Microsoft Lumia 950 Specifications and Price, Hands on Review

Microsoft has recently launched the Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL. July 2015 was a time when Nokia was about to ring a bell that they won’t be able to continue further.

A time when about 800 employees were laid off from the company and almost the entire cost of acquisition was written down. Though with a promising debut in 2010 with Windows-based devices, Nokia-Microsoft has not been able to create the required buzz in the market even after 5 years.

Let’s have a closer look at the Lumia 950 and see whether it will be able to give tough competition to the existing array of smartphones or not.

Microsoft Lumia 950 details

Design and Display:

A stripped-down version of its bigger brother i.e. the Lumia 950XL, Microsoft Lumia 950 comes with a poly-carbonate matte finish material, a little change from the previous metallic trimming at the edges.

The device resembles Lumia 1020 and 930 which had the same poly-carbonate finish on them. The previous neon colors have also been replaced with classy black and white.

The Microsoft logo is also replaced with the Windows logo at the back and an ugly-looking camera bulging out from the back. The 5.2-inch display has a clear black polarization which makes the screen adjusts well toward direct sunlight.

The display is Quad HD with 564 ppi sharpness, which you can notice especially in the tiles section of the menu. Although the specification of the device is lacking in terms of raw power it has a Snapdragon 808 which is a hexacore chipset and does perform decently, the Lumia 950 can be celebrated as the flagship device for Microsoft users.

Under the Gorilla Glass 3 protection, an amazing feature is hidden known as the Windows Hello. When you hit the phone’s unlock button, an animated eyeball appears, asking you to look directly into the screen while the phone’s sensor matches your iris with the unique hash stored in memory. Not really effective in the first few attempts, but once you start using it regularly, it is surprisingly speedy.

Software:

Now thanks to Windows 10 mobile edition, phones and other gadgets have got a newfound edge over them. Once you are past Windows Hello you land at Start Menu which is the same as before.

There are a few tweaks here and there, but they are not that significant in nature. The tiles showcase recent activity in all areas, Outlook will show your recent emails, social platforms tiles like Facebook and Twitter will show recent activity and notifications, and so on and so forth. You can access the notifications by pulling down the screen, just like you do on your Android or iOS device.

The digital assistant Cortana works surprisingly smoothly. Her little gestures will melt your heart in a jiffy. She will pop some info or news item related to the town where you have landed and she has become more intelligent also, making fewer mistakes and sorting herself out.

Another issue that we faced with Lumia 950 was the lack of apps to install. Though many social platforms now have started to make apps that can be synced with Windows 10, lack of availability is a bit of a problem that users will definitely face.

Camera:

Now another plus point of the Lumia 950 is the amazing 20 MP main camera. It has six-element lenses, and fifth-generation image stabilizer, and a triple LED flash to give you sharp pictures. The 5 MP front camera is no less in performance and shoots wide-angle selfies for you. Launching the camera is simple but you may feel a little dizzy by seeing so many options.

The UI is easy and adaptable, and once you try and use each feature, you will love to click pictures with Lumia 950. And anyways, Lumia has always been amongst the top contenders for the throne for making the best camera in the phone segment.

Performance:

One of the major issues with performance is that Lumia 90 won’t be able to shoot 4K videos sometimes. When you try and shoot one, it shows an error message at times. The camera button is a little defective as it will sometimes launch the viewfinder and sometimes, it will go berserk and forget what the viewfinder is.

You might face issues while syncing your device with all social platforms and downloading images from Outlook and other platforms will be a task. Initially, you will take the time to understand the device. But after some time, you might even get used to it. We can rate the performance as average, and the device is made solely for people who are currently using Windows phones only. Android and iOS users will definitely get confused.

Battery:

The battery with Lumia 950 is 3000 mAh, which on paper at least lasts for a day. It is removable, which is nice though, and rare also these days. The charging point available with the device is USB Type-C Connector on the bottom.

With normal usage, the battery may last for about 18-20 hours. But on a busy day, it will drain within 10 hours.

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Shreya Verma

Shreya Verma is a Bibliophile, food lover and a wild child! Currently working as an HR professional and trying to make a name in this big world!