I've often put up the now somewhat ancient (late 2015) Lumia 950 XL against modern flagships, but here's something genuinely different. £470 inc VAT, pure Google and Android, guaranteed updates for three years, 3.5mm headphone jack, plus the much-acclaimed (including by me) 'PureView take 2' Pixel Camera, doing all the oversampling in the time domain rather than across a physical sensor. This, perhaps more than any other current phone, is the natural destination for a Lumia 950 XL owner, I contend...
Although I regularly pitch the PureView over-sampled Lumia 950 XL stills up against the best of 2018 and 2019, video capture is a whole other area. The Snapdragon 810 chipset in my 950 XL just can't compete in terms of real time noise reduction and software stabilisation with the Snapdragon 855 (and Kirin 980 here), which - at 1080p here, at least - have oodles of headroom in the processing department - and it shows when testing modern Android flagships. Even more so the Lumia 1020-inspired Huawei P30 Pro, which also throws a genuine 5x 'periscope' telephoto into the mix.
One of the biggest reasons why users love Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile is the front end UI - the multi-size live tiles (most of which still work). And I was struck by the example below, put up on Twitter by Mike Latham, one of my followers there. There's plenty to see and comment on, plus I'll put in the relevant links below. Could making Android's app launcher look and feel like Windows 10 Mobile be a valid way forward? I give it a try anyway...
In the spirit of continually keeping an eye on what the wider mobile world can offer, and especially looking at form factors which are interesting and marry up with what AAS and AAWP readers might be looking for, I noted that my Gemini has now received its Android 8.1 update. Why is this relevant? Because it brings the ability to use the full screen, turning the Gemini into a more convincing micro-laptop. Or, if you will, a present day Communicator.
I've not tested the cameras of any of the Samsung S10 range up until now, not least because the main camera and telephoto are identical to those on my personal Galaxy S9+, already tested here, here, here, here, here and here (no, really - it's had a lot of competitive coverage!) But, after much zoom coverage recently (950 XL/P30 Pro), I thought I'd go in the other direction - what does a wide angle lens bring to the table? Here I pitch the 2015 Lumia 950 against the 2019 Galaxy S10e, both mid-sized phones rather than giants/phablets. For a change!
Last updated in mid-February, this is the May 2019 update to the AAWP directory of curated UWP applications, those with native Windows 10 UI and which support different orientations, Continuum and even use on laptop or tablet. [13 new entries] Thanks for the crowd input, keep the comments and recommendations coming!
Following his intriguing part one, guest writer By Michael 'Mivas_Greece' (surname withheld by request) brings us the second part of a tale of prototypes (one of which he has access to) and what might have been, featuring some of the various uses of Nokia's 'Pre-Touch' technology. A Lumia 1030 anyone? The final part of this feature will be published in due course.
I wasn't even going to do this one, as is, but popular demand in previous feature comments show that you want it anyway. Having already put the 2013 Lumia 1020 against the P30 Pro because of its zoom functions, here's a similar set of shots for the 2015 Lumia 950 XL against the newcomer.
I've been out and about shooting the same test scenes with Lumia 1020, P30 Pro and three other devices. And I have hundreds of JPGs totalling several GB. But the first data point for this new (PureView) flagship from Huawei is the second part of my 'Evolution' feature, with this being the spiritual successor, I contend, to the Lumia 1020. Knock yourself out below with our interactive comparator and see my comments as we move from scene to scene. Just how well have Huawei done?
