Then Microsoft unveiled Windows 10 mobile, it promised further blurring of the lines between phone and desktop, namely, that continuum would be coming to all Windows phones. The idea is that you can take your phone when you’re out and about, and when you come home, plug it into the display dock and instantly have a desktop experience with your mouse and keyboard.
After a slew of cheaper alternatives, the launch of the Lumia 950 XL is supposed to herald the coming of Microsoft’s dream to marry desktop and mobile. Did it pull it off?
AVERAGE DESIGN
For all its bluster announcing the rangetopping Lumia 950 XL, this phablet doesn’t exactly scream premium. Built out of a combination of glass and plastic, the 950 XL seems to see Microsoft hitting an upper ceiling with regards to design.
It looks like the Lumias of old, with nary any innovation in terms of looks. The camera hump inherent to all camera focused Lumias is still there, and the general look of the device is just staid, for lack of a better word. In an era where even budget phones are adopting a more premium shell, buyers of the Lumia 950 XL might feel a little short changed.
Of course, it isn’t all bad news; the plastic shell of the 950 XL does provide a solid grip, which is something that can’t be said for the increasing number of smooth, metal shells in the market today. Having a plastic back also means that the 950 XL has an honest-to-goodness removable back, giving access to a removable battery. The 3340mAh battery will normally last you well through the day, but for those days where the emails are streaming in, it can be comforting for power users to know that the option to switch in a fully charged battery is there. Additionally, the inclusion of both a microSD card slot as well as dual SIM trays makes the 950 XL a far more flexible device than you would expect at first blush.
CLEARBLACK DISPLAY
The design of the 950 XL may be stuck in the past, but the display of this device is no slouch. With a razor-sharp WQHD screen, the Lumia 950 XL has the highest display resolution of any Windows mobile device released to date. Image reproduction is excellent; colours are robust, text is sharp and images are rich in detail. The brightness level of the display is also pretty good, remaining visible even under direct sunlight. The AMOLED ClearBlack panel here really shines and can definitely hang with the big boys such as the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6.
One slight downside to the device is that the display tends to produce a bluish tinge, especially on a white background. This is more apparent when viewing the display off-angle, though we don’t believe this will have a significant impact on usability.
WINDOWS 10
As the first device running Windows 10, the 950 XL and its younger brother the 950 are the culmination of Microsoft’s vision of a unified platform. Hence the removal of the ‘Phone’ branding from its mobile device. That doesn’t mean too much has changed on the mobile front though. The iconic Windows live-tiles are still there, and thanks to the huge screen and customisability of the tile size, you can potentially see a smorgasbord of apps the second you unlock the device. The real reason why you would consider a Windows 10 device in an age of iOS and Android dominance however, is Continuum.
To use Continuum, Microsoft sells the proprietary Microsoft Display Dock, which comes with a whole host of ports such as USB 3.0, HDMI and even DisplayPort. This allows you to connect your keyboard, mouse and monitor to the Dock, allowing a true desktop experience. Simply connect the 950 XL to the Dock and a universal app opens on screen. Everything you expect to see is there, such as the start button, Task View and the Task Bar at the bottom. Classic windows shortcut keys such as Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V are also included.
So is Continuum worth it? Unfortunately, the short of it is yes, and no. Continuum does a great job mimicking the full desktop experience, but its limitations become apparent quickly. As it is still the mobile version of the OS, full 32-bit and 64-bit applications cannot be installed as it only accepts apps from the Windows Store. There is no right click, no pinning of apps to the ‘home screen’, no Windows Snap to pin multiple webpages next to each other and each app fills the whole screen, removing any sense of multitasking.
There is a general lack of functionality you would expect from a full-blown Windows device, resulting in something of a poor man’s Windows RT, which is quite underwhelming considering what Microsoft promised during the announcement. Using Continuum consistently felt like using a phone with a big screen, which while handy, falls far short of what we expect when we’re sitting at our desks trying to be productive.
Also, despite using Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 chipset, Continuum consistently lagged when I used it on a WQHD monitor even though it had the same number of pixels as the 5.7” screen on the 950 XL. The Edge browser was painfully slow, and some apps simply refused to load while in Continuum.
Outside of Continuum however, the performance of the phone is superb, with no slowdowns whatsoever. This might just be an optimisation issue with Continuum, which further hampers Microsoft’s unification efforts.
WEAK EXECUTION
The 950 XL was supposed to be Microsoft’s answer to a mobile landscape that is currently practically a duopoly. Unfortunately, some poor design choices (both hardware and software) threaten to derail its efforts before it even gets its foot out the door. Make no mistake, there are a lot of great ideas to Windows 10 mobile, and its functionality is nothing to scoff at.
Regardless, the persisting lack of compelling apps and half-baked Continuum feature will struggle to convert the masses who are already waist deep in their iOS and Android ecosystems. There is word on the street that Microsoft is reserving its best ideas for a new Surface lineup of smartphones, and maybe that’s the one you should wait for if you’re opposed to the current market offerings. As the swansong of the Lumia lineup however, the 950 XL is going out with more of a whimper than a bang.
The best Lumia yet, but still not good enough.
Spec
DIMENSIONS: 151.9 x 78.4 x 8.1 mm
WEIGHT: 165 g
OS: Windows 10 Mobile
DISPLAy: 5.7 inches, 2560 x 1440
PROCESSOR: Qualcomm Snapdragon 810
GRAPHICS: Adreno 430
MEMORy: 3 GB RAM
CAMERA: 20MP rear camera, 5MP front-facing camera
STORAGE: 32GB
PORTS: microSD up to 200GB, 3.5mm audio jack, USB-C
SIM: Nano Sim
BATTERY: 3340mAh removable Li-Ion