Aside from the Lumia 950 XL, Microsoft also launched its smaller sibling, the Lumia 950, in the Philippines yesterday. Both are Lumia flagships leading the Windows 10 revolution in mobile.
The Lumia 950 is a candybar smartphone with 5.2″ AMOLED display with a resolution 2560 x 1440 pixels or simply QHD. That results to an extremely sharp 564ppi quality. The ClearBlack technology is also onboard, thus further enriching the already pleasing AMOLED panel. If you’re already a user of Windows Phone 8, you’d know that the OS benefits well with deep blacks due to the UX of the platform.
The right side of the device houses the physical buttons of the smartphone — the volume rocker and the power/lock button. Flipping to the back will reveal the 20-megapixel PureView camera with Zeiss optics. Nokia’s imaging prowess has been turned over well with Microsoft and the imaging department should be really good. There’s also a triple-LED flash to illuminate or correct the lighting of the scene.
Running the show here is a Snapdragon 808 hexa-core chipset plus 3GB of RAM. While it may not have the liquid-cooling feature of the 950 XL, heating issues shouldn’t pose a threat with the chipset. Also, the polycarbonate body of the device would help in keeping the 950 cool on hand. Speaking of the body, polycarbonate shells for a flagship is really not the thing nowadays. OEMs have been shifting to premium aluminum or a fashionable leather option, although Microsoft did a good job in giving the smartphone a premium feel on hand despite the lack of the cold touch.
Microsoft Lumia 950 specifications:
5.2-inch QHD ClearBlack AMOLED (2560 x 1440 pixels) display, 564ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 3
1.82GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 hexa-core CPU
Adreno 418 GPU
3GB RAM
32GB internal storage
up to 200GB via microSD
20MP PureView Camera w/ Carl Zeiss optics, triple LED flash
5MP front camera
Dual-SIM (Nano-SIM)
4G LTE, 3G HSPA+
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 4.1, A2DP
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS
NFC
FM Radio
USB Type-C
3,000mAh battery
Windows 10
145 x 73.2 x 8.2 mm
150 g
Overall, the Lumia 950 looks to be a worthy smaller flagship together with the 950 XL based on our first encounter. The Php 28,990 price tag is also a decent introductory price for the smartphone. Like the bigger Lumia, the 950 can also be used with the Microsoft Display Dock to enable the Continuum feature and use the device as a desktop-like productivity computer. The Display Dock will be available for purchase for Php 3,330 with availability on December 14th together with the two recently launched Windows 10 smartphones.
Inquired at Microsoft Megamall yesterday for its availability but I was told that Philippine release would be on January 2016. Meaning Microsoft has launched the units and release date but news dissemination is still not there, no hype nor support from local Microsoft units. Even the preorder, no acknowledgement on its mail order receipt nor news when it will be released, prior to public selling :( Attention: Microsoft Philippines
Microsoft is already on its rise but their Philippine division needs a lot of improvement since they are in a state of neglect.
They chose a bad support partner (Aikontech / WSI Phonecare).
They can’t sell Xbox and Surface despite there is a demand.
They don’t have a common email for everyone to suggest or complain.
Buying official accessories takes a hassle. You’ll need to request for a job order and wait for weeks to get the item and it is overpriced.
They really need quick restructuring, ASAP.