Display
There’s nothing to blame on excellent and spacious 5.7 inch AMOLED display, except (perhaps) the ability to unlock with knock-knock (double tap). 1440 x 2565 pixels ensure 518 ppi and top sharpness. ClearBlack technology provides great contrast, deep black colors and very good readability under some angle. Brightness is also more than solid both inside and outside.
Glance Screen display of time and missed calls, messages (etc) is practical and praiseworthy.
Camera
Lumia 950 XL offers great and impressive camera, just as normal Lumia 950. On its back, there’s a 20 MP sensor with optical stabilization Carl Zeiss lens from 6 elements, and an opening of blend F/1.9. It’s backed up by triple RGB LED flash and, while recording, it uses 4 microphones. Next to 1080p, it also provides 4K recording. Here’s 2-step camera button also a big plus. Front camera is 5 MP with 1080p video support.
Camera application is pretty familiar. It’s possible to turn it on with delayed camera button click. Besides automatic way of work with rich recording options (pandan auto HDR), it also offers lots of options as well as auto focus + manual focus by touching the screen.
Software
Lumia 950 XL also uses Windows 10 mobile and it’s nothing new anymore, everyone got used to it and is expecting improvements.
Locked screen looks, more or less, just as it looked before. Next to desired background image, it shows missed calls, messages, mails and events from calendar. You can use standard PIN protection in combination with Windows Hello feature, which uses integrated iris scanner. This feature is still in beta test but it has proven to work properly in 90% of cases. It requires that you look at it from about 40 centimeters far, not longer. Also, you should open your eyes widely to make sure that iris scanner works properly.
Performance & Battery
Lumia 950 XL is using octa-core Snapdragon 818 with maximally 2.0 GHz, backed up by 3 GB of RAM, Adreno 430 graphics card and 32 GB internal memory (ROM), which is expandable up to 200 GB. All that together ensures top performance, and the results haven’t showed any significant heating which would cause noticeable performance drop.
This device showed us a good, fluent and neat usage without frequent lags or minuses in terms of performance. We have to admit, it’s great.
GPS works fast and precise and phone’s battery ensures long lasting experience and fast charging backs that up.
Lumia 950 XL has gotten 87 000 points on Antutu benchmark, which isn’t as relevant but still mention-worthy.