Microsoft Lumia 950 crops up on SIRIM

Redmond’s finest have banked on their Lumia 950 models to save the day for the Nokia name. Running Windows 10 Mobile and giving you a mimicked PC experience through Continuum, does the Windows platform still have something to offer mobile users? Seems like Malaysians won’t need to wait much longer to find out.

Although its design didn’t surprise us, the specs show some promise – especially when you take a look at its camera credentials and its docking system that opens up Continuum. The Lumia 950 will come with a 5.2-inch Quad HD (2560 x 1440) AMOLED ClearBlack display and Gorilla Glass 3 on top.

The smaller flagship has only 6 cores, in its 1.8GHz Snapdragon 808 chipset, while mated to 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage; definitely not such a powerhouse amongst the best processors but maybe Microsoft has optimised it to make it a seamless experience. Since the camera’s photos will be taking up most of your memory, Microsoft added a microSD slot allowing you to expand it up to an additional 200GB.

Microsoft’s (actually Nokia’s) PureView camera is again touted to make waves, with its 20-megapixel f/1.9 aperture sensor. There’s a triple-LED RGB flash as well, illuminating any of your dimly lit photos. Having enough pixels, it’ll be capable of shooting 4K content in 30fps, while any audio will be picked up on the Lumia Rich Recording system that utilises the device’s 4 microphones. Your worries regarding shaky hands and its camera will be mediated by OIS and once you move on the front there’s a 5-megapixel wide angel f/2.4 lens, that allows FHD videos.

All of the internals we talked about today will be energised by a 3,000 mAh battery. Other than its USB Type-C charging port, you can also make use of its Qi Wireless charging but the cable method will get you a quicker charger at 50% of battery in 30 minutes – claimed during the presentation.

For connectivity, you’ll get 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC and 4G LTE. Based on SIRIM, we’ll be getting the dual-SIM variant. The Lumia 950 is set to go on sale in the States soon, and will go for US$ 549 (RM 2,367) – if you were looking for a price range that helps indicate Malaysian pricing, you’ve got it.

That said, at that price, consumers might look elsewhere, opting for devices from named power houses; if you were to spend a little extra. Photo-centric users might still give it a shot but we’ll just have to see what the device has to offer once it goes on sale. Let us know what you think so far of the new Lumia 950, does it stand a chance?