Review of Microsoft Lumia XL: How does the Windows smartphone fare against iPhones and Samsung smartphones?

Microsoft aims at winning over Apple’s iPhones and the newest Samsung smartphones by pinning down its hopes on its latest flagship, the Lumia 950 XL. While Microsoft’s Windows operating system is hugely popular in the computer world, it is to be seen how the Windows smartphone, Lumia 950 XL, will fare among its rivals. Let us review the phone.

Design

Going by its looks, the exterior casing of the phone is made out of polycarbonate, which is susceptible to scratches if you drop the phone against a hard surface. As for the rest of body, the phone bears a minimalist design with a huge round camera mounted at the backside.

Camera

The rear camera in the phone is great for taking excellent shots in daylight. Packed with a 20MP rear shooter, the phone is capable of producing high quality photos with the finest details of colour in the day. However, the night photos taken by the camera are not so good.

Applications

While you can expect a good package of Microsoft Office and OneNote apps in the phone, some of the most popular apps cannot be downloaded in the device. For instance, Spotify is severely slow, Instagram is in beta and Facebook page manager is missing in the phone.

Battery life and performance

The phone is equipped with a Snapdragon 810 chipset, a 3GB RAM, a 3,340 mAH battery and is expected to perform brilliantly. Unfortunately, some apps are difficult to download quickly despite the fast-running processor. The 950 XL’s standby battery life is not so good either, reports South China Morning Post.

Plus feature

The biggest plus point of the Lumia 950 XL and the Lumia 950 is that the phones are now available with a free display dock that allows you to connect the devices to a larger screen via a Display Port. Thus, you can enjoy pictures which are on your phone on a full-fledged PC.

The Lumia 950 XL tucks in a pretty good array of features, but has some serious drawbacks that undermine the performance and look of the device. This puts the phone way behind the smart Android phones and reliable iPhones. Its 32GB model comes at a price tag of HK$5,988 (approx. AU$1104).