Microsoft Lumia 950 review

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.

Like Windows 10 on the desktop, Windows 10 on the phone still feels like a work in progress, and there’s an overall lack of polish that I don’t get from more mature mobile operating systems. Don’t get me wrong, it all “works,” but I get the feeling that everything’s going to fall apart as I use it. (It hasn’t, yet, but that’s still not a fun feeling to have.)

A lot of the Windows 10 things you might enjoy on the desktop are here, however. There’s Microsoft’s fun and personable virtual assistant Cortana, the new Edge browser, and mobile versions of Windows 10’s Mail and Calendar apps (though oddly, they are called Outlook on the phone, even though they are indeed the same apps). It’s meant to appeal to people that are big fans of Windows on a desktop and might want that exact same experience on their phone.

The Lumia 950 even has Windows 10’s new Hello feature, which lets me log into the phone by just looking at it, no PIN or password required. It’s cool, and definitely works, but it’s a bit slow and requires that I hold the phone awkwardly close to my face. I’m often faster at entering my PIN code than using Hello (and if the Lumia 950 had a fingerprint scanner, that’d be even faster yet).

What really sets the Lumia 950 and Windows 10 apart from the Androids and iPhones of the world is its Continuum feature, which is an attempt to turn your diminutive phone into a full-fledged PC. To do that, you need Microsoft’s $99 Display Dock (or a Miracast dongle), a mouse and keyboard (Bluetooth or USB), and an external display, such as a monitor or TV. Plug your phone into the dock, plug in or pair your peripherals, and plug in your display, and boom, all of your phone’s content is now on the big screen. And it’s not just a blown up version of your phone’s display: Continuum recognizes that the monitor has a different screen size and resolution from your phone and presents something like a desktop, complete with Start menu and Action Center. It really looks just like Windows 10 on a PC. You can use your phone as a trackpad if you don’t have a mouse handy, or you can use it completely independently of what you’re doing on the big screen. You could, for instance, play a movie on the big screen to entertain the kids and then go back to your phone to work on email.

Open an app in Continuum, such as Outlook Mail or the Edge Browser, and it will adjust itself to fit the larger screen. There’s no windowing here, but you can do basic multitasking and switch between apps with Alt-Tab. I enjoyed using it to blast through my inbox, compose Word documents, and even do some light web browsing. Most of the time it performs really well, though the web browser is where Continuum really shows its limits, as it’s now trying to load full desktop pages, complete with all of their ads and media, as opposed to mobile-optimized versions. Open up a couple of tabs and you’ll be in a world of hurt with slow scrolling, page reloads, and all of the other problems that were solved on the desktop years ago but are still very real on our mobile devices.

But the larger problem with Continuum is that it only works with a handful of apps, the vast majority of which are, unsurprisingly, made by Microsoft. Sure, it’s great for going through my email in Outlook or writing a document in Word, but I can’t put Slack on the big screen, seriously cramping my productivity. Nor can I blast Netflix up there when I want to sit back and watch Master of None for the thousandth time. Microsoft’s promise of Windows 10 was that it would enable “universal” apps that work across your phone and desktop, but that reality is still not here, and it’s the thing that keeps Continuum from fulfilling the dream of replacing your laptop with your phone.

I’m also not convinced that toting around all of the necessary accessories to make Continuum work is any better than just carrying around a small laptop, which is guaranteed to be far more powerful and capable. There might be some enterprises out there that see this as the perfect “thin client” solution, where a user only has to have a phone to get their work done, but the practical applications for the rest of us just aren’t here.

Continuum also magnifies Windows 10’s biggest issue, which is the same problem Microsoft has contended with for years. It won’t come as a surprise to anyone, but the platform still doesn’t have many of the apps that are hugely popular on Android and iOS. When I’m using the 950, I can’t manage my email with Gmail or Inbox, I can’t check in on my friend’s Snapchat accounts, I can’t pair any of the cool new smartwatches to it, and I can’t pay for my lunch with a tap of my phone. Worse yet, the apps that are here are woefully inferior to their iOS or Android counterparts. (I’m looking directly at you, Instagram and Twitter.) These might not be dealbreakers for someone that is buying a $150 smartphone, but the 950 is meant to be the best that Microsoft has to offer, and I guarantee these things will be problems for those looking for a high-end device.

In the mobile world, Microsoft is way behind Google and Apple, and has what many would say is an insurmountable deficit to make up. It could have pulled out all of the stops and produced a phone that was visually impactful, wildly innovative, and truly riveting compared to anything else to make up lost ground.

The Lumia 950 is, unfortunately, none of those things. Sure, Microsoft put some newer guts in it, and Windows 10 has some interesting features, but there’s nothing really here that would drive anyone but the most die hard Windows fan to buy it.

Microsoft also isn’t making a compelling pitch for why you’d want Windows 10 on a phone at all, whether it’s the Lumia 950 or some other future device. The unique features that set Windows 10 apart aren’t fully baked, and frankly, aren’t enough to make up for the deficiencies elsewhere. The best experiences available on the platform — the mail and calendar apps and Cortana — are also available on Android and iOS, giving you even less of a reason to consider a Windows 10 phone.

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.

Photography by Dan Seifert
Video by Mark Linsangan and Phil Esposito