It’s probably been a long time since a Microsoft smartphone has crossed your mind. The last time Microsoft had a high-end Windows smartphone in the US, it was nearly two years ago and the phone came wearing a Nokia logo and ran Windows Phone 8.
Now the company is releasing two new phones that it hopes will change all that. The new Lumia 950 (and its larger sibling, the 950XL) is going head on against the best Androids and iPhones with a modern processor, high-resolution screen, capable camera, and many other features found on popular smartphones. It’s also the first phone to run Windows 10, Microsoft’s answer to not only desktop platforms, but also mobile operating systems like Android and iOS.
Windows 10 is Microsoft’s latest Hail Mary for its mobile efforts — it’s the thing the company hopes will finally get developers to pay attention to its platform and enables some truly unique things that Apple’s and Google’s options don’t provide. The new Lumias aren’t likely to be massive sellers, but they are the messengers that carry the idea of Windows on a phone to the people. If Microsoft doesn’t succeed in getting people to understand why they might want that, the future of its phone business may well be in jeopardy.
Of course, whether or not anyone will care about Windows on a phone and those unique things it provides depends heavily on how well Microsoft executes them. After using the Lumia 950 this past week, I’m not convinced.
The Lumia 950’s hardware is clearly not the main story here, but since this is a review of a phone that you hold in your hand and use to do a lot of phone things, let’s talk about the hardware. The Lumia 950 is not an inspired phone — it’s bland, plasticky, and feels tacky. It lacks any defining design characteristics, making it a generic-looking rectangular slab. Worse, it’s virtually indistinguishable from the low-price Lumias Microsoft has been selling for the past couple of years in both feel and appearance1. At best, it looks like a reference design; at worst it just looks cheap. But the 950 isn’t cheap: at roughly $600 (and exclusive to AT&T here in the US), it’s more expensive than Google’s much nicer Nexus 6P and within spitting distance of Apple’s impeccable iPhone 6S. Up against those devices, the 950 is the clear odd one out.
Things are better on the spec sheet: the 950 has a modern processor (Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 808); lots of RAM (3GB); plenty of storage (32GB) along with a microSD slot if you want to expand it; a big battery (3,000mAh) that can be swapped; and wireless and quick charging features. The 5.2-inch display has lots of pixels (Quad HD resolution) and is plenty sharp, though it can look a bit washed out. All of this adds up to a well-performing device that gets me through an average day of use without any major performance issues.
PERFORMANCE AND BATTERY
The Lumia 950’s camera has a dense 20 megapixels of resolution and takes fine photos. They aren’t breathtaking, but there aren’t any glaring issues with them, either. Most people will be perfectly happy with the images captured by the 950, though it can be a bit slow to take a photo and display it, which left me frustrated on more than one occasion. The one thing that the 950’s camera isn’t is groundbreaking: unlike the Lumia phones of the past, there’s no breakthrough technology or jaw dropping features here that make its images better than what you can get with an iPhone or Samsung. That’s fine — again, the camera takes pictures that are perfectly acceptable — but it doesn’t make the 950 stand out in any way. Likewise, the 5-megapixel wide-angle front camera is fine for taking the occasional selfie, but like its rear counterpart, won’t blow anyone away.
So if the hardware isn’t interesting, it’s obvious that Microsoft’s success or failure rests entirely on the software. Windows 10 is the culmination of Microsoft’s years-long effort to bridge the gaps between smartphones, tablets, and PCs, and it lets the company run the same underlying code on a phone as it does on a $1,500 Surface Book.
But while Windows 10 might have the same code base on the Lumia 950 as it does everywhere else, the interface is tailored to the phone, and it really isn’t much different than Windows Phone 8.1. There are a few tweaks and minor interface changes (such as the hamburger-style menus popular in Android), but it’s far from a complete overhaul. The Live Tile grid is present, the alphabetical list of apps is still here, and the fun, but often tedious animations remain. If you didn’t like Windows Phone 8.1’s aesthetic, you’re probably not going to like Windows 10’s.
MICROSOFT ISN'T MAKING A COMPELLING PITCH FOR WINDOWS 10 ON A PHONE WITH THE LUMIA 950
Microsoft is certainly well aware of the challenges it faces getting traction with Windows 10 on phones, and based on the token attention given to the new phones at their announcement and the half-hearted attempt to make a competitive phone with the Lumia 950, it may very well see the writing on the wall already. That’s fine for Microsoft: it’s become overwhelmingly clear that the company run by Satya Nadella is largely concerned with getting people to use its services, and it doesn’t really care which mobile platform you use. Oftentimes, the best experience with Microsoft’s services is found on a competing platform.
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.