There's something you should know about the Display Dock and Continuum. The hardware component itself is beautifully made (think Apple Mac build quality) and the concept really, really cool. Truly your smartphone could be your entire computing experience. Except that the software that ties everything together and that should make Continuum a reality is currently (December 2015) only in early beta, at best. So what follows contains a lot of disappointment, albeit mingled with glimpses of genuine utility and hope. Appropriately, for Christmas!
Shown off at the Lumia 950/XL launch, the Mozo leather backs impressed everyone who saw them - and now they're here - or at least some varieties are. Others (fit/material/colours) will arrive over the next few months. However, we have a winner already with one of the colours here - but that's just my subjective opinion. Take a look at the photos below.
Following on from my review of the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL and Lumia 950 in each of the review parts so far ('1' for each), and from my camera head to head with the older Lumia 930 and 1020, here's the second review part, common to both devices of course, since the camera units are identical, with just some back end processing differences that I note below. Summary? With just a few caveats, these are the best imaging smartphones to come out of the Nokia/Microsoft stable yet.
The next generation of Windows Phone is here, in terms of software and hardware, in the shape of the Lumia 950 XL running Windows 10 Mobile. Now, we've covered the software side of things here ad infinitum on AAWP over the last year, thanks to the Insiders Programme - and almost everything here works identically to the Insiders preview builds on the likes of the Lumia 930. But there are some new tricks, everything's faster and - most of all - we have genuinely competitive hardware to run it all. Arguably for the first time in Windows Phone's history.
In a crowded marketplace, it's always good to carve out a niche - and this is what Microsoft did in the wearables space with the original Band, reviewed here. The idea was to do a lot more than a humble 'fitness band', yet stop short of a full smartwatch. As a result, the Band could be a big aid to your life while keeping a multi-day battery life. It was clunky though - and now we have the Band 2, in theory more comfortable, more durable and better in every way. We're well away from 'prototype' territory this time round, and it remains the smartest thing you can hook up to a Windows Phone, in particular...
The flow of really rather handy emergency chargers into AAWP Towers never seems to stop. I couldn't resist taking a look at this one, since it promises metal (which I like), very high capacity (ditto) and compact size (ditto again). And it delivers, you can charge two smartphones at a time (e.g.) at 1.5A each, several times over from scratch. All from something that fits in a jeans back pocket...
I have one beef with quality smartphone headsets like the Rock Jaw ALFA - they've ruined a lot of my music collection. I'll go into more detail below, but once you've heard all the defects in your compressed files, the defects that are masked by deficiencies in cheaper headsets, including those shipped with many Windows Phones, it's hard to 'un-hear' them. Which means more work, re-encoding the culprits! This is the new, redesigned ALFA from the UK company and it's top notch in every regard.
This review will have to remain relatively short for a very good reason - the unique selling point of the 'Choetech Portable Power Bank' here is that it's 'Quick Charge 2.0'-compliant. And we don't yet have any Windows Phones that work with this intelligent charging standard (though the rumoured Lumia 950 devices will come with it for sure). However, you may well have someone in your family with a suitable device, plus you can use this in traditional fashion to supply charge into any smartphones or tablets up to a whopping 2.4A.
Having played with 'solar charging' accessories for smartphones a decade ago, I'd kind of written them off for serious use, but it seems that the technology has improved markedly in the intervening years. The needs of a smartphone (or tablet) have risen too, though matched here by the size of the panels themselves in this hard-wearing polyester, tri-fold, waterproof design. Provided you're guaranteed some sun, this is a terrific greetings card-sized accessory (when folded) and worked brilliantly in my tests.
There are quite a few Qi charging pads on the market these days - it takes something different to get my attention. And, more the point, to tear my Lumias away from their beloved Nokia DT-900 pad, which has served me faithfully for well over a year now. But the Choetech pad here did just that, albeit with a quirk or two. It's a premium accessory at a modest price (£18) and comes recommended.
