With the release of Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, Microsoft has catapulted itself into a position where it can compete against the big boys of the mobile phone industry with consummate ease.
A two hour conference at New York saw Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella unveil the two glittering flagship mobiles from the company, much to the glee of the Lumia fans.
A combination of stellar hardware backed up by the goodness of the all new Windows 10 mobile OS, the latest flagships from Microsoft should provide a much needed boost to the otherwise dormant Windows phone scenario.
Features like superb screen and processor, boosted with software features like Continuum, Iris scanner, QHD displays, the hype surrounding the handsets has been well worth it.
Let us take a closer look at Microsoft's latest warriors.
Lumia 950
The relatively smaller of the two siblings, Lumia 950 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 hexacore processor, coupled with 3 GB RAM.
The screen is no slouch, and the 5.2-inch Corning Gorilla glass 3 screen is AMOLED variety, carrying a whopping 565 ppi pixel density, thanks to the 2560x1440p resolution. A battery of 3000 mAh brings the phone to life.
The Lumia 950 is priced at $549.
Lumia 950 XL
As the name depicts, the 'XL' variety has a larger 5.7-inch IPS LCD, which is made sturdier thanks to the Gorilla Glass 4 protection. Display again looks impressive, thanks to the 2560x1440p resolution screen.
Looking under the hood, the 950 XL boasts of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 Octa-core processor along with 3GB RAM again.
Expectedly so, the 950 XL is pricier at $649.
Apart from the 3 GB RAM, both the handsets carry few other similarities as well. Both the phones carry 20 MP cameras with triple LED flash, 32 GB of storage memory with microSD card support upto 2 TB. Both the handsets thrive on the all new win 10 mobile OS, carry an OLED screen, and of course the LTE and NFC capabilities. The quick charging capabilities boost their credentials as well.
But these are not the only advantages coming with the dynamic duo. The OS in itself is a feature packed offering.
Windows Hello
Seems like Microsoft is pretty cold to all the hullabaloo surrounding the fingerprint scanners. Instead of going the hot preferred way of incorporating a finger print scanner, Microsoft went with the Iris scanner for unlocking the device upon identifying the user.
Hopefully, the feature will prove its mettle during real time usage.
Continuum
No doubt that it is the Continuum feature which will excite the users more than anything in the latest operating software. The much talked about feature allows the Lumia 950 and the 950 XL to act as a desktop PC.
The user needs to make use of the official MS Display dock (priced at $99), helping the phone connect to an external monitor, a keyboard, a mouse. Once the drill is done, watch the flagship phones turn into a full fledged desktop, complete with a start menu.
This is made possible majorly by what MS calls as the Universal Windows Platform, comprising of Universal apps. These apps re-size themselves as according to the external monitor in use.
Microsoft seems to have brought forward its 'A Game' and this should help it score a home run with the help of Continuum.
Water Cooled Processor
The fiery Snapdragon 810 processor gets a cool treatment from Microsoft. Even though the company hasn't revealed all the details, but the 950 XL gets a water cooled system to keep the temperatures in check. This sort of cooling mechanism is a first in the mobile phone world.
QHD Displays
MS sure is pulling out all stops to make its latest mobile phones compete with the latest of its rivals. Both the Lumia 950 and 950 XL get the 1440x2560p treatment. A first in the MS line up of mobile phones.
Competitive Cameras
One other feature to look forward to with a Lumia phone is the pure view camera, and the Lumia 950 and 950 XL are no exception either. Both the new Lumias get 20 MP Pureview cameras at the rear along with a triple LED RGB flash to ensure that the captured content doesn't look washed out.
The Carl Zeiss lens setup allows the user to shoot 4K videos as well.
The front facing camera is a 5 MP affair.
USB Type C
The current darling of the mobile phone world makes its appearance on MS phones as well. The speeds and power of USB 3.1 with the goodness of reversible plug.
No more confusion and twirling of the connectors!
