Microsoft UK have been kind enough to lend me a Lumia 950 and the Continuum dock for ten days.
This isn't a full review, but I'll note down all of my thoughts, which should be helpful to prospective buyers.
I've owned several Lumia phones over the years, and a year ago I decided to ditch Android and tie myself in to the Microsoft ecosystem for good.
Last year, I used the Lumia 535, 635 and 640 - All of which are relatively cheap, decent Lumia phones.
Let's get one thing straight right from the start: Lumia phones are all very nippy, don't suffer from lag, solid and (for a smartphone) relatively simple to use. You never need to close apps, hunt for too many settings or install task management apps to get your battery to last all day (unlike Android). You can leave WiFi on when you leave the house and your battery will be fine. Connecting to public WiFi networks is automatic and requires no user input.
First impressions of the Lumia 950
It's got a very crisp screen! It's a real standout feature, after using the low end Lumias.
It's plastic.
There's no way of avoiding this issue - The handset is plastic and doesn't look like you've paid £500 for it. In fact, you'll be hard pressed to say if it's any different to the £100 Lumia 640, apart from the metallic buttons on the side of the phone.
It has a dedicated camera button.
Too many phones are missing this feature - A feature which was standard on Windows Phones until Microsoft took over. A dedicated quick launch camera/shutter button is a great idea, but given that you have to pay a premium for one, why not just include them on the cheaper handsets?
It has a USB C connector - Which means that all of your standard USB connecting devices are now obsolete. Again.
Thanks to the mobile industry, we have yet another "standard" charging option forced upon us five years after they told us that all phones would be expected to use the same USB chargers to minimise electronic waste.
Cheers for that.
And that's it.
The Lumia 950 is an unremarkable phone.
The Continuum "Dock"
This is a great accessory, which if I had the spare cash I would certainly buy.
I'm not sure what it's purpose is, though: It is basically a micro desktop PC. You plug your Lumia 950 into it, connect it to your TV and use the wireless keyboard and mouse and you have a fully fledged Windows 10 PC!
The first problem with this is that it's not powerful, so it'll never replace a desktop PC - but for many users this is unnecessary. The Continuum kit is great, if you have a spare bit of space, and if I was considering getting a new laptop or desktop PC for use at home for general PC work, this would be brilliant.
The drawbacks of the Continuum dock:
There are lots of cables - Ok, the keyboard and mouse are wireless, but your Lumia 950 needs to be plugged in to the box, which needs a power supply, and it needs to be connected to your TV.
It's a messy affair, with more wires than you would expect - And it's hardly portable, unless Microsoft are going to sell a carry case for the whole lot.
The keyboard is awful. It folds in half, making you think that Microsoft actually believe that the Continuum kit is portable. The keyboard is just plain awful to use, and you'll soon be forking out extra cash for an alternative, mechanical keyboard soon after purchase.
Continuum doesn't really serve a purpose. It's a great idea, but it's more like an accessory for the Lumia 950.
The good:
The mouse is pretty great, and as a PC I can't fault Continuum for everyday tasks.
However; The Continuum pack needs to be able to be used with every Lumia phone. There's no way that it's worth buying the Lumia 950 just to be able to use the Continuum dock.
Microsoft are really missing a trick here. Get Continuum to work with any Lumia phone and it'll sell in bucketloads. As an accessory to the 950? I'm afraid that it doesn't cut it.
Back to the Lumia 950
It's fast, responsive and doesn't lag, but then neither do any of the other Windows 8.1 and above smartphones.
The camera is excellent, as is the screen. However, I'm very happy with my own Lumia 640, so I'm unwilling to pay another £400+ for a better camera and screen.
Windows 10 Mobile is very good. The Edge browser actually allows you to view and use most websites (Windows 8.1 doesn't).
The settings menu is still a bit of a jumble, and there are now settings tucked away inside other settings (much like Android 5.1). The settings search facility is pointless in this regard.
The new Action Centre is a bit of an Android 5.1 ripoff: It now needs an extra swipe and/or tap to be able to access a setting or check something, which is not a welcome change. I ditched Android last year because the OS needed additional swipes and taps to perform the same functions as it did in Android 4.4
Windows 10 Mobile is perfectly acceptable - and I'm glad to see that it's heading to most Lumia handsets very soon - Which of course makes buying a Windows 10 Mobile handset a bit pointless at the moment.
The apps are the same disastrous affair on Windows 10 Mobile.
For years, I've not cared too much that Windows Phone apps are years behind their Android and iOS counterparts.
However, I recently had to use my "trusty" Lumia 640 as a satnav, using its offline maps to navigate. Once again, Lumia let me down (HERE Maps froze on me) and directed me through the centre of Basingstoke. Luckily, I know the area and found a different route, only for HERE Maps to freeze again.
HERE Maps froze/crashed on me no less than six times that day - and it's a regular occurence on all Lumia phones. I've been (almost) willing to put up with this for a year now, but on testing the Lumia 950 in the same situations I've found that it's just as bad.
Windows 10 Mobile feels a lot like Android 5.1, with it's pull down and swipe/tap Action Centre, so apart from the Metro interface, there's not a lot between the two operating systems.
I have, at least temporarily gone back to Android, as Google Maps works, where the various Lumia mapping/navigation apps don't.
I have to say that the transition between the two operating systems has been easy. Maybe Windows Phone is taking too many tips from Android Lollipop?
What I'm missing most at the moment is easy call and text barring on Android (too many sub menus), and setting custom message tones isn't possible.
I also miss the battery life of the Lumia phones. Android lasts about 12 hours with moderate use, whereas Windows Phone will go 16-17 hours with the same usage.
The Metro live tiles are clean, informative widgets. I don't want lots of Android homescreens filled with widgets just to see basic information (number of unread messages, for example).
And of course there is the general nippiness of Windows Phone compared to Android.
But, for now, I am back on Android. My Lumia 950 trial could have convinced me to stick with the OS, but it hasn't.
I love the basics of Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile, but I need reliability and apps that actually work.
Sorry Microsoft: You could have had something great if you had let Nokia sell your phones cheaply when Android could barely be used as a phone, but now you are playing catch up to operating systems that are now quite reliable.
Windows 10 Mobile works, but not quite well enough. It's getting on a par with Android, but the apps really let the whole OS down as the core apps don't work well enough and are very rarely updated.
Some Windows advocates are crying out for a Surface Phone, but that's going to be a pricey handset and let's face it, it'll still be hobbled by the app situation.
The Lumia 950 is a good phone, but there is no way that it's worth paying five times the price of the perfectly adequate Lumia 640. The Continuum dock is a nice accessory, but it's a bit of a gimmick.
