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Microsoft Lumia 950XL Review

The Microsoft’s Lumia 950 XL is the face of the new Windows series and a reboot of the company’s smartphone business. Microsoft may have been slow in adopting new tendencies and features, but it made sure everything is done right with the Windows 10 Mobile premiere.
Key specifications

5.7″
1440×2560 pixels
20MP
2160p
2GHz
Snapdragon 810
3GB RAM
32GB memory
3300mAh
Li-Ion

And indeed the Lumia 950 XL lives up to all the promises and then some. The Lumia 950 XL is the most powerful Windows phone to date.
Design and build quality

The Microsoft Lumia 950 XL offers great build-quality and clean simplistic design, but the polycarbonate back doesn’t feel as premium as the phone’s price tag would suggest.

Weight: 165g
What’s this?

Thickness: 8.1 mm
What’s this?

The Lumia 950 XL may be big, but it’s not monstrously big. It can easily fit in most pockets because of its slim profile and rather lightweight construction. The build is excellent – the rear cover fits perfectly around the chassis and there are no squeaks or creaks.

Handling a phone made of matte plastic is always a pleasure and this choice of materials pretty much guarantees an excellent grip. Operating the Lumia 950 XL with just one hand, or taking pictures, is rather easy and you don’t feel the phone will slip any moment now – a rarity these days.
Microsoft Lumia 950XL time-saver review

The Lumia 950 XL back panel is removable and what’s more, the battery bellow it is removable as well, which allows you to carry a spare if a single battery charge is not enough.

Speaking of removable stuff, the Lumia 950 XL is among the few high-end phones to actually offer a microSD slot, so you can expand the built-in storage cheaply and easily.

The Lumia 950 XL has a USB Type-C connector – it’s the new reversible connector for USB that builds on top of USB 3.1. If you like to use USB OTG or USB Host, you should either get the Microsoft’s Display Dock or other compatible accessory or adapter. If none of those matter to you, it’s enough to know that the port provides speedier transfer speeds but none of your existing chargers will fit. In fact, we couldn’t get the Lumia 950 XL to work with any other USB Type-C cable or charger we had around, so we could guess they have some sort of a proprietary implementation. Not good, Microsoft, not good!

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Microsoft Lumia 550 Review

Introduction

It’s impossible to deny Microsoft’s influential position in the entry-level smartphone market over the last few years. The company has always managed to deliver compelling budget packages at hard-to-beat prices.

While success has never been a given for any low-end smartphone, Microsoft seems to have perfected the formula. A light and resource-efficient OS such as Windows Phone has certainly helped. Microsoft’s devices are typically capable of matching and beating the speed and performance of their Android peers with less processing power and RAM.

The Microsoft Lumia 550 however is the first budget smartphone to run Windows 10 – which marks a new stage in mobile software for the Redmond company and a step towards platform convergence. It’s too big a step though for the Microsoft Lumia 550 but even without the Continuum support, the phone isn’t without its merits.
Microsoft Lumia 550 review

To begin with, the 4.7″ screen has 720p resolution, which is quite a confidence booster at this price point. There’s LTE support as well and a 5MP main camera – a feature Microsoft carries from the previous generation. The exterior hasn’t radically changed and the polycarbonate case is simple and practical. While it may not be the best choice for the flagship Lumia 950, the plastic finish is perfectly fitting the budget Lumia 550.
Key features

Windows 10 Mobile
4.7″ 720p LCD display of 315ppi, Glance Screen
Snapdragon 210 chipset with quad-core 1.1GHz Cortex-A7 CPU and Adreno 304 GPU, 1GB of RAM
5MP auto-focus camera with f/2.4 aperture, LED flash, 720p video recording @ 30fps
2MP front-facing camera with 480p@30fps video recording
8GB of built-in storage; expandable via a microSD slot
Cat. 4 LTE (150/50Mbps); Wi-Fi a/b/g/n; Bluetooth 4.1; GPS/GLONASS/Beidou; FM radio;
Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
2,100mAh battery

Main disadvantages

Low performance chipset
No Windows Continuum support
The black polycarbonate is quite smudge-prone
The design might be growing old on some long-time Windows Phone users

On paper, Microsoft has done most of the things right. We’re not quite sure about the choice of the Snapdragon 210 chipset – perhaps the high-res screen ate into the budget available for the chipset. LTE support is there though and that must’ve been Microsoft’s main requirement. Let’s hope too that the chipset pays back in terms of better battery life too.

Additionally, we can’t help but notice the striking similarity between the Lumia 550 and last season’s Lumia 640. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. On the plus side, it’s nice that the Lumia 550 shares a lot with the flagship Lumia 950 pair in terms of looks, but the design is quite obviously getting long in the tooth.
Microsoft Lumia 550 review

There’s more to the Lumia 550 though than its looks. We’re excited to see what Windows 10 has in store for the entry-level smartphone space. Before that, let’s explore the hardware and what Microsoft changed about it. Or didn’t.

Resource from :http://www.gsmarena.com

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Microsoft Lumia 535 And 535 Dual SIM Review

Introduction

It’s a Lumia like the rest of them. A new youth player promoted to the first team, which will have no trouble blending in. It’s just a different name on the familiar kit. Microsoft is starting from the bottom up – an entry level handset, no redesign to speak of. Lights will soon be out on Nokia Devices but Redmond isn’t in a hurry to challenge the Finnish-made flagships just yet.

Yes, the Lumia 535 is just like the rest of them. Sensible, reliable, affordable. The closest thing to a risk it’s taking is screen size. Five inches of screen diagonal isn’t unheard of at the low end but it’s still a massive step up from the Lumia 520, which is the obvious predecessor.

The Microsoft Lumia 535 does well to up the resolution accordingly. qHD isn’t ideal on a 5″ screen but the pixel density is effectively matching that of a Lumia 520 – it’s what matters after all from a user perspective.

Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM
Microsoft Lumia 535 official pictures

The Microsoft Lumia 535 probably uses the Nokia Lumia 520’s camera and adds an LED flash to it. The predecessor had no front camera whatsoever and the Lumia 535 boasts a wide-angle, high-res selfie cam, as seen on the Nokia Lumia 735. The CPU has got an extra couple of cores – true, it’s Qualcomm’s cheapest but Windows Phone is known for running smooth on all sorts of hardware.

Here goes the Microsoft Lumia 535 complete package.
Key features

Optional Dual SIM with dual standby model
5″ IPS display of qHD (540 x 960 px) resolution, Gorilla Glass 3
1.2 GHz quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU, Adreno 302 GPU, Snapdragon 200 chipset, 1GB of RAM
Windows Phone 8.1 with Lumia Denim
5MP autofocus camera with 480p video recording @30fps
5MP front-facing camera
8GB of inbuilt storage, microSD card slot, up to 128GB
Free worldwide voice-guided navigation with HERE Drive+
15GB of free OneDrive storage
FM Radio
1,905mAh Li-Ion battery

Main disadvantages

The screen has low pixel density (not awfully visible, to be fair)
No Glance screen
Low battery capacity, especially for a dual SIM smartphone
Low-res video recording

The neat design with the usually rich color options has always been part of the deal in the Lumia range. It’s a budget WP smartphone we’re talking about with a big screen and a high-res front camera. Not bad in terms of selling points considering the price is more than acceptable.

The screen isn’t ridiculously pixel-rich but the extra size has its advantages in navigation, web browsing and office tasks.

The biggest turn-off is video recording – although the phone doesn’t pretend to be anything special, 480p video isn’t doing it a favor. Maybe it made sense to Microsoft to do proper 480p rather than poor 720p (Lumia 520), but we’re merely guessing here. It’s not the Snapdragon 200 to blame, it’s not the single gig of RAM either. 480p video doesn’t quite make sense on a device with higher than WVGA screen resolution.

To make up for it, the Lumia 535 is the second Lumia phone to offer a wide-angle 5MP front camera. It’s entirely up to you how that’s a benefit – selfies or Skype video calls.

Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM Microsoft Lumia 535 Dual SIM
Microsoft Lumia 535 live pictures

The big screen, the dual SIM capabilities, the high-res front facer and the light price tag will sure raise the Lumia 535 above the majority of entry-level smartphones. We’re about to test its real-life performance and see how it stacks against its siblings and the competition from outside the WP camp.

Resource from :http://www.gsmarena.com

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Huawei Mate 8 Review

Introduction

The Huawei Mate 8 is the latest phablet by the Chinese phone manufacturer. It’s a premium device all around and it surely doesn’t come cheap. But for the price you pay for it, you are certainly treated to an excellent user experience and some of the best specs in the industry.
Key specifications

6.0″
1080×1920 pixels
16MP
1080p
2.3GHz
HiSilicon Kirin 950
4GB RAM
64GB memory
4000mAh
Li-Po

Following in the footsteps of the Mate7, the new phablet is also one seriously good-looking smartphone. It’s like a tuxedo in a world of jeans and sweaters. It clearly means business.
Design and build quality

The Mate 8 has an unmatched high-end vibe, thanks to precision-machined metal and glass components, and sharper, bolder edges.

The Huawei Mate 8 is very compact for a 6-inch smartphone. It is, in fact, 4.2mm shorter than the 5.7-inch Huawei-made Nexus 6P, and a millimeter shorter than the iPhone 6s Plus, which only has a 5.5-inch display.

Weight: 185g
What’s this?

Thickness 7.9mm
What’s this?

The Mate 8 features an aluminum unibody, well befitting its flagship status (and price, too). The back has been sandblasted for a fine satin finish. However it’s not removable and you have no access to the battery.
Huawei Mate 8 time-saver review

The Mate 8 comes with what has become known as a hybrid DualSIM/microSD card slot. What it means is that there are two card slots on the phone – the first one is for your main SIM card and it can connect to LTE networks. The second slot however can either be used as a secondary SIM slot (2G-only) or for a microSD card. Depending on your needs, this can be a good or bad thing.

One of the best aspects of the Mate 8 is its fingerprint sensor on the back. It’s is one the best implementations on the market, always on, blazing fast, and rarely erring. The sensor is always on, and it will unlock the smartphone and take you to the homescreen in what can be described only as a ‘mere instant’. You can also set it up to take photos, answer calls or turn off your alarm.

Resource from :http://www.gsmarena.com

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Huawei Mate 8 Review

Introduction

The Huawei Mate 8 has dropped the Ascend badge, but it offers all the key pros of the Ascend Mate7 and then some. Coming a year after the Mate7, it was only expected that the Mate 8 will show maturity and address its predecessor’s shortcomings, most notably the poor graphics performance and the less than stellar camera output.

Huawei’s in-house-developed Kirin 950 chipset promises to deliver on the first count, and also brings heaps of CPU oomph. The camera is all-new as well – with a larger, higher-res sensor and phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilization.
Huawei Mate 8 review

And while the Mate7 was a premium device to begin with, the new iteration looks even more refined. The Mate 8 has an unmatched high-end vibe, thanks to precision-machined metal and glass components, and sharper, bolder edges.

Then again, a few things haven’t changed. The display is still 1080p, which was a bit of a stretch for a 2014 flagship and is even more so now when the competition has moved to QHD resolution on even smaller diagonals. Huawei insists that’s as many pixels as you need at this size, and the tradeoff in battery life and processing power required isn’t worth it. Oh, well.

Other than that, we’re glad that the large battery is still in place, the fingerprint reader placement and its always-on implementation are also as nice as ever. And there’s little to complain about having a 6-inch display in a body as compact as the Mate’s.
Huawei Mate 8 key features

Hybrid DualSIM/microSD card slot (up to 128GB)
Aluminum unibody, diamond-cut beveled edges, sandblasted satin back finish
6″ 1080p IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 368ppi
HiSilicon Kirin 950 chipset: octa-core CPU (4xCortex-A72 @ 2.3GHz plus 4xCortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz), Mali-T880 MP4 GPU
3GB of RAM/32GB of built-in storage, or 4GB/64GB;
Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, Huawei EMUI v4.0 overlay;
16MP camera with Sony IMX298 sensor, phase detection autofocus, OIS, f/2.0 aperture; 1080@60fps video recording
8MP front camera, f/2.0 aperture; 1080p video recording; wide selfie
Cat. 6 LTE (300/50Mbps); dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct; Bluetooth 4.2 LE; NFC; GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS/Beidou; microUSB
4,000mAh Li-Po battery, fast charging
3.5mm headphone jack, active noise cancelation with a dedicated mic

Main disadvantages

No 4K 2160p video recording
Low-resolution display by flagship phablet standards
Non-removable battery
Hybrid DualSIM/microSD card slot limits options

We were willing to let it slide that the Mate7 couldn’t record 4K video, but a year later, it’s quite simply unacceptable for a flagship. The 60fps at 1080p resolution is of little consolation when the chipset is clearly plenty powerful to handle 4K video.

Huawei Mate 8 press images – Huawei Mate 8 review Huawei Mate 8 press images – Huawei Mate 8 review Huawei Mate 8 press images – Huawei Mate 8 review Huawei Mate 8 press images – Huawei Mate 8 review Huawei Mate 8 press images – Huawei Mate 8 review
Huawei Mate 8 press images

The display we already mentioned and the rest are more or less par for the course lately. Flagships with a removable battery are a dying breed, and dedicated microSD slots are steadily making way to the hybrid variety if they are available at all.

But a smartphone is a lot more than the sum of its features (or the lack thereof), and we’re not in the habit of relying on the spec sheet alone. We’ll be proceeding with the full review on the following pages, with a look at the Mate 8’s hardware first on the list.

Resource from :http://www.gsmarena.com

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