Nokia XL - Specifications. Nokia XL: reviews, specifications, prices and photos The screen of a mobile device is characterized by its technology, resolution, pixel density, diagonal length, color depth, etc.

Microsoft Windows 10 for traditional personal computers was introduced last summer. The manufacturer's insistence on offering free upgrades to users of some previous versions resulted in 200 million activations at the beginning of this year, according to Microsoft. When creating this product, the company focused, among other things, on the market of smartphones and tablets, so the update of the mobile version, in a certain sense, can be considered one of the editions, and not an independent product. Of course, we are not talking about full compatibility, since the hardware platforms are different, but there is already some progress towards creating universal applications. By the way, let’s mention another edition - Windows 10 IoT Core, running on Raspberry Pi 2 and some other microcomputers. True, here we are talking more about internal unity than the user interface.

However, the end consumer is usually not interested in the internal structure of operating systems. Moreover, we have been hearing stories about a “single ecosystem” for several years now from various companies offering the market their universal solutions. At the same time, if you look at Apple and Google, their implementations are already familiar to the market and do not raise serious questions. But Microsoft's path to adapting its desktop operating system to mobile devices continues to look controversial.

The first real products with Windows 10 Mobile were the Microsoft Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL and Lumia 550 smartphones, announced on October 6 last year. Two new devices of the 900 series are clear flagships in their technical characteristics, and the third is designed to defend its position in the budget segment.

In this article we will get acquainted with the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM, we will try to evaluate in practice some of the announced new features of Windows 10 Mobile, as well as why and to whom these solutions may be of interest. Note that for the local market the company decided to partially translate the name of the device and for us it sounds like this - “Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Two SIM cards.”

Before moving on to the test, we note that the manufacturer provided us with a slightly unusual sample. The software considered the device to be a Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM model, but in fact there was only one SIM card slot under the back cover. We did not find a device with this configuration on either the Russian or American website (except for some mentions in early announcements). So we will further assume that the model with the name indicated in the title of the article was tested, and they simply forgot to install the second slot. There is, of course, a chance that such confusion could have affected some test results, but we don’t have another device and have nothing to compare with.

Characteristics of the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM smartphone

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, 2 GHz, 8 cores, 64 bits
• GPU Adreno 430
• Operating system Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile
• Touch display 5.7″, AMOLED, ClearBlack, WQHD 2560×1440
• RAM 3 GB
• Internal memory 32 GB
• Supports microSDXC memory cards up to 200 GB
• Two Nano-SIM format SIM cards
• Communications 2G GSM (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz), 3G WCDMA (850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz), 4G/LTE (bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 20, 28, 38, 40)
• Data transmission GPRS, EDGE, HSPA+ (up to 42 Mbit/s), LTE (Cat 4, up to 150 Mbit/s)
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4/5 GHz, Bluetooth 4.1, BLE, NFC
• Navigation A-Glonass, A-GPS
• Compass, position sensor, accelerometer, proximity sensor, light sensor, barometer, gyroscope, magnetometer
• FM radio
• Cameras: main 20 MP (1/2.4″, autofocus, flash, 4K video), additional 5 MP (Full HD video)
• USB Type C connector for connecting to PC and charging (with Display Port support)
• Standard 3.5mm headset jack
• Removable battery 3340 mAh
• Dimensions 152×78×8 mm
• Weight 166 g

The smartphone uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 platform, which is also found in devices such as the Google Nexus 6P, HTC One M9, LG G Flex2 and OnePlus 2. The chip has eight cores operating at 2 GHz. It is difficult to say how much such performance will be in demand on this platform, but it will probably not be superfluous for the high-resolution screen and Continuum function.

The manufacturer indicates that the device has 3 GB of RAM. Remembering the experience of working on a microPC with an Intel Atom SoC with 2 GB of memory, we can say that this is a completely reasonable option. One gigabyte would clearly not be enough, and in the characteristics the number three looks much more interesting.

The device is equipped with 32 GB of flash memory, of which about 25 GB is available to the user on the new smartphone. Additionally, there is a memory card slot that supports the SDXC standard, so if necessary, you can easily increase the space available for files. Both storages provide work with a computer using a cable connection via the MTP protocol.

Microsoft decided not to skimp on the screen, which is quite expected for a flagship model. It has a diagonal of 5.7″ and uses an AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2560×1440 (WQHD). As with the processor, in our opinion, there is no urgent need for such a large number of pixels. But in this case we can talk about 515 ppi.

Please note that due to the high resolution, the original screenshots that will be used later in the article can be quite large - up to 4 MB.

The display is covered with Corning Gorilla 4 protective glass and also features ClearBlack technology, familiar from recent Nokia products, which significantly improves visibility in bright ambient light. We also note the presence of a sensor for automatic brightness adjustment. The screen has a special coating, so it does not get dirty during operation, and it is not difficult to clean.

The Adreno 430 graphics controller supports the DirectX 11 interface and is also capable of decoding modern video codecs such as H.264 and H.265.

The smartphone supports work in networks of the second, third and fourth generations. Moreover, support for almost one and a half dozen bands is declared for LTE. The original model has two slots for Nano-SIM cards that operate in Dual Standby SIM mode.

The device is equipped with a dual-band wireless Wi-Fi controller supporting 802.11a/b/g/n/ac standards. At the same time, some sources note the presence of MIMO technology, which may mean the installation of two antennas and higher operating speeds. It may be in demand when working with wireless displays. There is also a Bluetooth 4.1 adapter with BLE support and NFC technology.

For navigation you can use GPS and Glonass. The set of built-in sensors consists of light, proximity, orientation, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, barometer and magnetometer sensors. The smartphone also has an FM radio that works with connected headphones that act as an antenna.

This is one of the few devices that has a USB Type C connector for charging and connecting to a computer or docking station. In addition to a significantly more convenient design and increased reliability, the implementation of this port provides video signal transmission via the DisplayPort protocol. As for speed, support for USB 3.1 and USB Dual Role mode is declared (working not only as a client, but also as a host).

The main camera of the smartphone has a 20-megapixel 1/2.4″ sensor and supports autofocus. The flash is equipped with multiple LEDs for more natural illumination. The specifications also mention PureView technology, the Zeiss brand, an optical system of six lenses and stabilization. The camera can record video in 4K format with a resolution of 3840×2160. The front camera is traditionally more modest - 5 megapixels, video up to Full HD.

Considering the format of the device, the installation of a high-capacity removable battery - 3340 mAh - is quite expected. Of course, there has long been no special meaning in the possibility of replacing it. Moreover, the installed USB Type C port can provide high charging speeds (although this device most likely does not have Qualcomm Quick Charge), and for additional convenience, the smartphone also supports wireless chargers using Qi technology.

In terms of its formal technical characteristics, the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM can easily claim a place in the upper segment - it has a powerful platform, an excellent screen, 4G/LTE, an interesting main camera module, modern wireless interfaces and standards, USB Type C and a good battery.

But the Windows operating system immediately puts it in a separate category. Still, if a user is ready to spend money on a top-end smartphone, he expects an appropriate level from its software. Moreover, in this case it’s even more confusing, since this is practically the only model with the latest version of Microsoft’s mobile OS.

Perhaps we won’t compile a table of potential competitors this time. Suffice it to say that Huawei, LG and Samsung have Android-based models that are similar in basic characteristics (and cost). So the smartphone discussed in this article is clearly in a very tight group of competitors.

Equipment

This device was provided for testing by the manufacturer without retail packaging. Judging by the description on the website, the smartphone comes with a charger, user manual and USB Type C to USB 3.0 cable in a standard cardboard box.

Note that the power supply (model AC-100E) in this case has a built-in cable, which is not surprising given its parameters - 5 V 3 A. The thickness of the cables is also surprising, being 4 mm.

Qi wireless charging and a Microsoft Display Dock module are offered as additional accessories. At the time of writing, the charger was not available for order. The device description notes support for Bluetooth LE and NFC. When paired with a smartphone, the panel can act as an event indicator and also remind you to recharge the battery. And the Microsoft Display Dock is used to connect a smartphone to standard computer peripherals - a monitor and USB devices (in particular, a keyboard and mouse), which we will discuss in more detail later in the article.

Appearance and ease of use

The smartphone, unlike many other models of the Lumia series, is offered in only two color options - white and black. A dark device took part in the testing. The overall dimensions of the smartphone body are about 152×78 mm. The thickness of the main part of the device is 8 mm. The camera block protrudes about a couple of millimeters. Weight with memory card and SIM card installed - 166 g.

The design is quite traditional for the Lumia line and in its main elements differs little from many smartphones on the market. But still, we note the strict style with flat ribs and well-chosen corner radii and the shape of the back cover. The latter has a matte surface and extends onto the side edges. The combination of its material, size and weight of the device is quite comfortable. The smartphone lies comfortably in the hand (of course, as far as possible for such a screen diagonal). The device has a special one-handed control mode, which is activated by holding the central button. But the implementation is not very successful. For example, we were unable to call up the numeric keypad to dial a number in it, or view the latest messages in SMS correspondence.

The entire front panel is covered with a single glass. Its background is black for both dark and light design options. It does not have fashionable “roundings” along the edge, as well as protruding sides. Instead, the role of the third element of the case, accessible from the outside, is a rim made of dark matte plastic, which does not differ in surface texture from the back cover. The gap between them is almost invisible and no dust collected in it during testing.

The side margins of the screen are about 3.5 mm. In the block above the screen, which is 14 mm high, there is a speaker grille, a front camera window and additional sensors necessary, in particular, to implement the Windows Hello function. The device is not equipped with LED indicators for notifications or status.

The smartphone does not have a dedicated panel for the main touch navigation buttons. They appear on a special strip at the bottom of the screen. If necessary, for example, if the application has controls in this place, the block can be hidden by swiping up. Repeating this movement returns it to its place. The field under the screen is about 11 mm high and only the hole for the speaking microphone can be seen on it.

The smartphone has four hardware control buttons. All of them are located on the right edge and have a glossy metal finish. A little above its middle we see a block of volume keys, between which there is a lock button. Due to the fact that the latter is installed a little lower, they are quite convenient to use, and you can get used to them quickly.

Below that is a dedicated two-step button to launch the camera app. Even from a locked state, you can quickly take a photo with it.

Instead of the now standard fingerprint sensor, to provide additional convenience when authenticating users, Microsoft is offering Windows Hello technology, which is currently in beta status. It allows you to use special hardware components on the front panel of the smartphone that scan the iris of the eye to verify the user’s identity.

There are no controls on the left edge of the device. In the center of the top end there is a standard 3.5 mm mini-jack for connecting a headset.

At the bottom end we see a USB port of the new standard - USB Type C. Its design is much better suited for modern mobile devices - the port is symmetrical, so it is easier to connect the cable, it supports higher transfer rates and higher charging current. In addition, a video signal can be output through it.

At the top of the rear panel of the device there is a protruding circle with a diameter of 25 mm, which houses the main camera unit - lens and LED flash. Its main part is covered with black glossy plastic, and there are metal inserts along the contour and around the flash. When assembled, the side of the cover itself is slightly higher and protects the camera unit.

Above the camera and symmetrically at the bottom of the panel we see five more noticeable dots. The ones on the far right are holes and behind them there are likely additional microphones installed.

To the left of the camera there is another grille that covers the main speaker. And approximately in the center of the panel a stylized logo of the operating system was placed.

The smartphone has a removable back cover, under which there is a battery and slots for Nano-SIM format SIM cards and memory cards. The battery can also be removed, which in any case will be required to install SIM cards. The slots are spring-loaded and are quite convenient to use.

Note that on the reverse side of the cover itself there is an NFC antenna (in the upper part, around the camera) and a receiving element for the wireless charging unit. This reduces the chances of producing a replacement part in colors other than the base ones. The lid, made of dense and flexible plastic, is secured with traditional latches. There was a slight play on the device used in the test.

The design of the smartphone can hardly be called original or unusual. Rather, we can talk about a combination of corporate-work style and practicality. The device is convenient to use - the thickness is comfortable for such a diagonal, and the buttons are located in the right place. Separately, we note the dedicated button for taking photos. Considering the unusual interface of the operating system, it will clearly be in demand.

Screen

Screens with resolution exceeding Full HD are increasingly found on modern mobile devices. Moreover, not only leading manufacturers, but also smaller companies can afford this.

Lumia 950 XL has a screen with a diagonal of 5.7″ (about 117×71 mm) and a resolution of 2560×1440 (WQHD), which corresponds to 515 ppi. It features AMOLED technology and supports ClearBlack technology for improved readability in bright ambient light. In the additional settings of your smartphone, you can select a color profile or manually specify color temperature, hue and saturation.

The touch sensor supports at least ten touches, and the screen is covered with Corning Gorilla 4 glass. Subjectively, and taking into account the not very sunny weather these days, it is no worse than that of the previously tested top-end Nokia Lumia models. Well, as for resolution, it is almost impossible to see individual points even with a magnifying glass. So for a more careful study, we will use precision instruments.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photograph in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Microsoft Lumia 950 XL, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL is only slightly lighter (photo brightness 111 versus 106 for the Nexus 7) and does not have a pronounced tint. Note that the reflection from bright objects in the screen of the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL has a pale bluish halo that is slightly more pronounced in the transverse direction. The ghosting of reflected objects on the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL screen is very weak, indicating that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass-air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better under strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. The outer surface of the screen has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, even better than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily and appear at a lower speed than with regular glass.

When the white field was displayed in full screen and with manual brightness control, its maximum value was 290 cd/m², the minimum was 7 cd/m². You also need to take into account the fact that in this case, the smaller the white area on the screen, the lighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will always be higher than the specified value. For example, when outputting white on half the screen and black on the other half, the maximum brightness with manual adjustment increases to 320 cd/m². However, this is still not very much, therefore, even taking into account the good anti-glare properties, readability during the day in the sun will be at a borderline level. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front speaker slot). You can make adjustments to the operation of this function by moving the brightness adjustment slider. Below, for three conditions, we present the screen brightness values ​​for three values ​​of this setting - for 0%, 50% and 100%. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness is reduced to 6, 11 and 21 cd/m², respectively (normal), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 400 lux) the brightness is set to 50, 160 and 280 cd/m² (a little dark - just right - bright, which corresponds to the specified correction), in a brightly lit environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) - increases to 330 cd / m², regardless of the position of the slider. This value is slightly higher than the maximum for manual adjustment. In general, the result of the automatic brightness adjustment function is as expected. At any brightness level there is significant modulation with a frequency of approximately 243 Hz. The figure below shows brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for several brightness settings:

The presence of modulation can be seen in the test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply by rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, this flickering may cause increased fatigue. Note that in the settings there is traditionally an option, the inclusion of which supposedly improves readability in bright light. And it is also traditionally unclear what this setting actually changes, since when it is activated, the brightness of the backlight does not change, and nothing visually changes on the screen, either in bright external light or in the dark.

This screen uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix on organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

In the fragment above you can count 4 green subpixels, 2 red (4 halves) and 2 blue (1 whole and 4 quarters), and by repeating these fragments, you can lay out the entire screen without breaks or overlap. For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. The manufacturer calculates the screen resolution based on the green subpixels; based on the other two, it will be two times lower. The location and shape of the subpixels in this version is similar to that in the case of the screen and some other newer devices from Samsung (and not only) with AMOLED screens. This version of PenTile RGBG is better than the old one with red squares, blue rectangles and stripes of green subpixels. However, some unevenness of contrast borders and other artifacts are still present. However, due to the very high resolution, they have a minimal impact on image quality.

The screen is characterized by excellent viewing angles, although white color, when deviated even at small angles, acquires a slight blue-green or pinkish tint, but black color is just black at any angle. So black that the contrast parameter is simply not applicable in this case. For comparison, here are photographs showing the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL screens (profile Standard) and the second comparison participant, identical images were displayed, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera was forced to switch to 6500 K. White field:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture (profile Standard):

In this case, the camera does a poor job of recording an image that has a non-typical spectrum. Visually, color rendition is good, color saturation is normal, the color balance of screens varies slightly. There is too much pink in the photo and the saturation is too high. The photo above was taken after selecting a profile Standard in the screen settings, there are four of them:

In profile Additionally Color rendering can be adjusted using the color temperature, hue and saturation sliders:

Let's leave the profile for now Standard and look at the image at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen. White field:

The brightness at an angle for both screens has noticeably decreased (to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed has been increased compared to the previous two photographs), but in the case of the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. As a result, with formally the same brightness, the screen of the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL visually looks much brighter (compared to LCD screens), since you often have to look at the screen of a mobile device from at least a slight angle. And a test picture:

It can be seen that, despite the shift of shades into the blue-green region of the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL, the colors, in general, have not changed much on both screens, while the brightness of the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL is noticeably higher at an angle.

Switching the state of the matrix elements is performed almost instantly, but at the front of switching on (and less often, switching off) there may be a step with a width of approximately 17 ms (which corresponds to a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz). For example, this is what the dependence of brightness on time looks like when moving from black to white and back:

Modulation makes it slightly difficult to distinguish the step and leads to registration artifacts (negative emissions). In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing moving objects, but in normal use these artifacts are difficult to see. Quite the contrary - dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high clarity and even some “jerky” movements.

The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. In fact, there is a blockage in the shadows for a couple of shades, but this does not significantly affect the image. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.04, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2, while the actual gamma curve deviates slightly from the power function:

Let us recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for generally light images. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) most likely slightly does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen.

Color gamut in the case of a profile Standard(and it is selected by default) is close to sRGB:

When selecting a profile Additionally You can move the saturation slider. By maximizing saturation, coverage increases:

And when the setting is reduced to a minimum, it decreases:

The spectra look like this, the components are well separated:

Or mixed with each other:

Note that on screens with a wide color gamut, without appropriate correction, the colors of regular images optimized for sRGB devices appear unnaturally saturated. It's good that it's in the profile Standard Coverage is almost equal to sRGB. The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since the color temperature is almost equal to the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is less than 10, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

Change anything using the settings in your profile Additional, there is no point, and it won’t be possible to do it better (we tried). It’s unclear why this page with settings exists at all, apparently it’s a tradition.

Let's summarize. The screen has good anti-glare properties, but has a borderline maximum brightness, so the comfort of using the device outdoors on a sunny summer day can be questioned. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is permissible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works quite adequately. The advantages of the screen include a very good oleophobic coating, as well as an sRGB color gamut and a color balance close to standard (at default settings). At the same time, let us remind you about the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color (if nothing is reflected in the screen), excellent uniformity of the white field, noticeably less than that of LCDs, and a drop in image brightness when viewed at an angle. Disadvantages include modulation of screen brightness. For users who are particularly sensitive to flicker, this may cause increased fatigue. However, overall the screen quality is high.

Sound

The main speaker is located near the camera on the rear panel. Its grille does not overlap when the smartphone is placed on a table with the screen facing up. Its maximum volume is average; we expected more from such a large model. When listening to music, there are practically no low frequencies. There is no distortion caused by overload even at maximum volume.

When you connect headphones, listening to music becomes much better, but overall the sound, even in this case, did not seem to us the best. To partially correct this situation, you can try using the built-in equalizer, which has several presets and custom settings.

Moreover, it works independently for the main speaker and headphones. Note that the smartphone supports automatic detection of the connection of headphones or a headset, and through the “Accessories” program you can configure the auto-run of the necessary programs.

The earpiece provides high quality phone calls. Its maximum volume is sufficient for relatively noisy places, and there is no distortion in this case either.

The microphone hole for phone calls is located directly on the front panel below the screen. This allows you to ensure high quality work even in conditions of external noise. It was not possible to determine the presence of special noise reduction technologies using additional microphones.

Two of them, as we wrote above, are located near the ends on the rear panel. They are used in particular when recording videos. The manufacturer talks about the presence of Lumia Rich Recording technology and four microphones, but we did not find the latter. It may be located next to the speaker.

We didn’t forget about the vibration alert. Like most modern devices, it will be useful mainly for meetings or other similar situations. There is little chance of feeling it in the outer pocket of your outerwear, or even more so in your bag.

Camera

The smartphone is traditionally equipped with two cameras. The main one has a 20 megapixel matrix and is equipped with a 1/2.4″ format sensor. It has a flash of three LEDs (the same unit can also be used for illumination) and supports autofocus. It also claims to use PureView technologies and optical stabilization. The maximum resolution of the resulting photographs is 4992 × 3744 (19 MP, 4:3) and 5344 × 3008 (16 MP, 16:9). The camera can record video in formats up to 4K inclusive. The front camera has a 5 MP matrix and can provide resolutions of 2592 × 1936 (5 MP, 4:3) and 2592 × 1456 (3.7 MP, 16:9). In video recording mode, it provides support for the Full HD format (in the settings there is also a 2208x1242 frame option). Let us remind you that the smartphone has a dedicated two-stage camera button, which is very convenient.

The Windows Camera program is installed as a standard application. It does not have additional shooting functions other than a timer. Windows suggests using third-party photo apps for this purpose. You can view their catalog in the store directly from the standard program.

The utility provides two operating modes - simple/automatic and professional. In the first case, when taking photographs, the user can only control the flash and disable the automatic selection of optimal parameters.

The second option is much more interesting - here you have access to setting white balance, manual focusing, choosing ISO, shutter speed and exposure compensation. In addition, vertical movement across the screen is implemented by Zoom. Taking into account the ability to record pictures in DNG format, this allows us to talk about the professional use of a smartphone for photography.

When switching to the front camera, only white balance, ISO, shutter speed and exposure compensation remain in professional mode.

There are relatively few parameters in the program. For photographs, you can configure the function when you hold the shutter button for a long time, the format and resolution of the pictures, the display of the framing grid, and the focus illumination. Some of the camera-related options are configured in other places, in particular, where files are stored, recording images in the OneDrive cloud, and using coordinate information.

	Excellent detail work on all plans.
	Even indoors there is good attention to detail.
	Good sharpness across the field and plans.
	Oddly enough, even the color of the sky is not so bad.
	The text is well done.
	You can read the license plate number of the nearest car through the glass of the bus stop.
	The camera copes relatively well with night photography.
	The camera copes quite well in difficult lighting conditions.
	The license plate of the closest car is not visible.
	The camera does macro photography well with flash.
	The camera does just as well without a flash.
	Good detail processing even in difficult lighting.

It looks like the Lumia engineers managed to significantly increase resolution compared to the latest models without losing quality. Even with the Lumia 1520, really good pictures were only taken when shooting at 5 megapixels. Here we see excellent field and plane sharpness with almost full resolution. The camera adequately copes with all scenes at the level of a good compact. As a result, the camera will do an excellent job with documentary and art photography.

Before recording videos, you can adjust their resolution and frames per second, and turn on digital stabilization. During shooting, you can use the LED flash illumination, as well as slow motion mode. In the advanced version, focus adjustment, white balance setting and exposure correction are available. For the front camera, there are only the last two options. Slow motion in this case only works at 1280x720 resolution and records a file without sound at a bitrate of about 9 Mbps and 30 fps, while the actual number of frames per second is 120 (four times slower).

The smartphone model in question is one of the few that uses two microphones on the rear panel (even for the front camera) when recording videos. Of course, we wouldn’t talk about effective transmission of stereo panorama, but the recording actually turns out to be two-channel. The codec and its parameters are quite typical for mobile devices - AAC LC, stereo, 192 kbit/s, 48 ​​kHz, regardless of video and camera mode.

The main camera supports frame formats from 1280x720 to 3840x2160, and the frame rate can be 24, 25, 30 or 60 fps (in 4K - maximum 30 fps). The front camera provides a more modest set - 720p30, 1080p24, 1080p30 and 2208x1242 format with 24 and 30 fps.

Videos are recorded in standard MP4 format with H.264 codec for video and AAC for audio. The parameters of some options and links to example records (volume ranges from 6 to 130 MB) are listed in the following table.

Format	Video	Examples
Basic 720p24	1280×720, AVC [email protected], 24 fps, ≈6 Mbit/s	, ,
Main 720p60	1280×720, AVC [email protected], 60 fps, ≈16 Mbit/s	,
Primary 1080p24	1920×1080, AVC [email protected], 24 fps, ≈14 Mbit/s
Basic 1080p30
Main 1080p60	1920×1080, AVC [email protected], 60 fps, ≈36 Mbit/s	, ,
Basic 2160p24	3840×2160, AVC [email protected], 24 fps, ≈40 Mbit/s
Main 2160p30	3840×2160, AVC [email protected], 30 fps, ≈52 Mbit/s	, , , , ,
Front 720p30	1280×720, AVC [email protected], 30 fps, ≈8 Mbit/s
Front 1080p30	1920×1080, AVC [email protected], 30 fps, ≈18 Mbit/s
Front 1242p30	2208×1242, AVC [email protected], 30 fps, ≈24 Mbit/s

Overall I liked the quality of the video recording. Perhaps this is one of those rare cases when watching a video from a smartphone on a computer monitor differs little from the photographs taken on it.

Software

The smartphone runs on the Windows 10 mobile operating system. At the time of testing, taking into account installed updates, it had version 1511 with build number 10.0.10586.107. Devices on this platform rarely come into our laboratory, so it is difficult for us to tell in detail what exactly has changed or been added in new versions of the software. Therefore, we will describe our impressions from a short time working with the current firmware.

There may be various notifications on the lock screen. You can select a set of programs that will work with it. Of course there is also the possibility of a background image.

The desktop has a familiar interface with “live” tiles, the set, location and size of which the user can change. In this case, the field can scroll vertically if all selected programs do not fit on one screen. On this smartphone, you can place a maximum of six tiles of the minimum size in one row, and nine to ten rows vertically. It also supports grouping tiles into groups (folders), which can help bring order when using a large number of programs.

A long press on the “Back” button brings up a list of running programs, presented as previews of their current screens. There are four of these icons on the desktop, and you can scroll through the list horizontally. In addition to quickly jumping to the desired application, this function allows you to close programs.

At the top of the screen there is a status bar with information about connections, icons for some types of notifications, battery status and a clock. Swiping it opens a list of quick mode switches, as well as expanded notifications. Here we see the battery charge in percentage and the current date.

To go to the full list of programs, you need to swipe the main screen to the left. The list is in one column, grouped by the first letters of the program name. When the interface language is set to Russian, the Cyrillic alphabet comes first, and then the English letters. Scrolling through the list can be quite tedious, so there's a search field at the top.

The total number of preinstalled programs in the firmware is about five dozen. Among them are such traditional smartphone utilities as a clock, calculator, contacts, weather, voice recorder, and of course the phone itself and messages. Note that the manufacturer offers Skype as an alternative to the last two services. At the same time, “Skype Video” is also on the list as a separate program.

Among the multimedia services, there is a program for servicing the camera, a photo gallery, an image editor Lumia PhotoStudio, a music player “Groove Music” with support for online subscription, “Movie and TV” performs the function of a video player, FM radio has a purpose that is clear from the name. The device also comes pre-installed with Shazam.

The main web browser is Microsoft Edge. The office suite consists of Outlook mail and calendar, Word text editor, Excel for tables, PowerPoint for presentations and OneNote for notes.

Additional software is purchased and installed through the standard “Store” catalog. And “Wallet” will be able to help save various cards, tickets and other information, but only after additional installation of special programs with its support (however, at the time of testing, no such programs were found using the link provided in the program).

Explorer allows you to view and manage files on the built-in disk and memory card. We didn’t forget about the integration of the device with the OneDrive cloud service.

For users of social networks there are clients “VKontakte” and Facebook. We also mention the presence of the “News”, “Finance”, “Sports” programs, as well as the “Yandex” search, which will help you stay up to date with events. If you are a fan of console games, then the Xbox Live client may come in handy.

This platform uses its own proprietary Maps application. Let us remind you that it can use offline maps, 3D building models, navigation with voice and traffic jams and other functions.

The remaining programs are utility and help programs, including Continuum, “Accessories”, “Getting Started”, “Memory”, “Lumia Help + Tips”, “Data Transfer”, “Search” and others.

Note that after enabling and setting up a Microsoft account, the smartphone independently downloaded and installed several more programs, in particular Yandex.Money and Litres: Read!

The smartphone has many user-configurable parameters and options. In the corresponding section we see ten groups. Moreover, the last one - “Advanced” - is responsible for advanced options relative to the basic operating system for this model. In particular, this controls the display of information in monochrome mode when locked, screen color profile, equalizer, SIM card management and others.

Despite grouping and searching, finding something specific can be very difficult, since in total there are more than six dozen items in the main nine groups. Interestingly, the most numerous of them is “Confidentiality”. In it, in particular, you can manage permissions for applications to work with certain functions (for example, camera and microphone) and receive information (contacts, call log, etc.).

Among the little things we liked, we note the possibility of character-by-character navigation in four directions on the standard keyboard. But unlocking by tapping the screen is clearly not enough, especially considering the positioning of the model for business. The Cortana voice assistant is currently not available in Russian.

You can learn more about the capabilities of the new version of the operating system for smartphones on the manufacturer’s website.

Telephone and communications

The Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM smartphone supports three current generations of modern cellular communications. At the same time, the company decided not to divide models by supported frequencies according to regional characteristics and implemented everything in one model at once. According to the documentation, the device supports 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz for GSM, 850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz for WCDMA, and the set of compatible bands for LTE includes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 , 12, 17, 20, 28, 38 and 40. We did not encounter any communication problems when testing the device on the network of the capital's operator Megafon. There is only one radio unit in the smartphone. Due to the features of the tested sample described at the beginning of the article, we were not able to find out details about working with two SIM cards. From the operator settings, the device allows you to select the maximum network generation, APN settings and other standard options.

The speed of Internet access on the fourth generation network was impressive - several times we saw results of more than 80 Mbit/s per reception. So don’t forget to turn on the options for Internet traffic, otherwise a couple of runs of the Speedtest.net test can very quickly empty your wallet by several hundred rubles.

On the Russian website of the manufacturer, in the characteristics of the wireless module there is no mention of support for the 802.11ac standard. However, the smartphone supports two bands, which is already good. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the operating system, it is impossible to determine the actual parameters of the adapter. So we tried to find out them experimentally by connecting to the Asus RT-AC68U router, which supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac at speeds of up to 1.3 Gbps. The devices were located within one room at a distance of about four meters. For testing, we used a specialized utility that implements scenarios for receiving and transmitting data in one stream between a mobile device and a computer on the router’s local network. The results are shown in the following table.

Scenario	Speed
2.4 GHz transmit	51 Mbit/s
2.4 GHz, reception	89 Mbit/s
5 GHz transmission	86 Mbit/s
5 GHz, reception	28 Mbit/s

Compared to previously tested devices, the numbers are very low. Note that a modern smartphone with one antenna and support for 802.11ac is capable of showing more than 200 Mbit/s in similar conditions (the connection speed is 433 Mbit/s). It's a pity that the manufacturer failed to properly implement the wireless controller, considering that the Qualcomm platform rarely has problems with this. It may be due to regional restrictions or certifications. Or our sample was faulty.

The smartphone’s wireless controller supports connecting wireless displays, but now does so using Continuum technology, which we’ll talk about later in the article.

Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM is equipped with a Bluetooth 4.1 adapter with BLE support. This allows you not only to connect headsets/keyboards/mouses, but also to interact with today’s popular fitness bracelets, smart watches and other gadgets. Standard profiles support work with audio devices, file sharing, input devices and network access.

As we remember, Microsoft (Nokia) products are also interesting for their cards, which have good coverage and can be used offline. For their effective use, the smartphone contains a signal receiver for GPS and Glonass navigation systems. Subjective testing in urban conditions showed that the system starts quickly, reception is stable, and accuracy is consistent with other models.

FM radio works with headphones as an antenna. The standard program provides for saving a list of favorite stations, displaying broadcast text information, and outputting sound to the main speaker. There is no possibility of broadcast recording and direct frequency input. The quality of reception can be assessed as average. The range of supported frequencies is from 87.5 to 108 MHz.

Performance

This is not the first time that this section in reviews of smartphones with Windows seems unnecessary to us when it comes to comparing different models with each other. There are relatively few devices in this segment and choosing them based on benchmarks usually does not make sense, since there are more significant differences, including screen size and quality, the presence of two memory card slots, operating system version, and others. It is clear that in most computing tests the Lumia 950 XL Dual SIM will be ahead of its rivals - eight 2 GHz cores leave no chance for anyone. In addition, of the devices that we tested, the model with the closest performance is the Lumia 930, and we had it in our laboratory a year and a half ago. It has fewer cores, the screen has only Full HD resolution, Windows is “old” - only version 8.1, and indeed it’s Nokia. But there is nowhere to go, apparently this particular opponent will have to be put on the table.

The Windows platform is clearly not spoiled with useful tests, and then an update to the operating system arrived... So after studying the current situation, we left GFXBench for the graphics part and tests of the browser built into the firmware to evaluate the processor’s processing cores.

TFT IPS- High quality liquid crystal matrix. It has wide viewing angles, one of the best indicators of color rendering quality and contrast among all those used in the production of displays for portable equipment.
Super AMOLED- if a regular AMOLED screen uses several layers, between which there is an air gap, then in Super AMOLED there is only one such touch layer without air gaps. This allows you to achieve greater screen brightness with the same power consumption.
Super AMOLED HD- differs from Super AMOLED in its higher resolution, thanks to which you can achieve 1280x720 pixels on a mobile phone screen.
Super AMOLED plus- this is a new generation of Super AMOLED displays, differs from the previous one by using a larger number of subpixels in a conventional RGB matrix. The new displays are 18% thinner and brighter than displays made using the old PenTile technology.
AMOLED- an improved version of OLED technology. The main advantages of the technology are significantly reduced power consumption, the ability to display a larger color gamut, reduced thickness and the ability of the display to bend slightly without the risk of breaking.
Retina-high pixel density display designed specifically for Apple technology. The pixel density of Retina displays is such that individual pixels are indistinguishable to the eye at a normal distance from the screen. This ensures the highest image detail and significantly improves the overall viewing experience.
Super Retina HD- the display is made using OLED technology. The pixel density is 458 PPI, the contrast reaches 1,000,000:1. The display has a wide color gamut and unsurpassed color accuracy. Pixels in the corners of the display are smoothed at the sub-pixel level, so edges are not distorted and appear smooth. The Super Retina HD reinforcing layer is 50% thicker. It will be harder to break the screen.
Super LCD is the next generation of LCD technology, it is characterized by improved characteristics compared to earlier LCD displays. The screens not only have wide viewing angles and better color reproduction, but also lower power consumption.
TFT- A common type of liquid crystal display. Using an active matrix controlled by thin-film transistors, it is possible to significantly increase the performance of the display, as well as the contrast and clarity of the image.
OLED- organic electroluminescent display. It consists of a special thin-film polymer that emits light when exposed to an electric field. This type of display has a large reserve of brightness and consumes very little energy.

As you know, for a long time Nokia did not respond to requests from users who wanted an Android handset from this particular manufacturer. However, recently their requests were heard, and Nokia pleased its fans with a whole line of smartphones based on the Android operating system. One of these smartphones, Nokia XL DualSIM, will be discussed in this review.

The design of Nokia XL is something between the Asha and Lumia lines. The dominant material of the case is polycarbonate, from which the back panel and sides are made. At first glance, it may seem that the case is non-separable and the user does not have access to the battery. However, everything is fine here. True, you will have to get used to the way the battery cover is removed, although it won’t take very long. This procedure is best performed by prying off the cover on the left side edge. But thanks to this device, the lid does not play against the body.

The fit between the other elements also turned out to be good. No creaking, play, or noticeable gaps. The smartphone fits well in the hand, thanks to the matte polycarbonate and tangible weight of 190 grams. By the way, despite the five-inch display, a Nokia XL user can reach any hardware button, and almost any touch button. Well, good sensitivity of the display only accompanies a convenient journey through it.
The front panel of the smartphone is divided between a large display, a speaker slot, as well as a front two-megapixel camera eye, light and proximity sensors, one touch button slightly below the display, and a built-in microphone slot. On the back side there is a peephole for the main camera and flash, plus a speakerphone output. Here, using special paint, the logo of the manufacturer’s company is applied.
Inspecting the right side edge, the user will find a volume rocker, as well as a power button. There are no functional elements provided on the opposite edge. The top end is notable for its classic audio jack, and the bottom for a microUSB port.
Nokia XL DualSIM has a five-inch display with an IPS matrix at the base and a budget resolution of 480x800 pixels. Pixelation is visible to the naked eye, viewing angles are average both vertically and horizontally. When working with the handset in conditions where the panel is exposed to bright sunlight, the information displayed on the display becomes noticeably blind, although the data can be read. The screen backlight can be adjusted both manually and automatically. In addition, in the corresponding settings menu, the user can activate or disable auto-rotate the screen, configure sleep mode, and also activate the “double tap” function. The latter wakes the smartphone from sleep mode by double tapping the display, in the style of the famous LG G2. There are no problems with the sensitivity of the display; touch control using five fingers simultaneously is supported.
Of the 4 GB of officially declared built-in memory, a little more than 2 are available to the user. Of these, a little more than 1 GB is internal storage, and another 1.2 is the volume for installing applications. Expansion is also provided for a set of microSD memory cards – up to 32 GB. inclusive.
Nokia XL has two separate speakers - internal (or communication) and speakerphone. The capacity of the removable battery is 2000 mAh. In practice, one 100% charge is enough for two days of work with a total load of at least 1.5 hours of calls, about 3 hours of web surfing, about 40 minutes. use of camera and video and 40 min. games. Unfortunately, there are no proprietary energy saving settings provided.
Nokia XL runs a custom Android 4.1 operating system, which is called Nokia X Software Platform 1.1.

The hardware inside is a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4, clocked at 1GHz. In addition, there is 768 MB of RAM and Adreno 203 graphics on board.
The shell in Nokia XL is a bizarre mixture of live icons from Windows Phone and the notification panel, as well as the settings menu from Android. The user can customize the icons, although editing the main ones mainly comes down to changing their sizes, but the non-basic ones can be painted in different colors and, if necessary, deleted.

In addition, you can add widgets to the home screen. In the notification panel, you can select the main SIM card, as well as quick access to shortcuts to wireless interfaces.
The main 5 megapixel camera is equipped with a flash and autofocus. In addition, the user has the ability to adjust ISO, activate face detection, saturation and much more.
To be honest, with a price tag of about $200 and such potential, the Nokia XL will only be in demand among fans of the brand, because it’s no secret that today competitors can offer smartphones with the same hardware under the hood for $10-40 cheaper. However, if you are still a connoisseur of the Nokia brand, you can buy this smartphone in Russia at a good price in online stores such as Svyaznoy, Sotmarket or Yutinet.

Technical characteristics of the Nokia XL Dual Sim smartphone

Dimensions Length (mm): 141.4 Width (mm): 77.7 Thickness (mm): 10.9 Weight (g): 190	Multimedia Main camera: 5 MP Front camera: 2 MP.
Display Display: color IPS Display diagonal (inch): 5″ Display resolution (pix): 480x800	Interfaces HSDPA, WiFi, stereo Bluetooth, USB port
System Operating system: Android 4.1.2 Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Processor frequency (GHz): 1 Number of cores: 2 RAM (MB): 768 Internal memory: 4 GB	Nutrition Battery capacity (mAh): 2000

Since the advent of the “smartphone” concept, all major mobile phone manufacturers that had the appropriate resources began searching for or creating an optimal operating system for a new class of devices. During this period, operating systems such as iOS, Symbian, Bada, MeeGo, Nokia Asha, BlackBerry OS and, of course, Android were developed. The latter currently leads the list of the most widely used mobile OS in the world. Many analysts believe that Nokia could avoid selling its shares and, to a certain extent, losing its market position if it switched to Android in a timely manner. However, the Finnish manufacturer relied on its own software developments, which ultimately could not compete with the software giant Google, with its Play Market and hundreds of thousands of applications.

A kind of way out of the situation was the Windows Phone operating system, which is currently the main shell of smartphones under the Nokia brand. Despite this, many fans of Android OS and Nokia products have been waiting for the moment of their joint collaboration, so today we can confidently say that such a moment has come.

Specifications

Manufacturer	Nokia
Type, form factor	Smartphone, monoblock
Communication standards		850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
		900 / 2100 MHz
High speed data transfer	GPRS (up to 85.6 kbit/s), EDGE (236.8 kbit/s), HSUPA (up to 5.76 Mbit/s), HSDPA (up to 7.2 Mbit/s)
Quantity
SIM card type
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Play (MSM8225): 2 Cortex A5 cores (ARMv5), 1 GHz, L2 cache - 512 KB, 45 nm process technology
Graphics adapter	Qualcomm Adreno 203: up to 245 MHz, support OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenVG 1.1 and Direct3D Mobile
	5", 800 x 480 pixels (187 ppi), LCD IPS, 16.78 million colors, touch (capacitive), multi-touch up to 5 touches, scratch-resistant protective glass with anti-reflective coating
RAM
Memory card support	microSD (up to 32 GB)
	1 x micro-USB 2.0 1 x 3.5mm mini-jack audio jack
Multimedia	Acoustics
	Microphone
	Additionally	Nokia MixRadio, equalizer
	Main	5 MP, ¼-inch format sensor, f/2.8 aperture, focal length 32 mm, minimum focusing range 50 cm, autofocus, HDR, flash, video recording with a resolution of 864 x 480 pixels at 30 fps
	Frontal	2 MP, f/2.8 aperture, 720p video recording
Communication capabilities
	Navigation	A-GPS, HERE Drive, HERE Maps
	Accelerometer, gyroscope, light and proximity sensors
Battery	Li-ion, removable: 2000 mAh, 7.4 Wh, 3.7 V
Charger	Input: 100~240V AC eg at 50/60 Hz 120 mA Output: 5 VDC e.g. 0.75 A
	141.4 x 77.7 x 10.9 mm
operating system	Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean
Official guarantee	12 months
Products webpage

Delivery and configuration

Smartphone NokiaXLDualSIM comes in a relatively small box made of thick cardboard, which has a very pleasant and colorful design. The packaging design does not contain unnecessary elements, and the color scheme used is very good in terms of perception. The entire front side of the box is occupied by a collage depicting three of the six color options for the new product’s body: yellow, orange and green. In addition, the image shows joyful users of the Skype application, which is pre-installed in the smartphone’s memory by default.

On the back there is a small list of the main characteristics of the phone and several icons, under which there is a small string of multi-colored dots. The colors of the six circles reflect the full range of possible colors for the smartphone’s body, which, in addition to the three mentioned above, also include white, black, and blue options. The box opens sideways, not up, which is traditional for Nokia products. Due to the absence of a sticker (in our case), the inside of the box easily falls out under the device’s own weight.

The Nokia XL Dual SIM package includes: a Nokia BN-02 battery with a capacity of 2000 mAh, a user manual, a charger with a fixed micro-USB cable, as well as a simple Nokia WH-108 headset with in-ear headphones. It is worth noting that there is no USB ↔ micro-USB cable, which is used to connect the smartphone to the PC (it must be purchased separately), which for some is a drawback.

Appearance and arrangement of elements

There is a positive stereotype among mobile phone users regarding Nokia phones: they are always of high quality and original design, well assembled, and the percentage of defective models is extremely small. Over the years, this approach has remained unchanged, so the Nokia XL Dual SIM smartphone can primarily be described as a reliable device that feels solid. Its design continues the tradition of the Nokia Lumia line, which still offers the user a wide choice of body colors. This approach can be called a simple but very effective way to increase the popularity of devices among young people, especially against the backdrop of standard black and white all-in-one PCs.

The new product has a very attractive appearance, with a pleasant light green color scheme. The body of the device is made of polycarbonate with excellent tactile characteristics and build quality: we have not recorded any design defects or other shortcomings. We also note the good rigidity of the case: the smartphone does not bend or change its geometry with moderate torsion. The corners of the phone and the side edges on the back are rounded, which, subjectively, has a positive effect on the ergonomics of the device. The dimensions of the 5-inch Nokia XL Dual SIM are 141.4 x 77.7 x 10.9 mm and weighs 190 grams. What stands out from these values ​​is the rather small thickness of the case, which still does not smooth out the feeling of bulkiness of the device.

The entire front side of the smartphone is covered with tempered glass (the manufacturer does not specify which one, but probably one of the versions of Corning Gorilla Glass), which is not pressed through and, accordingly, does not allow distortion of the display image. In addition, the screen is protected by a fairly good factory film. It is thin and provides optimal tactile sensations, as well as quite decent protection against minor scratches.

Along the contour of the front panel, between the glass and the sides, there is a small plastic insert that rises above the level of the glass and thereby protects the screen when the smartphone is lying with its back side up.

Above the display are: the manufacturer's logo, earpiece holes, front camera, light and proximity sensor. The mesh of the speaker quickly becomes clogged with dust, which over time can lead to a deterioration in the audibility of the interlocutor. The new product is not equipped with an event indicator.

At the bottom of the front panel there is only one touch button, which when pressed executes the [Back] command, and when held - [Home]. Subjectively, this button configuration does not create any discomfort when using a smartphone.

The back side of the device is represented by the cover, or rather the base, in which the main part of the Nokia XL Dual SIM is located. In terms of material and tactile sensations, it has the characteristics described above. At the top of the frame there is a peephole for the main camera and an LED flash, and at the bottom there is a slot for a multimedia speaker, which is covered with a fine-grained mesh.

To remove the cover, you need to press on the protruding corners on the front side of the case. In general, the two parts of the phone’s structure can be separated quite easily, but once assembled everything holds together just fine, and there are no gaps at all. As a result, when you first get acquainted with the new product, you might think that the phone is solid and not at all collapsible. The smartphone buttons are part of the base (cover), which in some devices leads to poor tactile feedback, however, in our case they are well defined and easy to press. Removing the cover reveals access to two Micro-SIM slots (one supporting 2G and 3G, the other only 2G), a microSD slot, and a removable battery.

On the right side of the smartphone there is a volume rocker and a power/lock button, and on top there is a mini-jack audio jack. The left side edge is solid and does not contain controls. The micro-USB port is located on the bottom edge of the phone. It is not covered with a plug, like the audio jack. In general, the smartphone is quite convenient, but you have to get used to the large and angular dimensions. However, the relatively thin body significantly smoothes out the impression of the dimensions of the 5-inch device. The buttons are conveniently located for right and left hands, so they are easy to reach.

Nokia XL Dual SIM is equipped with a 5-inch capacitive display based on an IPS matrix with a resolution of only 800 x 480 pixels, which with such a diagonal provides a pixel density of 187 ppi. In general, this value is quite enough to display a detailed picture. Firstly, due to the fact that the proprietary shell is practically devoid of particularly small elements, and secondly, you can look at a 5-inch screen from a greater distance than at a screen with a smaller diagonal. In any case, if you set this goal, then distinguishing individual pixels is not difficult.

The display is not without a standard drawback of IPS matrices: there is a color field shift to yellow and purple shades. However, it would be incorrect to consider this feature as a disadvantage of the new product. The screen has a good reserve of brightness, the level of which is automatically adjusted based on the readings of the corresponding sensor.

Pleasant color rendering and a good level of contrast complement the overall positive impression of viewing information on the smartphone display. In addition, thanks to optimal viewing angles, it is quite comfortable to view multimedia on a large screen without image distortion. It is also worth noting the presence of an air gap between the matrix and the protective glass, which slightly degrades the image. However, this parameter is subtle and very subjective.

The touch pad has good sensitivity and supports up to 5 simultaneous touches. There is also support for double tapping to unlock the smartphone. The main drawback of the display is fingerprints, which appear instantly and in large numbers. The reason for this effect is the lack of an oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating. But there is a fairly good anti-reflective coating, which, together with a good reserve of display brightness, allows you to clearly distinguish information under sunlight.

The new product is equipped with one main mono speaker, which is located at the bottom of the back of the phone. It can be called quite loud, and the sound it produces is of quite high quality, like for a smartphone. If we disassemble this direction into its components, we will note very weak low frequencies (barely noticeable “buzz”), midranges cut in the lower range, as well as quite good and detailed high frequencies. As a result, the speaker can be described as a fairly loud beeper that copes well with tasks such as playing multimedia, gaming applications, notifications and more.

The included headset provides fairly good sound quality, but the isolation from external noise is naturally insufficient. Subjectively, in this regard, it is better to use in-ear (vacuum) headphones.

The earpiece copes well with voice transmission: the sound is pleasantly detailed and moderately loud.

The Nokia XL Dual SIM smartphone is equipped with a budget but very good main camera module with a resolution of 5 megapixels, autofocus support, an LED flash and an HDR function. In addition to the mentioned characteristics, the manufacturer provided more in-depth parameters of the camera module, namely: aperture value - f/2.8; camera focal length - 32 mm; The minimum focusing range of the camera is 50 cm. Naturally, the numbers do not allow us to objectively assess the capabilities of the camera, so let’s move on to describing the shooting results.

The resulting images are saved with an aspect ratio of 2592 x 1944 pixels. Photo quality and detail are generally quite good for a 5-megapixel camera. However, in low light, the footage deteriorates slightly because automatic does not raise the ISO level above 400. On the other hand, you can use a flash, but then you should expect an extremely incorrect determination of the white balance with a strong bias towards warm shades. The only drawback of the camera in photo mode is the low dynamic range of the module, which is why frames often overlap during HDR shooting.

We expected even more positive results from video shooting, because... Nokia phones have always stood out among their competitors in this regard. However, the videos we shot in .3gp format are far from ideal: the video quality at 30 fps is not good enough even with high detail settings and maximum resolution (864 x 480 pixels), as is the sound quality. In addition, attentive users may notice a certain image distortion effect that accompanies moving objects in the example video below.

A front camera with a resolution of 2 MP will be more than enough for video calling and self-portraits. It provides quite acceptable image quality and an optimal viewing angle for video communication. The secondary camera module with an f/2.8 aperture records video in 720p format (1280 x 720 pixels), which is somewhat puzzling when compared with the recording parameters of the rear camera.

The first thing we'll look at in the "modified" Android OS is the camera app. Unfortunately, the operating system prohibits the creation of “screenshots” of this application, so we will limit ourselves to only a verbal description.

The camera app interface is quite simple but intuitive. Quick access icons are located on the left side of the screen as standard. These include settings for the LED flash, white balance, exposure value, and camera. By clicking on the last icon, the user is presented with an impressive list of additional options, such as adjusting sharpness levels, autoexposure, noise reduction, saturation, sharpness, etc. At the top there is a slider for setting the required digital zoom value (the maximum possible is x4).

In the video recording items, you can select one of three codecs for recorded videos, the duration of which, by the way, cannot exceed 30 minutes, as well as a codec for the audio track and several other options.

In general, and in terms of settings, the Nokia X shell has introduced a lot of interesting things, but as a result, the user receives pictures that are not much better in quality than in 5-megapixel Nokia Lumia smartphones. As for shooting video, only very undemanding users can rely on a smartphone in this regard. It is likely that due to the budget orientation of the new product, the video mode capabilities of the main camera are somewhat limited, or these are shortcomings of the shell itself.

Examples of photography

Video examples

An example of daytime shooting from a smartphone in maximum quality 864 x 480 at 30 fps

User interface

Now it's time to introduce you to the main highlight of the smartphone - its new operating system. Yes, exactly new, because hardly anyone would have thought that the Finnish manufacturer would simply take a “clean” version of the Android OS and install it on their smartphone. Although many users wanted just such an implementation of the new product. In fact, Nokia XL Dual SIM comes with not the latest version of Android OS - Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, but with the proprietary Nokia X version 1.1.1.0 shell installed on top of it, transforming the operating system we are familiar with completely beyond recognition. As a result, it becomes as similar as possible to Windows Phone 8: the same “tiles”, the same functions, the same rather small set of applications, available only from the company store.

Various types of notifications may appear at the bottom of the lock screen. To easily unlock your phone, you need to slide your finger (“swipe”) across a free area of ​​the screen. A similar action, but to the left on the notification, will remove it from the screen. If the notification is relevant at the moment, the user can quickly go to this application by swiping to the right, which is very convenient. You can also unlock your smartphone by lightly tapping the device twice.

The desktop resembles that of Windows Phone, which, again, can be perceived in different ways. The user must clearly determine which option is better: some people like large elements, i.e. "tiles", while others prefer five or six desktops with separate groups of small icons. The desktop, in fact, is the main menu in which all application icons are collected. The user can arrange them to his liking, as well as move individual elements into created folders. The right “swipe” on the desktop flips the screen to the “Recent” page, which displays the actions performed by the user. This menu is called “Fastlane” by the manufacturer. To configure it, there are the necessary options that allow you to choose which actions should be displayed in the feed. The smartphone comes pre-installed with a good set of important programs, such as Skype, social applications. networks, Opera browser, gaming programs and others. By the way, the manufacturer, as a gift, provides the buyer of a Nokia XL Dual SIM with one month of free calls to any country in the world, which explains the joyful faces of people on the front side of the device’s packaging.

The notification panel has standard capabilities that are visually modified by the graphical shell. Here you can enable/disable wireless network modules and view system messages or go to the device settings.

The main disadvantage of the new shell is the complete absence of absolutely all Google services (Google Play store, maps, etc.). For this reason, the “Phone” application has very limited capabilities for synchronizing with a Google account (only data and contacts from Google+, although in our case they were not loaded). If, for example, all contacts are stored in Gmail, then they will not be automatically loaded into the Nokia XL Dual SIM: all data will have to be entered manually.

Instead of the missing Google Play application store, there are Nokia and Yandex branded stores. However, some users have reported cases of errors when installing some applications or the inability to update them. In this case, the new version of the program can be installed only after downloading the apk file from the computer. However, such cases are the exception rather than the rule. You can see the interface of standard applications such as “Alarm Clock”, “Music Player”, “FM Radio” and the smartphone browser in the “screenshots” provided.

To navigate the user on the ground, the mapping application HERE Maps and the car HERE Drive are preinstalled. As for supporting the territory of our country, the situation is the same: many maps are somewhat outdated, and there is no information about the transport system of many cities.

The Nokia XL Dual SIM settings menu already in some outlines resembles the previous appearance of the Android OS. The menu items are mostly standard, so we won’t go into detail about them. Let us only note the changed appearance of icons and fonts.

As a short afterword, I would like to add that the Nokia X shell is in its early version and some of the above-mentioned nuances will be difficult for a certain number of users to come to terms with. The situation could be changed by the release of a new version, but according to the manufacturer, the update will not affect this model. On the other hand, experienced users in this area have found third-party methods for installing Google services, which, of course, cannot be called a simple solution to the problem. If we assume who will like this shell, then most likely it will be fans of the Windows Phone OS, Nokia, or users who want to learn something new. It will be quite difficult for supporters of the original version of Android to adapt to the changed interface.

Hardware platform and performance

Smartphone built on the basis of a budget processor Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Play (MSM8225), 2 cores of which operate at a frequency of 1 GHz. The processor is made using a 45nm process technology, based on the ARM Cortex-A5 microarchitecture. The L2 cache capacity is 512 KB. Graphics processing is performed by the built-in Qualcomm Adreno 203 graphics core with an operating clock frequency of 245 MHz. The graphics subsystem supports technologies such as OpenGL ES 2.0, OpenVG 1.1 and Direct3D Mobile. The amount of RAM is only 768 MB, and the built-in memory is 4 GB. The internal storage memory can be expanded using a microSD memory card up to 32 GB.

The main disadvantage of the smartphone, or rather its proprietary shell, is the inability to install applications directly onto the memory card. Instead, installation is only available on internal storage. At the same time, only 1.29 GB of phone memory is allocated for data storage. In other words, the user can install applications with a capacity of no more than 1.29 GB, which is why it is not possible to install, for example, the game Asphalt 8, because it takes up 1.35 GB of free space. This drawback could be mitigated by updating the OS, but we are unlikely to see it for this model.

The test results, considering the price of the smartphone, are quite expected: the hardware platform does not show the best performance. However, its capabilities are more than enough for fast operation of the OS, applications, browser, Full HD video playback and smooth display of simple gaming tasks. During the testing period, no slowdowns of the smartphone were noticed, which indicates good optimization of the software to the power of the hardware components.

Communications

The new product is equipped with two slots for installing SIM cards in micro-SIM format. The first of them can operate in 2G and 3G modes, the second - only 2G. Cards are easy to remove: no need to use tweezers. The phone's hardware platform supports GSM (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) and WCDMA (900/2100 MHz) mobile operator networks. During testing of the smartphone, we did not find any shortcomings in the operation of the communication modules, such as spontaneous drops or poor voice quality. In this regard, Nokia phones have always been at their best.

The communication capabilities of the new product are represented by Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi modules with support for 802.11 b/g/n protocols. Provided the smartphone was connected to a home network with a bandwidth of 100 Mbit/s, we recorded the following data transfer speeds: about 5 Mbit/s for receiving and 12 Mbit/s for sending information. Apparently, the Wi-Fi module has extremely weak throughput. However, it is quite enough for watching multimedia online, especially considering the good stability of the signal and the fast connection of the smartphone to the network.

The GPS module works correctly and allows you to quickly navigate the area using the HERE Maps and HERE Drive applications. In an open area, the device identified 9 satellites and was able to connect to all of them. The connection itself is quite fast and takes no more than 5-10 seconds.

Nokia XL Dual SIM is equipped with a removable lithium-ion battery Nokia BN-02 with a capacity of 2000 mAh, which, despite the rather modest performance of the smartphone, allows it to show good battery life in different usage scenarios. In particular, in normal operating mode, which involves several hours of listening to music, about an hour of mobile Internet and 30 minutes of calls, the phone confidently holds the battery charge for a day or two. To get more specific indicators, we conducted several standard tests.

As a result, watching HD video at 50% display brightness and Wi-Fi and GPS modules turned on drains the battery of the new product in a little more than 4 hours. A gaming simulation using the Epic Citadel application (Guided Tour mode) with 100% display brightness and Wi-Fi and GPS modules turned on on a single charge played for a little over 3 hours before the battery was completely discharged. In general, the “survivability” of the phone can be described as standard. In this regard, the redesigned operating system did not introduce revolutionary energy-saving technologies.

Charging the battery from the included AC-20 device with a power of 3.75 W (5 V at 0.75 A) lasts about 3 hours. It is worth noting once again that contrary to the common and very convenient way of connecting a smartphone to a computer using a detachable charging cable, which is usually made in the USB ↔ micro-USB format, the Nokia charger uses a fixed cable with a micro-USB connector. This approach is not very universal, because in this case, the user must additionally purchase a cable to connect the smartphone to the PC, since it is not included in the package.

Smartphone NokiaXLDualSIM can definitely be called a kind of leader, entrusted with the task of “testing” a new vision of the Android operating system. Indeed, Nokia specialists changed the popular OS beyond recognition by installing their own Nokia X shell on top of it. How did the latter affect the ease of use of the smartphone and its main parameters? We think it's positive. The phone is very interesting in everything, from its beautiful appearance with a wide selection of body color options and excellent build quality, to its “fresh” software component. In this case, the bulk of users will most likely be divided into two groups: those who were waiting for the basic and already familiar shell, and those who will happily rush to explore the new features and options of the updated software.

However, it is worth considering that usually in the history of the development of any software product, its full potential is revealed over time. Therefore, the Nokia X shell also has some shortcomings. The main disadvantage of the smartphone is the inability to install applications on a memory card. As a result, the user has only 1.29 GB of free space on the phone's internal memory available for these purposes. Typically, such nuances were corrected in subsequent versions of the OS, but according to the manufacturer, this model will not be updated. In any case, the software platform from Nokia is worth the user’s attention, as is the phone itself, especially at a very reasonable price, which is about 1900 UAH. or $160.

Advantages:

• pleasant and stylish appearance;
• excellent build quality;
• two slots for SIM cards;
• Nokia X proprietary shell;
• large OS interface elements that will be convenient for many users;
• pre-installed HERE Maps and HERE Drive apps;
• support for microSD memory cards up to 32 GB;
• good photo quality in daylight;
• relatively low cost;
• high-quality 5-inch IPS screen;
• loud speaker.

Peculiarities:

• The changed OS interface takes some getting used to.

Flaws:

• only 1.29 GB of memory is available to the user for installing applications;
• no USB cable ↔micro-USB included;
• no oleophobic screen coating;
• absence of absolutely all Google services (Google Play store, maps, etc.);
• the video quality is not good enough;
• shellNokia Xwill not receive updates in this model.

We express our gratitude Ukrainian representative office companiesNokia for the smartphone provided for testing.

"All prices for Nokia+XL+Dual+Sim"

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