How Productive Can You Be With Microsoft's Continuum And The Lumia 950? (Hands On Video)

[kewlguy239]

Microsoft just released its Lumia 950 and 950 XL smartphones into the wild, and I recently had the opportunity to get some hands-on time with the Lumia 950, sampling the new Windows Continuum using a Microsoft Dock, Bluetooth peripherals and a 4K display.

How Productive Can You Be With Microsoft's Continuum And The Lumia 950? (Hands On Video) : Read more

 

[alextheblue]

Looking good now if only we could get Verizon to stop being Richard Nibbler Wireless.

 

[K Wright]

It looks great and I'm looking forward to using the 950XL as my computer. Moving to AT&T for this phone.

 

[falchard]

I already pre-ordered a 950 XL unlocked to use with T-Mobile. I avoid ATT like the plague they are. The key to 90%+ market share is taking the enterprise market. People get used to the UI. Right now smart phones are more of toys than work machines. I know many have been trying to seize the enterprise market with smartphones but have not succeeded. Let's see if this concerted effort since Windows 8 will payoff.

 

[CaedenV]

Nice!
While my experience on my Note 5 has been much better than that of my SGS6 Active, I am still not a fan of the Android OS. It is nice to have a phone with so many apps available... but the thing with Windows Phone was that you didn't need 100 little apps to make the phone functional. The thing just worked out of the box; and worked very well. And when an app was not available, the company typically had a mobile-sensitive website available to use, so it was rarely an issue.

That said, now that I have a work provided phone I am not keeping my own personal cell (moved my # to Google Voice which is working out well), so I am sitting this gen of Windows hardware out. But it still looks like they have a great product, and at a good price! MS done good on this one!

But, I don't see me ever using this dock in a desktop environment... I mean, what exactly would be the point? I own a very nice desktop, and that is not going to change any time soon. The phone has WiDi and BT functionality... so why do we need the dock in the first place? Why can't we just shoot the video out WiDi and BT to our peripherals? I would love to have this communicate directly to a TV, or projector rather than to a monitor. Even better, I would love to have this project to a dumb terminal 'laptop' style device! Something still portable, but good for productivity when I need a full keyboard, mouse and 13-15" display. These options seem much more practical than running a full desktop style setup.

Still, very interesting read, and so very glad to hear that it is working as advertised! Maybe when I eventually have my own phone again there will be a good Windows option to come back to!

 

[sr1030nx]

As far as I'm aware you can use Continuum wirelessly via a miracast TV or accessory.

 

[uglyduckling81]

This article should read 'this advertisement brought to you by Microsoft'.
For Windows phones to gain traction Microsoft needs to get every phone manufacturer to put out a Windows version of their main products.

 

[gadgety]

Two years ago I used my Android Galaxy Note 8.0 LTE phablet with Microsofts great little wedge keyboard to do most of my stuff on the road. I never needed an external screen, but there was MHL for that. For someone who's spent 25 years constantly on the road I can certainly see the benefit if Continuum, and I waited for Microsoft to get here, It just took too long and in the mean time I've built up dependencies to Android apps.

 

[ohim]

This article should read 'this advertisement brought to you by Microsoft'.
For Windows phones to gain traction Microsoft needs to get every phone manufacturer to put out a Windows version of their main products.

It`s a new thing to have this into your Phone, Android and iPhones have their own cult... for the sake of good competition just let this be as it is and stop being a douche about it.

I came from Android to Lumia 930 ... all i can say is that WP environment is quite nice and live tiles are much better than i initially thought (i totally hated the design when i was on Android).

WP 8.1 is blazing fast with Win 10 getting more polished with each build. The only thing missing is the main Social apps to come to this platform to get traction.

 

[pmeinl]

Interesting article.

I would be nice if you would not add background music to your videos. If find this stressful.

 

[TunaSoda]

Too bad it won't run Ingress

 

[jimmysmitty]

As far as I'm aware you can use Continuum wirelessly via a miracast TV or accessory.

That is correct but it needs a lot of power, at least 3GB RAM and Wireless 802.11n (AC prefered).

I would love if we could move our people at work from iPhones to this. I think WP is way better for productivity. Problem is that iPhones are so easy even a toddler can use them and some of the people in my company need that.

I do think this is a big advantage though. This will work even better when mobile phones get even faster and more storage. Microsoft has a big advantage right now with Continuum and making 10 similar across all devices. Will be interesting to watch Apple and Android catch up.

 

[alextheblue]

But, I don't see me ever using this dock in a desktop environment... I mean, what exactly would be the point? I own a very nice desktop, and that is not going to change any time soon. The phone has WiDi and BT functionality... so why do we need the dock in the first place? Why can't we just shoot the video out WiDi and BT to our peripherals? I would love to have this communicate directly to a TV, or projector rather than to a monitor.

As has been pointed out by others, wireless is within the realm of Continuum possibilities. It's not an all-in-one solution for every situation, but it vastly expands what a mere "phone" is capable of - as Derek demonstrated by creating this article.

WP 8.1 is blazing fast with Win 10 getting more polished with each build. The only thing missing is the main Social apps to come to this platform to get traction.

What are you missing, out of curiousity? FB has a decent port of their app for 8.1, and for Instagram try 6tag - it's made by a well-liked and well-known WP developer and it's quite good. Hopefully more and more developers will create Universal apps as Win10 continues to grow and is officially launched on mobile.

 

[falchard]

As far as ease of use. I think the main complaint people have had for Windows Phone is that its too easy to use. It locks you out of a lot of things too unless you have elevated privileges. Honestly, the UI is the simplest out there.
It also doesn't crash nearly as much as an iPhone. I used to test iPhone apps, and was able to crash the iPhone quite easily. The Windows Phone makes it difficult for the developer to poorly code an application.
I think the issue purely in regards to Apple's iPhone is that people have gotten used to it. They also are caught up in the smug satisfaction of owning an Apple device. This is because you can get a better running Android product.

 

[arnematt]

Thanks for the review. As I am not familiar with the Windows phone ecosystem, are all the usual apps available?
Can you normally use Word and Excel like on a PC? How about photo and video-editing software?
So basically the ability to work with text, graphics, and calculations.