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 to test out some features of the new Windows 10 device to see if
Microsoft's claims about its new Lumias, Continuum, Display Dock and
peripherals really could provide a productivity environment powered by
only a smartphone.
With Continuum, the new flagship Lumias are aimed squarely at
productivity, and there's no better way to gauge productivity than,
well, being productive. And so, I wrote this entire article using the
Lumia 950, a Microsoft Display Dock, a 4K display, a Microsoft universal
folding keyboard, and an Arc Touch Bluetooth mouse -- all working
together using Windows Continuum. So far, despite having to adjust my
large hands to a much tinier keyboard layout, the experience has been
quite pleasant.
Continuing With Continuum
At the heart of any compatible Continuum device, the specifications of which
we already documented,
is a powerful smartphone -- in this case the Microsoft Lumina 950. I
began by installing the battery and SIM card (even though it lacked
active AT&T service), and after minimal charging, I powered the
device on. I was immediately impressed with the simple design, vibrant
screen and speedy boot time.
After a simple initial phone setup, I was ready to give Continuum a
try. Microsoft has said that Continuum would redefine the way we work
with our smartphones. That’s a pretty bold claim to make, but there
could be some truth to the statement; I
am writing this article using the technology, and it
is very different from the way I am used to working.
Setting
up the Microsoft Dock was as simple as plugging in the power cable and
connecting the DisplayPort cable to my monitor. Next, I paired the
Bluetooth mouse to the Lumia 950. However, i was having difficulty
linking the Microsoft folding keyboard, so I opted to plug it into the
dock using the provided USB to mini-USB cable. (Note that at this point
that the wired connection for this keyboard model was merely providing
power, and that it would not have keystroke input until paired via
Bluetooth.)
Microsoft Continuum Display Dock, And Lumia 950, Hands On
Working From Your Phone Is Cooler Than You Think
One of the coolest features of Windows 10 is Cortana, a
voice-activated assistant that can search the web, set alarms, email
clients, place calls, or send texts messages with simple vocal commands.
Cortana’s recognition on the Lumia 950 is impeccably accurate; it could
hear me from a decent distance away (about 4 to 5 feet), and it was
fairly responsive to my commands. This improves over time, especially if
you train Cortana to respond to only your voice.
Sending
a quick email with Cortana was incredibly easy. I simply said “Hey
Cortana. Send an email,” and was asked follow up questions to determine
the recipient, what the email would say, and whether or not I was ready
to send or add more to the message.
To take a break from the grind, I disconnected the phone from the
Microsoft Display Dock and took a walk to the store. Although this
document (the one you're reading) didn’t auto-recover to the desktop on
the phone, the next time I opened Word from the device, everything was
exactly how I left it. I continued to write this article with just the
Lumia 950 using the speech-to-text functionality. Punctuation was very
accurate and intuitive based on the pauses in my speech and my ability
to speak clearly. I literally used it to write this paragraph, which
took maybe 10 seconds of my time. Aside from a few word endings that I
had to correct due to my occasional lack of enunciation on ending
consonants, everything came through crystal-clear.
Trouble In Paradise
When attempting to plug the phone back into the dock, I ran into my
first major issue. Although the device made a noise indicating it was
now connected to the dock, the Continuum desktop did not reappear. After
attempting to manually enable Continuum on the smartphone and
disconnecting and reconnecting each piece of the setup, the screen did
not return. It wasn’t until after a reboot that I was able to use
Continuum as intended.
Just to be sure if this was a definitive glitch or a random hangup, I
disconnected the phone while working from the Continuum desktop once
again. This time around, the devices functioned perfectly. After a few
more attempts at poking the bear, it appeared that the bug was indeed
random.
While writing this article, I was able to discern some other minor
issues with the Continuum setup. Switching between the Continuum desktop
and the phone with the tethered Bluetooth keyboard required me to click
the desktop; otherwise the input would go to the phone if it was the
last thing I was using. This was bothersome, as I was trying to
multitask by taking screenshots of the action on the smartphone and type
a section about it at the same time. However, this may not be an issue
for wired keyboards using the dock (and is by no means a deal breaker),
and by the time I finished writing the section above the video, I had
gotten used to it.
At no point did the device ever seem slow. The crashed Continuum
application did not seem to affect other processes, and even when I had
to reboot after a failed Continuum reconnect, I was able to use the
smartphone just fine. Although it’s somewhat disappointing to experience
these types of issues, the benefits of the Lumoia 950, the Microsoft
Dock and Windows 10 Continuum outweigh the minor issues I’ve
experienced.
Productivity Level: Over 9,000!
Upon returning to the Continuum desktop UI (and continuing to make
typing errors because of my large hands and tiny keyboard), I was sorely
missing my previous speech-to-text experience. Keyboards now seemed
like an abacus to me, and I yearned for the ultra-efficient,
highly-productive hands-free speech-to-text functionality.
Fortunately, speech-to-text is available while working on the big
screen by touching the microphone icon that appears at the bottom of the
smartphone when typing into the Continuum desktop, and I was able to
resume writing (or would it be "talking" at this point?) this article in
record time.
You
can even use the smartphone as a touchpad on the Continuum desktop by
tapping the top of the screen (where it says tap to control display).
This seems like a great tool to utilize the Lumia 950 and an attached
Microsoft Dock setup as a conference room presentation device.
Universal Windows apps, such as Word, Excel and Powerpoint, can be
swapped between the desktop and smartphone environments freely. Similar
to when I disconnected the phone from the dock, and the app resumed
where I left off when I opened Word again, active smartphone apps can be
migrated to the Continuum desktop by opening the program on the big
screen from the start menu. The program disappears from the smartphone
and reappears on the additional display, relatively seamlessly. This is a
two way street, and any active Continuum desktop apps you open on the
smartphone will be migrated to the portable device.
The practical applications for this technology are impressive, and
it's worth waiting for a few updates to iron out some lingering bugs. No
product ever seems to be 100 percent perfect when it debuts, and with
Microsoft opening developer communities to assist with the design of
Windows 10 and its smartphone counterpart, it seems that these updates
and fixes could already be getting sorted out.
Goodbye Blue Skies (And Blue Windows Logos)
In the short time I’ve had with the device, it has grown on me
immensely. Using the desktop version of Windows 10 was a great
transition tool, and I found the smartphone to be easy to use, intuitive
and highly responsive.
The UI on Windows Phones
are different than Android and iOS,
which may be a turn off to some consumers, but different doesn’t
necessarily mean bad. Personally, as primarily an Android user, I adored
using key features such as Cortana, Continuum and speech-to-text
functionalities in order to complete this article using the same
familiar apps I would use at my desk.
As it stands, the timeframe for writing was significantly shorter
than normal, especially if I needed to go mobile in the middle of it,
and that's because of the ease-of-use and speech-to-text functionality,
which enabled me to write (speak) whole paragraphs while walking to the
store and could continue working at my desk the moment I returned
without skipping a beat.
There
are some bugs, but nothing that seems irreparably broken, and certainly
nothing that shouldn't have a patch in the near future. App
availability continues to grow for Windows Phones (especially if
Projects Astoria and Islandwood pan out, which may or may not happen),
and despite the few hiccups, the Lumia 950 is a productivity machine
when combined with a Microsoft Dock and Continuum.
The Lumia 950 and 950 XL may not help Microsoft finally punch through
into the mainstream market, but it seems to have some serious potential
for the enterprise space, driven by strong productivity features and
additional peripherals that make your phone your office, where ever you
go. We’ll have to wait for the full review to see how the Lumia 950 does
in benchmarks, but I could guess from my experience that it’s no slouch
in performance, display quality or functionality.
,
but recently she did those hoping to increase their psychological
understanding one better, offering a list of her favorite psychology
titles for the general reader. Here are a few to get you started.
Full-time: Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona ... it’s all over. The home fans are understandably upset, they have
just seen their side comprehensively dismantled by their fiercest
rivals. They wave their white hankies and whistle loudly – the club try
their best to drown this out by turning the full-time music up to 11. It
was not looking good for Rafa before the match and it is looking pretty
awful right about now. Madrid were poor but Barça, in almost every
position, were sensational. It’s a bit churlish to just pick out one
player for a special mention but Iniesta was great – and deserved his
standing ovation from the home fans – as was Bravo and Suárez. The win
sends the Catalan club six points clear at the top of the league and
it’s hard to see anyone stopping them from reclaiming their title.
A celebratory group hug from the Barcelona players.
That’s a little more than a tug on the shirt. 90 mins We are into the two minutes of time added
on. Before that was flagged up by the assistant referee, a decent header
from Ronaldo forced another smart save from Bravo. The Barça keeper has
been very, very good today.
Smart reactions from Claudio Bravo means he still has a clean sheet 89 mins Benzema finally does something for his side,
with his shot being deflected wide for a corner. That comes to nothing
and Barça attack down the left via a scuttling run from Neymar. He cuts
the ball across the box and Munir, in absolute acres inside the box,
somehow manages to send his left-footed shot wide. Piqué – of all
players – was behind him and was furious that Munir did not let it run
for him.
