• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Windows Phone 8.1 |OT| Update 1

A

AnkitT

Member
Its confounding to me that they still havent added a 3g only option for non LTE phones. Or rather removed it after adding it in an earlier build. Given that 90% of the networking feedback section is filled with requests to add this option, and it has been one of the most requested "features" since WP7, its kinda fucked up that they haven't even gestured towards it.

Anyway, the rest of the OS seems to be coming along well, but there are so many little things which make me want to switch back to android. Like the fact that most apps do not keep their state after locking and unlocking the lock screen. Or that there are no twitter apps which reliably cache tweets in the background so that there are no gaps in the timeline. Or that windows maps has wildly inaccurate listings for my local points of interest, when they show up mostly correctly when searching through cortana. Or that the uber app no longer seems to fetch points of interests when searching in it, but only shows street names. And so on and so on. I mean, I get the whole "soon" rhetoric, but i'm back to wondering how long it will take for this shit to become usable for me rather than being a hindrance, same as I was at the end of WP7.

Sorry, just needed to get it out of my system.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
hadareud said:
Why?

Agree with the rest.
Click to expand...

A combination of:

-buggy software (looking at what's happening with SP4 and surface book, I expect random battery drains from time to time)
-Edge browser (seems like it's comparable to Chrome on android in terms of sucking juice)
-anecdotal from that dude on reddit who said battery drained quickly but the phone charged really quickly
 
H

hadareud

The Translator
Battery life has improved quite a bit in recent builds, particularly in use and with Edge. Background usage is still a bit shitty, but I'd expect that not to be too much of an issue with the larger battery.

I hope you're wrong, but sadly I also wouldn't be too shocked if you weren't.
 
H

hadareud

The Translator
Has it?

Because I haven't read many posts predicting the triumphant return of Windows Phone lately. Or ever.

If it's Crackberry to suggest that things are not quite as incredibly shite as discussed in this very thread, I'm the Crackberry King.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
Petri.com/Brad Sams: Limua 950 review
https://www.petri.com/review-microsofts-lumia-950-future-past

On Continuum:

Not all apps work in this mode, if it is not a true Universal app, it will not open. For example, the Twitter phone app will not open nor are any of the bundled AT&T apps that ship with the phone. Oddly, the Xbox app would not open either but all of the Office apps and the Edge browser opened and functioned without any fuss. Also, the phone cannot run Win32 apps.

Thurrott: Lumia 950 hands-on
https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/windows-phone/62463/microsoft-lumia-950-first-impressions

This shit sucks review:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/20/9767266/microsoft-lumia-950-review-windows-10-continuum

1srS2NL.png


I'm Michael Fisher with Pocket Now and I'm here to give you a quick look of the Lumia 950 (you read that in Michael Fisher's voice)
http://pocketnow.com/2015/11/20/lumia-950-continuum-first-impressions-video

hadareud said:
Has it?

Because I haven't read many posts predicting the triumphant return of Windows Phone lately. Or ever.

If it's Crackberry to suggest that things are not quite as incredibly shite as discussed in this very thread, I'm the Crackberry King.
Click to expand...

You'll always be my king.
 
O

Opus Angelorum

Member
brotkasten said:
Petri.com/Brad Sams: Limua 950 review
https://www.petri.com/review-microsofts-lumia-950-future-past
Click to expand...

The back of the phone has a 20 MP camera sensor and to keep it simple, it works. It’s nothing magical, but it does shoot well in most lighting conditions with a fast shutter response time. Taking photos is quite easy and an effortless experience.
Click to expand...

:/

brotkasten said:
This shit sucks review:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/20/9767266/microsoft-lumia-950-review-windows-10-continuum
Click to expand...

If you’ve been holding out hope that Microsoft’s new phone would cast away the shackles that held back its earlier phones, you’re going to be disappointed by the Lumia 950 (and by extension, the 950 XL). The rest of us, well, we’ll be happy Microsoft customers managing our email with Outlook for iPhone.
Click to expand...

That sums up The Verge review nicely.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
Opus Angelorum said:
:/
Click to expand...

Paul is more positive on it.

Short version: It’s excellent, and on par with my iPhone 6S Plus for most common, everyday shots. But where the Lumia 950 really excels is in low-light situations, which I’ve been able to test outdoors and in the dimly-lit pubs of Manchester, England this week at night.

Of course, the devil is in the details, so I’ll have a complete camera test—pitting this phone against the iPhone 6S Plus, Lumia 930, and Lumia 1020—ahead of my full review. For now, I can say that Lumia aficionados will be very pleased, and not just that there’s a dedicated camera button.

hadareud said:
heh, cheap materials and too expensive "for what it is".

edit: Warren didn't write it btw.
Click to expand...

I saw that and corrected my post accordingly.

e: Bonus

MyFE8Cf.png


Picture in the tweet

QIbSBrc.jpg
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
Can I officially say "called it" or too soon? Shoot, I could've written those reviews never even having held the phone. MS has nobody to blame but themselves, we can't even blame the reviewers or claim bias. These phones are not what they should be in hardware/software and not what they have been in the past. The 930 should've gotten better reviews, the 950 is getting exactly what it deserves.
 
H

hadareud

The Translator
Good video review on Wcentral.

Disappointed with the plastic reviews. Might have to go for one of those Mozo cases, I hope they aren't too bulky.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
The camera on the 950 is actually not reviewing as well as I thought it would. Seems like it's definitely a top tier camera, but simply being on par is not something we are used to with Lumia flagship phones.

otoh, the battery life seems to be reviewing better than I predicted, so that's cool. I expect the 950xl will have incredible batter life.
 
H

hadareud

The Translator
I'd like to see some people that know what they are talking about review the camera, because the reviews I've seen so far are all done by ignorants (to put it kindly). No detail, no comparison, fuck all. Just "it works well but the other cameras work well too".

Sorry, but you might as well leave the camera completely out of the review if that's the extent of detail you're going to go into.
 
N

nubbe

Member
950 seem like a worthwhile upgrade from my 1020 and Continuum is the future of the mobile office in the pocket

But the lack of Pokemon Go is probably going to be a deal breaker
 
H

hadareud

The Translator
I guess the positives from the reviews are:

- good battery life
- OS not anywhere near as buggy as feared
- camera looks to be what we expected

There's 2 negatives, the design and material and the lack of apps.

All in all pretty much what we expected (though I didn't expect people to complain about the quality of the plastic itself, usually Nokia plastic has been really good). Also a bit concerned about the less than enthusiastic Hello reaction.

Other than that, it was never going to be a device for the masses (ie people that aren't upgrading from WP) and I also have to say that some of the negativity applies to pretty much every high-end phone that's recently been released. I think it is fair to say that we are reaching a point of diminishing returns where the ecosystem is far more important than the hardware itself.

For me personally it's going to be massive upgrade coming from the 1020, overall it's a case of too little too late, I suppose. There's no goodwill towards the platform so the negative points were always going to be amplified. To be fair, there's also no reason for there to be any goodwill.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
Yeah, you're right, the hardware is less important. Heck, the 950 is very close spec wise to the G4, which was released in the Spring. Screen and processors are essentially the same, and both have great cameras, removable backs, expandable memory, and replaceable battery. The difference is the OS. And of course you can get a G4 for less.
 
H

hadareud

The Translator
VanMardigan said:
Yeah, you're right, the hardware is less important. Heck, the 950 is very close spec wise to the G4, which was released in the Spring. Screen and processors are essentially the same, and both have great cameras, removable backs, expandable memory, and replaceable battery. The difference is the OS. And of course you can get a G4 for less.
Click to expand...

Yep.

The best Microsoft and those of us that want to keep using the phone platform can hope for is that the universal app uptake is decent on W10 and that the next generation flagship phones will therefore be a more viable platform to switch to from Android and iOS. The app gap will never, ever, be closed, but I don't think it's out of the question that we'll see more of the most important apps having decent Windows versions because of the uptake on desktop.

I think there's a few encouraging signs at the moment, but then again, this could be extremely short-lived if people don't actually use the apps on their PCs.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
hadareud said:
Yep.

The best Microsoft and those of us that want to keep using the phone platform can hope for is that the universal app uptake is decent on W10 and that the next generation flagship phones will therefore be a more viable platform to switch to from Android and iOS. The app gap will never, ever, be closed, but I don't think it's out of the question that we'll see more of the most important apps having decent Windows versions because of the uptake on desktop.

I think there's a few encouraging signs at the moment, but then again, this could be extremely short-lived if people don't actually use the apps on their PCs.
Click to expand...

Are there any indications about Universal Windows Apps being a thing? Any big service providers announcing support for the app model? I'm genuinely asking. I've heard FitBit is doing an app that's also coming to Xbox One. That's really cool stuff. Anyone else?
 
H

hwalker84

Member
brotkasten said:
Are there any indications about Universal Windows Apps being a thing? Any big service providers announcing support for the app model? I'm genuinely asking. I've heard FitBit is doing an app that's also coming to Xbox One. That's really cool stuff. Anyone else?
Click to expand...
Nope and Microsoft is completely silent.
 
H

hadareud

The Translator
Yeah those are the ones.

That's not a bad list and I think there's a few more, too. Sky Go, Instagram etc. are a big deal.

Twitter, too btw.
 
H

hadareud

The Translator
I don't think there's many things that I find more annoying than fanboys moaning about reviews, but I do find it pretty funny that every review is raving about the phones display and that the Verge gives it a 7.
 
NeOak

NeOak

Member
brotkasten said:
I know that, but what exactly is wrong with it? I genuinely like Android on my Nexus 5 and outside of few quirks, I can't think of anything that makes me hate it.



This thread turned into the Windows Phone equivalent of Crackberry a long time ago.
Click to expand...
Just not used to it at all, so the experience was a bit jarring.

I miss Glance a lot though.

And it sucks that the 950s are all plastic. They should have been like the 930 or 1520.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
For the most part, it's the same developers who have always supported the platform that are doing universal apps. Massive respect for those companies, I always appreciated them on wp 8.1, but we need to see new apps, from devs who have not previously supported the platform.
 
S

Steelyuhas

Member
To be fair, I've personally been impressed with the universal apps that have come out. Big step up from the 8.x app environment, especially on stuff designed for Win 10 desktop (baconit is great).

That said, it's not exactly like we're seeing tons of stuff roll in from new developers, mostly devs that already supported the platform. The early returns on quality apps suggests that the platform is there to make great universal apps, but it's obviously a massive if on getting devs on board.


--------

Twitter needs to finish/push the mobile front end on their app. Win 10 app is good, and has gotten frequent feature parity updates with other platforms.
 
P

Poindexter

Member
So is it only the 950 XL that gets the free continuum dock? Even on the MS store it only shows that note under the XL, not under the 950 even though some sites say its both.
 
T

this_guy

Member
hadareud said:
Sky and Facebook/Instagram are new.
Click to expand...

But users aren't going to switch from Android/iOs because Windows has Facebook/Instagram. Those are to be expected. I'm hoping more news will come out of the iOS porting tools, but it's suspiciously quiet. I enjoyed my time using the Nokia 920, 925, and HTC 8x.
 
P

Paganmoon

Member
Poindexter said:
So is it only the 950 XL that gets the free continuum dock? Even on the MS store it only shows that note under the XL, not under the 950 even though some sites say its both.
Click to expand...
From some pages back, seems only some countries (namely Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland) have had Microsoft officially saying 950 gets the dock as well.


Paganmoon said:
Crossposting here so no one misses it:
Paganmoon said:
Microsoft Sweden has this on their homepage:

http://www.microsoft.com/sv-se/mobile/microsoft-display-dock-offer/ claiming 950, 950 XL and 950 Dual-sim

Further more, the offer on the SE site states that this is no matter where you purchase it (not only from the MS store). Or at least, it's got 7 retailers listed on their site.

Though Microsoft UK has the following:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/mobile/microsoft-display-dock-offer/ Stating only the 950 XL


Would be strange if only Sweden got the offer for 950, but who knows, maybe we're no longer Tier 3!
Click to expand...


Edit: after trying a few different locales:
Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland all seem to state 950, 950 XL and 950 Dual-sim,

Germany, UK, Poland sites states only 950XL

Italy, Spain, Netherlands, France, Austria, Ireland - Page cannot be found (maybe different link there, or offer not available at all?)
Click to expand...

Really not sure how they'll manage it, if it's only Nordic countries that get the dock with 950, same packaging for all of Europe afaik, right, not like we're getting a different phone with different pre-installed apps on it here in Sweden, unless it's somehow tied to location, if it shows or not.

Curious to see what Euros see when they get their phones (Sweden gets it on the 3rd of December)
 
juliushandle

juliushandle

Member
i held the XL when it was on display at the Microsoft store and while the plastic did remind me more of the 635/640 than the 920/1020, the phone felt feather light for such a large screen phone. the ability to swap cases for something more premium is also a big plus.

however, these premium phones from Microsoft are more in line with something in between the Moto Pure and the iPhones; Microsoft should have priced them accordingly. about $100 less then their current prices. a few friends of mine who were excited about Windows 10 were waiting on these new phones but ultimately went with the LG V10 due to incentives and the same $149 on contract pricing as the 950 from ATT.

hopefully, Microsoft can relaunch the XL with a carrier and price it right.
 
P

Poindexter

Member
Paganmoon said:
From some pages back, seems only some countries (namely Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland) have had Microsoft officially saying 950 gets the dock as well.




Really not sure how they'll manage it, if it's only Nordic countries that get the dock with 950, same packaging for all of Europe afaik, right, not like we're getting a different phone with different pre-installed apps on it here in Sweden, unless it's somehow tied to location, if it shows or not.

Curious to see what Euros see when they get their phones (Sweden gets it on the 3rd of December)
Click to expand...
Hmm. I wish they would be clear on this. Hopefully someone in the US that gets the 950 can fill me in. Thanks.
 
H

hadareud

The Translator
this_guy said:
But users aren't going to switch from Android/iOs because Windows has Facebook/Instagram. Those are to be expected. I'm hoping more news will come out of the iOS porting tools, but it's suspiciously quiet. I enjoyed my time using the Nokia 920, 925, and HTC 8x.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I didn't say they would. Much, much more is needed.
 
N

Nero3000

Member
hadareud said:
I don't think there's many things that I find more annoying than fanboys moaning about reviews, but I do find it pretty funny that every review is raving about the phones display and that the Verge gives it a 7.
Click to expand...

Verge said the display was washed out. The oled display on the 950. Oled. Washed out.

Meh.
 
A

Anton Sugar

Member
Restoring my 830 backup to my 950 right now. Screen is beautiful. Feels...not cheap, but definitely light, which isn't bad. Barely noticed that I was using software buttons, FWIW (so far).

Lemme know if y'all have any questions.

EDIT: ^ lol fucking Verge.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Windows 11’s new gamepad keyboard lets you type with an Xbox controller
4
499
Magic Carpet replied
Microsoft rolls out Windows 24H2 update
2 3
124
8K
rodrigolfp replied
Microsoft Build will detail ‘next generation’ of Windows on Arm and new AI features
2 3
100
8K
StereoVsn replied
[The Verge] Microsoft is now in a handheld gaming PC race
2
79
6K
MisterXDTV replied
Controversial Windows PC Feature "Recall" Being Delayed
14
1K
Neon Xenon replied
Top Bottom