Hands On: Microsoft Lumia 950 XL, One of The First Windows 10 Flagship Smartphones

First announced at Microsoft’s grand Windows 10 event in New York few weeks ago, the Lumia 950 XL is one of the first smartphone to feature Windows 10 as its native operating system alongside Lumia 950 and Lumia 550. What made it special though is that the Lumia 950 XL is not only the largest device among these new phones but it is also the most premium Windows 10 smartphone at the moment.

Let’s start with some hardware specs: the Lumia 950 XL is built with a 5.7-inch AMOLED display that has a resolution of 2560 x 1440, pixel density of 518 ppi, and covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 4. Inside, its heart comes in the form of Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor clocked at a maximum speed of 2.0GHz and it is further supplemented by 3GB of RAM.

As for internal storage, the Lumia 950 XL comes with only one option though which is 32GB. Of course, users are free to expand it further through microSD card as the phone is able to support cards with storage of up to 200GB.

In terms of physical build, Microsoft retained the usage of high quality polycarbonate as per many other Lumia devices that were released into the market over the years. Despite being a high end device, the Lumia 950 XL’s design is much more straight forward and is way too subdued as compared to previous Lumia devices that usually have more rounded bodies.

Furthermore, the device is only available in black or white colorway which is unlike the old Lumia devices that were generally known to have bright color options. Lumia 950 XL also once again feature a sizeable PureView camera module on its back although thankfully, it is not as thick and protruding as the 41-megapixels module on Lumia 1020.

Speaking about Lumia 950 XL’s PureView camera, the module contains a 20-megapixels BSI sensor that is paired together with f/1.9 six elements lens from Zeiss as well as fifth-generation optical image stabilization and triple LED flash that correspond to the colors of ambient light. They work in hand with the phone’s image processing software that offers newly improved Rich Capture auto mode and Pro mode for users that prefer manual control.

The PureView rear camera on Lumia 950 XL is also able to capture 4K video at 30 fps with audio enhancements through Lumia Rich Recording technology and the phone’s four microphones. At the same time, there’s also a 5-megapixel wide-angle front-facing camera with f/2.4 lens which not only can be used for selfie but also supports Windows Hello which enables users to unlock their phone via biometric recognition.

Not to forget, the Lumia 950 XL also comes with removable 3,340 mAh battery that apparently able to deliver up to 25 hours of Wi-Fi internet browsing, 11 hours of 1080p video playback, 75 hours of 3G talk time and 300 hours of standby time. Users can choose to charge the device either through its USB-C fast charger that charges the battery from 10% to 50% in 30 minutes or through wireless charging.

Meanwhile, Lumia 950 XL is one of the three Windows 10 phones – together with Lumia 950 and Acer Liquid Jade Primo – so far that have been confirmed to come with Continuum for Phones which provide PC-like experience when connected to a bigger display. We’ve already discussed this feature in length right here but it is rather unfortunate that I’m not able to experience it myself since Microsoft Display Dock was not available at this particular Microsoft Store where I’ve tested this phone.

Since the unit that I’ve tried at this particular Microsoft Store in United States is still a prototype and running on Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview which essentially still a pre-release software, it is still too early to put a full verdict on the Lumia 950 XL. As far as first impression goes though, I was slightly underwhelmed by Lumia 950 XL’s physical design as it is not as exciting as compared to many of previous Lumia devices or even to other high end smartphones out there.

Nevertheless, the phone seems to have plenty of firepower in terms of performance and photography capability. Not to forget, Continuum for Phone could be another of its major selling point and Microsoft seems to be riding a lot of this particular feature to push Lumia 950 XL into the market. Given its price tag of USD 649 (about RM 2,792), the company need to play its cards right to convince users to get their hands on this new Windows 10 flagship smartphone.