My Confession - I am a Windows
Mobile Fan
As a long time fan of Windows Mobile, a vanishing breed we are too, my
aim has always been to own and use a Lumia 950 XL. Despite reservations about
its plastic design and Microsoft's bewildering but apparent aim to be number 3 (or
4!) in the mobile phone world its renowned camera persuaded me finally, having
saved up to pay its now mid-ranged phone price, to buy it.
Owner of
a Lonely Heart Lumia 640 XL
I am the owner of a Lumia 640 XL and have always liked it. Moving up to
the 950 XL (and that's dual sim, by the way) should have brought a top-of-the-tree experience but it didn't and these few words which will be unread by the
99.9999% recurring of the world's population who are not phone geeks will, I
hope, explain why.
The best
camera on any mobile phone anywhere, that on the 950 XL
Firstly, let me deal with that
camera. The camera on the 950 XL is superlative. The few shots I took showed
off its wonderful colour-rendering and sharpness and at the time I took them
the thought of returning this phone to the shop never occurred to me.
Windows
10
It was Windows 10 and the deadly experience of Groove Music dying and
I mean dying and crashing to an unrecoverable nothing that finally swayed me.
The Windows 10 Interface
Where to begin?
I'll try the beginning.
I'll try the beginning.
The interface on Windows 10 is a good OK. The user interface on the
Lumia 640 XL running Windows 8.1 is superbly and showily lovely with big chunky
bold text on the lock screen which looks better than the weedy lock screen text
on the 950 XL. It's a personal preference thing and I haven't even got the
English to explain why 8.1 looks better so I'll leave it at that.
Funny ol'
weather we've been 'aving
Where to next? Well, the native weather app on Windows 10 just isn't as
good as that on Windows 8.1 with its gorgeously designed graphics. The format
is just better on 8.1. The 10 native weather app is not bad but I was rather
hoping for better than 'not bad'.
Health
and Fitness
Microsoft Health and Fitness is still working, albeit in unsupported form, with all its little graphs and nonsense on 8.1 but has been cruelly put to death in
Windows 10. Hmmm.
And now for
something (a bit more important and) completely different - Blocking
"Private" Numbers
Some Lumia phones enjoy the Nokia Lumia legacy feature of blocking calls
if the caller has withheld his/her number. This is a great, great, great,
really great feature. All the plonkers and irritants who ring you without wanting
to reveal their number can ring away to their heart's content. There's even a
little switch for you to turn off the notifications that you've had a
withheld-number call if you want.
Withheld number callers get all the rich oblivion
they truly deserve.
And what is
Microsoft's attitude to this truly useful feature?
Ahhh. Dat ain't fair. ALL WINDOWS PHONES no matter who their
manufacturer is should have this legacy blocking withheld number callers "Lumia"
feature so... in Windows 10 we'll take the Private Number Blocking feature
away for everyone so no one has it any more.
I am not joking.
In Windows 10 Mobile you cannot block 'number withheld'
calls. You have the same lack of capability I understand exists in iOS and Android.
Oh, Microsoft why did you do that? Please. Why?
I have the feeling that it isn't a licensing thing, in case you're
thinking that. I have the feeling it's the hardware manufacturer-neutral
posturing MS is determined to adopt
these days whatever the ruddy cost.
However, I could have lived with this useful feature being removed in Windows
10. Annoying but I could have lived with the loss then about 2 days after I
bought the phone came the killer crash.
The
Killer Crash
Before I describe what happened let me quote the words of a MS EMPLOYEE
working in support (please note not a MVP or anything like that) who was kind
enough to reply to my request for help after it happened,
"....This is an absurd bug, and we never should have shipped
it."
What was "shipped" was an update
to Groove Music that killed the app stone dead. No replay of mp3's. Nothing.
Not a sausage. Pas du tout. The work-round that is current (and just posted at time
of writing) is to hard reset your Windows
10 phone. Yup. Hard reset then
update your phone so in the process you re-download Groove Music with its update from the Store. It's that simple and if you have a spare couple of
hours to reinstall the OS then you're good to go.
I have no doubt that a more elegant solution will appear at some stage
but hey.
And next.
And next.
What have
they done to my maps, Ma?
In a commercial and understandable huff Nokia, currently flogging Here Drive to other
companies, removed it from Windows 10 and as a result MS have to ship the
unattractive if functional turn-by-turn utilitarian-looking app they came up
with, Here Drive's ugly sister, called, I believe, Maps. Here Drive though no longer updated on Windows
8.1 is beautiful on a Lumia 640 XL;
just stunning looking and its loss is noticeable.
The Final Thing is NOT the Lumia 950 XL's Fault
The battery driving the more modestly pixelled screen on the Lumia 640 XL spoils you for all other phones and you can get an easy ride through the day no matter what you get up to on it. Even with all the updates the Lumia 950 XL's battery life is no better or worse than that on everyone else's phones.
The Final Thing is NOT the Lumia 950 XL's Fault
The battery driving the more modestly pixelled screen on the Lumia 640 XL spoils you for all other phones and you can get an easy ride through the day no matter what you get up to on it. Even with all the updates the Lumia 950 XL's battery life is no better or worse than that on everyone else's phones.
Living in the Past
Thanks for reading this far if you did.