Gadgetory

it's the same story every year windows phone is one of the sharpest coolest looking mobile platforms out there but it just can't seem to gain any traction now after almost two years without a true flagship a seven point six billion dollar write down and a massive round of layoffs Microsoft is counting on a brand new operating system and mostly new hardware to make a phone worthy of the fans I'm Michael Fisher let's find out if that phone is finally here in pocket now's Lumia 950 review in the hand the Lumia 950 is an almost totally unremarkable smartphone it's matte finished polycarbonate evokes memories of older prouder Lumias like the ten twenty and nine thirty but it lacks the reassuring heft of the former and the classy metallic trim of the latter also absent is any of the whimsy of earlier Lumia designs the neon colors replaced by staid black and white options at just over eight millimeters thick and 150 grams in mass even its size is middle-of-the-road fortunately if you like us you just can't live with that you can gussy it up a little bit with an aftermarket back like this leather one from mozo but keep in mind then you're spending even more money than the phone already costs get past that forgettable design and there's plenty to like here starting with the display this is a 5.2 inch panel with a clear black polarization filter for enhanced daylight readability and it brings with it the usual inky blacks and heavy saturation common to OLED screens and from the moment the little Microsoft logo pops up on the boot screen you know you're looking at a quad HD display it's sharpness makes the text on live tiles come to life and it's especially evident on the little notification symbols in the read on status bar windows looks great in quad HD Windows Phone fans have been waiting nearly two years for a proper flagship so the Lumia 950 s story is very much centered on the 950 comes packing 32 gigs of storage 29 of which are available out of the box and it also offers a microSD slot for storage expansion that slot sits alongside a 3000 milliamp hour battery which is also removable a rarity these days and that battery is rechargeable via USB type-c or by Qi or PM a wireless top-up most of that juice is going to go to the Snapdragon 808 processor and three gigs of ram that make the whole thing work there is one more trick hiding beneath the Gorilla Glass 3 here and it's a doozy hit the unlock button and you're greeted by Windows hello an infrared sensor that grants you access through an iris scan it takes a bit of training and it's not a hundred percent effective because it's still in beta but it's surprisingly speedy when it does work and it's so futuristic so Wrath of Khan that we can't call it anything but awesome for all that's changed in the jump from Windows Phone to Windows 10 we're glad to report that the Start screen is much the same as ever with options galore for minimalists and info hounds alike we're in the latter camp so our Start screen is packed with data from headlines to notifications to weather reports all of it instantly visible the moment we unlock the phone this kind of glance ability goes back to the very first days of Windows Phone and it remains one of the principal benefits of the platform iOS and Android offers similar functionality through widgets but they lack the cohesive look and feel that Windows offers elsewhere things are more conventional and less consistent where older Windows Phones used elegant and easy to control sliding panels to access different app screens Windows 10 relies on hamburger menus aping one of the worst design precedents of iOS meanwhile longtime Lumia staples like double tap to wake are notably absent from the 950 even as old touches like the always-on glance screen remain the result of all this is a mishmash of holdover features and absentee ones with the occasional WTF peppered in still using this phone after a long windows phone sabbatical feels a lot like coming home we love hearing the woodpecker clack of the excellent virtual keyboard now with the Handy cursor control managing email and calendar appointments through the new Outlook apps is a beautiful experience thanks to the slick UI design the Cortana virtual assistant is really good at context and a simple hey there Cortana is enough to wake the phone if you can't spare a hand sadly a Windows Phones most enduring challenge the app gap is actually getting worse with apps like Bank of America chase Intuit mint NBC American Airlines and hotel tonight all shutting the doors on their Windows Phone apps in 2015 meanwhile apps like Instagram haven't seen a meaningful update in over a year and stand in titles like the Microsoft made Facebook app are slow and riddled with bugs there is some good news on the horizon here all new Facebook Instagram and messenger apps are on the way from Windows 10 and because these will be universal apps they'll work on every form factor from the desktop to the handheld that's part of Microsoft's new pitch with a hundred and ten million Windows 10 devices currently on the market the company hopes to attract developers through sheer scale and we've run into some pleasant surprises - we found apps we didn't expect to find from fallouts pip-boy companion to the obscure live ATC air traffic control scanner Microsoft has a few winners in here - the new Maps application does a nice job of providing integrated directions for driving walking and public transit and the tongue-in-cheek MS DOS emulator contains a few great Easter eggs for all you hardcore nerds who long for the days of Windows 3.1 running on the desktop oh and speaking of desktops if you invest in the right accessories the Lumia 950 is capable of converting itself into a semblance of a Windows PC using a feature called continuum we cover this feature in greater depth in a separate video which will link you to but in some it's a larger canvas for your smartphone that works really well as long as you can find yourself to light work the Lumia brand has been built in part on a legacy of excellent smart cameras and the specs here definitely measure up this is a 20 megapixel sensor with a 6 element lens and 5th generation optical stabilization its aperture size is as large as the galaxy s6 while it's triple LED flash is designed to avoid blowing out flesh tones shooting with this phone is a lot of fun launching the camera is as simple as pressing the shutter button and focusing can be done with a half press on the same key by default the 950 will shoot in automatic mode and that includes a rich capture feature that optimizes the photo right after it's taken and using the flash in concert with this feature means you can go back in and adjust the flash level after you've taken the photo the software lenses from previous generations are still here allowing you to add functions like document scanners barcode readers or fun filters and a shot-by-shot basis and if you don't want post-processing messing with your photo quality Microsoft still offers a full suite of manual controls with everything from ISO to exposure time to focus adjustable on the fly this phone is a pro photographers dream date that's not to say it doesn't struggle in more casual scenarios despite the optical stabilization our photos often featured a fair amount of motion blur especially in low-light now we don't have the steadiest hands around but even when we stabilize the phone against a tree it didn't always save us from a blurry shot and while photos appear rich and vibrant on the Lumia screen they sometimes seem a bit dead when viewed on other screens still it's an excellent camera we'll shut up for a second here and let you be the judge if you wanted more 4k video samples from that camera test well so did we but our Lumia 950 doesn't seem to like shooting 4k video it's buggy in other words so much so that we requested a replacement device from Microsoft halfway through our review process while the new unit is better it still hasn't fixed all the problems we ran into it the first one which included the notification shade failing to deploy even with repeated swipes the camera button only working in portrait mode possibly a feature but if so it's a dumb one outlook taking way too long to fetch and send email Windows Store downloads and updates frequently timing out for no reason the People Hub not reliably syncing with the Google Apps account Live Tiles getting stuck on the same image regardless of new updates and finally restarts boy howdy does this phone love to reboot with no warning all right look Windows 10 is new but this isn't a beta product and coming from Windows Phone 8 which was pretty rock-solid these stability issues are disappointing voice calls work as they should and they're plenty loud via the built-in earpiece aside from a few dropped frames here and there the graphically demanding asphalt 8 runs well as do less intensive titles the only game that really tripped the phone up was modern combat 5 but that was mostly in the cutscenes audio quality over the rear firing speaker is on the tinny side but quite loud and there's a dedicated equalizer featuring many custom options and virtual surround sound for earphone listening and finally the Lumia 950 is about average in terms of endurance it's unlikely to last more than a day of heavy use but its various recharging options make life easier the USB type-c charger is pretty zippy and the wireless charging ensures you'll be able to top-up on either your own charging plate or at your local Starbucks Microsoft told us it built the Lumia 950 for the Windows Phone fan it's an effort the company says to provide that audience with a phone they're proud to carry that's savvy positioning on the part of Microsoft because those fans are the only people to whom we can recommend the Lumia 950 Windows 10 mobile does an awful lot of cool stuff and does it with a sense of style that it's iOS and Android competitors lack we're longtime Windows Phone fans at PocketNow and we're pretty excited by the potential this device embodies some of us are even considering buying one but outside the windows found fan circle the Lumia 950 does very little to earn its $600 price tag it struggles with the very fundamentals of the smartphone experience like shooting video and checking email it struggles with the same app gap problems that have plagued its predecessors for the past five years and it seems to have been designed to blend in not to stand out as the Windows 10 ecosystem grows we may eventually see the day where a Windows powered smartphone has a place in pockets other than Microsoft's devoted following but today is not that day the Lumia 950 is a smart phone for the fans and it's a pretty good one all others for now need not apply we've got so much more detail including a full continuum right up in our complete Lumia 950 review at pocket now folks check it out at the link in the description and be sure to let us know what you think of Microsoft's latest hit us up on social media at pocket now till next time this has been michael fisher captain to phones on twitter thanks for watching we'll see you next time