On video: Microsoft Lumia 950/950XL kick off Windows 10 Mobile OS phone ecosystem

Microsoft has finally announced its Windows 10 Mobile OS sporting phones - the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL at an event in Mumbai on 30 November. With an invitation price of Rs 43,699 for the Lumia 950 and Rs 49,399 for the Lumia 950XL, Microsoft is certainly looking to address the high end market segment with these phones which the company says works like a PC.

Both these devices come in dual SIM variants and will go on sale starting 11 December via Amazon India, Reliance Digital stores and Microsoft Priority sellers. Users who pre-order the devices will get a Display Dock free, which is worth Rs 5,999, as long as stocks last. After the launch event we got to spend some time with both the devices. [caption id=“attachment_289556” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Microsoft Lumia 950XL[/caption] Microsoft has continued with its regular and XL variants for the same model, so with its latest Lumias you have the 5.2-inch Lumia 950 and 5.7-inch Lumia 950XL, both of which sport a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution. Thanks to this resolution, the display on the Lumia 950 looks quite sharp and it has a 564ppi pixel density. Both the phones come with an AMOLED display and while the 950XL comes with a Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection, the Lumia 950 has the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection. Colours appear vibrant and the text is crisp.

In terms of build quality, both the phones come with a polycarbonate back which is removable. The camera section for both the phones protrudes out slightly from the plane of the rear side. On the right hand side you have the power standby, volume rocker and camera shutter buttons. The 3.5mm audio jack is present on the top and the USB Type C charging port is present on the base. The phones feel sturdy and the battery is removable on both phones. [caption id=“attachment_289562” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Microsoft Lumia 950[/caption] Both the phones come with Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 Mobile operating system. While on the surface, the design looks quite similar to Windows Phone 8.1 OS, Microsoft has refined the user experience and has added a lot of software flourishes with Windows 10. The fact that Microsoft calls these Lumias, “Phones that work like your PC,” brings to the fore the real deal with these phones - Windows 10 operating system.  The Lumia 950/950XL come with features such as an improved version of Cortana, which can understand contextual commands; Continuum, which lets you connect your phone to a display and control it with a keyboard and mouse; Universal apps, which are apps that can work seamless across multiple device form factors running Windows 10 OS; Windows Hello which unlocks your phone by iris scanning for improved security and so on. The phones come with apps such as Windows Store, Microsoft Office Mobile, Outlook and so on. [caption id=“attachment_289558” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Microsoft Display Dock[/caption]  Using a Microsoft Display Dock, you can connect your Lumia devices to a display and using the keyboard and mouse connected to the Display Dock you can actually get work done as you would on your desktop. Microsoft showed a demo where the phone is capable of running two separate instances of Windows 10 on the phone and on the display. So in a way, Continuum isn’t like screen mirroring. Continuum is one feature that Microsoft is betting big on with its high end Lumia devices; as it cannot work with low-end Lumia devices. While observing the demo, the handover and scaling was quite seamless from the mobile display to the monitor. If the app is universal - it will change from a mobile app to a desktop app when being displayed on a monitor. We will need to use this feature extensively while reviewing to get a complete idea of its significance vis-a-vis going for a phone + laptop combination. Under the hood, you get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chipset for the Lumia 950XL and a Snapdragon 808 chipset for the Lumia 950. Both phones come with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. You also get the option to expand the storage using a microSD card. Both the phones come with a dual nano SIM configuration and while the Lumia 950XL has a 3340mAh battery, the Lumia 950 has a 3000mAh battery.  If there is one feature that high end Lumia phones are known for, then it has to be the cameras. Both the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL come with a high end 20MP rear camera which is complemented by a 5MP front-facing camera. Both the cameras come with a fast f/1.9 aperture and have Carl Zeiss optics. In order to ensure that colours are balanced when flash is used, Microsoft has added in a triple LED flash unit. Using it in the demo room to shoot outdoor images resulted in good looking images, but we still need to use it thoroughly in real life situations to give a quantifiable verdict on the image quality. The cameras come with optical image stabilisation. As is the case with most flagship phone cameras these days, the Lumia 950/950XL cameras can shoot 4K videos as well. In terms of connectivity apart from the USB Type C port at the base and dual SIM configuration, you have Wi-fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS, NFC, FM radio. Conclusion The Microsoft Lumia 950 is priced at Rs 43,699 and the Lumia 950XL is priced at Rs 49,399. At these price points, these Windows 10 Mobile OS sporting phones are clearly in competition with the flagship competition from the Android and iOS counterparts. The biggest draw so far of the Lumia 950/950XL seems to be the Continuum feature, which Microsoft spent a lot of time highlighting at the event. With a Display Dock, you can switch from a mobile phone display to a larger screen display which also lets you use your keyboard and mouse to interface with Universal applications. But the question remains how soon developers invest in making their apps Universal - as that will give these apps the opportunity to work across platforms running Windows 10 operating system. When compared to Android and iOS app ecosystem, the Windows Store has a lot of catching up to do. While on paper Continuum seems like an interesting feature, we will have test it out to see how it affects day-to-day computing use cases. The biggest question we are seeking an answer to is - will having a Lumia 950/950XL along with a Display Dock replace carrying the regular mobile phone and laptop - which is what most of professionals do these days. We will only be able to answer that after testing the Lumia 950/950XL. As a standalone phone, Microsoft Lumia 950/950XL have all the hallmarks of being flagship devices. In fact, Microsoft has also taken care to incorporate liquid cooling mechanism on the Lumia 950XL to prevent the Snapdragon 810 from overheating. The rear camera on the phones does seem good. But whether it is sensible to spend Rs 43,699 for the Lumia 950 or Rs 49,399 on the Lumia 950XL can only be answered after we have spent sufficient time reviewing these devices. So do check back for a detailed review of the phones.