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Microsoft Lumia 950 Dual-Sim Pre-Order from USA - US $549 + $17 Post = $795AUD @ B&H Photo Video

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Hey guys,
So im looking to purchase the lumia 950, but for $999 in AUS i was looking elsewhere. I found it at bhp video for preorder for the dual sim (not sure why you need 2 sims) for $549US + $17US postage which brings it to around $800AUD. Around a saving of $200.
Only catch is this is a preorder and im not sure what the ETA is, i would say around 20th of December (released in australia on the 8th).
Suitable to 4g here in OZ. Comes in black or White and can get the 950xl.
Some specs
PRODUCT HIGHLIGHTS

GSM / 4G LTE Capable
International Variant/US Compatible LTE
20MP 1/2.4" Camera Sensor
26mm f/1.9 Zeiss Lens with OIS
1.8 GHz Snapdragon 808 Hexacore CPU
32GB Storage Capacity + 3GB of RAM
5.2" qHD 2560 x 1440 AMOLED Display
microSD Expandable up to 200GB
Dual-SIM Dual Standby (DSDS)
Windows 10 with Continuum Support

Related Stores

B&H Photo Video
B&H Photo Video

closed Comments

  • +2

    Good find.

    http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1192642-REG/microsoft_…

    XL for anyone interested. Under $900 AUD at the moment.

  • +7

    1st SIM for cheap phone calls
    2nd SIM for cheap data

    • oh, how does it know which sim to use? do they work at the same time?

      • +4

        You decide which sim to do what in phone's setup.
        yes until 2G network is closed.

        • -1

          2nd Sim is not 2g

        • So no DUAL LTE mode?

        • @ChickenAdobo: you don't need dual LTE because LTE only offers data service only

        • +4

          @Damonator84:
          my understanding is you can't have both sims on 3/4G at the same time (until new hardware available).

        • +2

          @ddhytz:

          Just have rhe data sim on LTE and the phone sim on 3G.

        • +2

          @Zylam Marex:
          the current technology does not allow that, unfortunately.

        • @ddhytz:

          Ahhh daam that's messed up :(.

  • +1

    I've been looking at this for a few days now. Just be mindful their warranty is a B&H warranty and not a Microsoft one. You pay to have the phone shipped back to them. They will pay to have it shipped back to you.

    uniquemobiles said they will stock this, but no ETA and price. However at least you get local warranty (through uniquemobiles, shipping to Brisbane)

      • I'm kinda hesitant on ordering from Uniquemobiles for this very reason. Too many bad reviews. The local warranty might end up more useless than an overseas one!

  • +12

    $800 for a Window Phone, good luck :)

    • Agree… I use a Lumia 735 and it's great, but also it was dirt cheap. If I was spending in the high hundreds I would have gone back to Apple (!!!). Most likely cheapo Android from China next time I get a new phone unless some decent mid-range Windows phones hit sub $200 again.

      • +4

        u have to try Xiaomi!! Im using one now and their software is as good as stock android! MIUI 7 has incredible battery saving tech and atm I'm getting one week battery life out of my mi4i (5 inches with 3100mah battery!)

        • +3
        • 1 week battery? You must seldom use it… How much screen on time?

        • +1

          @ciab:

          Takes 7 minutes to flash a clean firmware from Xiaomi.EU. If you worried about malwares.

        • +2

          Yup with all that adventuring in the wild, you need a phone that lasts a long time! Tell Elena I said hi!!!

        • +1

          @deanylev:

          havent charged for 5 days, currently have 5 hrs of screen time. 30% left. This is with an inbuilt battery mode turned on (limits background data/wakelocks like sony stamina mode)

        • @ciab: malware is installed by dodgy third party websites. the phone isn't officially available to us so you have to go through dodgy resellers sometimes.

          do some research, vickmall which post here dont do this

        • @ciab: wouldn't want a phone with email capabilities

        • @ciab: and I care why?

          Kogan phones are often refurbished garbage anyway and all sourced from dodgy asian stores. likely the same stores that re-sell Xiaomi phones.

          buy officially from Xiaomi and have no issues.

          if you buy a mobile phone from the local corner store and it has spyware and malware on it, do you blame Microsoft for that or do you blame the corner store ?

    • +2

      You've missed alot I see. Microsoft is upping their game.

      • especially they are trying to bring Win32 apps onto their Windows Phone like the 950XL, means you can installed/put your Win32 apps on your phone and run them with Continuum mode (external monitor, input devices), which would totally make it 'computer/desktop friendly' than Android and iOS

        • +4

          Continuum doesnt "run" Win32 apps.. LOL..

          Win32 apps will not natively run on your phone given the original is Intel code vs ARM code on your phone. Most of the apps will need to be recompiled unless they are Metro ones that runs .NET code abstracted.

          BTW.. before you say its their invention and their idea for continuum. Motorola and Samsung already have done this with the Atrix/Razr and the Galaxy/Notes and the smartdocks. Just the idea didnt catch on with Motorola and Samsung at the time.

        • You can't do this with the lumia 950 range, but will likely be able to do it when the new Surface Phone comes out next year with x86 processors. I'm guessing it will be a big phone though.

        • +1

          @bchliu: http://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-investigating-win32-…

          I think he read this. It is still underdevelopment or maybe fake hoax.

        • +1

          @dadeadman: Maybe under development. Its sounds suspiciously like an x86 emulation container or some sort of wrapper to wrap Win32 calls to native calls. There's a couple of projects on Android that did something similar like Winulator and played Windows Starcraft using the original x86 code.

        • @bchliu: There is project astoria and project Islandwood. I heard Candy crush was ported from iOS. If this can give similar results, Than I guess its good enough.

        • @bchliu:

          To be fair most concepts have been done before, it's their execution that is paramount.

        • @DrStinge: Yeah.. that is true. However, its probably more market acceptance and timing that is most crucial.5 years on from the Atrix in a more connected world - it will be better for market acceptance now.

        • @bchliu: This is what I assume they will do, as they have told developers that they will be able to "repackage" their Win32 programs as Apps and release them on the Windows Store as universal apps.

        • @MrFunSocks: Sure.. that is what they should do given the code abstraction layer of Universal apps / Metro. But still really isnt true "Win32" code that you can download from the internet and run. I think thats where the main problem is.

      • +2

        Still a huge app gap in terms of both quality and quantity of apps, especially first party ones.

        Seeing as apps on Windows 8/10 aren't a huge thing, as most people use Windows 10 in desktop and bypass metro UI altogether, I don't see how a universal app platform will help.

        If you don't use many apps and are satisfied with at times 3rd party substandard gap fillers (as there is no first party) and want a quality camera, then Windows phone is fine.

        For anyone else who appreciates the ecosystems that exist in android/ios, the experience is jarring and unfortunately hardware is only one half of the experience.

        Worldwide marketshare of Windows phone is falling for a reason - 1.7% last quarter, down from 3% a year ago…
        http://www.gsmarena.com/gartner_windows_phones_market_share_…

        I've tried the Nokia Lumia 1520 for a couple of months, and while the camera was awesome and ahead of its time - apps, multitasking and general customisability was a huge letdown in comparison to android for me.

        YMMV.

        • as most people use Windows 10 in desktop and bypass metro UI altogether

          Apps on Windows 10 run in desktop mode, fully windowed and everything. Have you even used it?

        • Exactly. Windows apps are definitely let-down. It doesn't matter how good the hardware is. For example, the Amazon Kindle reader app on WP has not being improved for ages. You don't get dictionary, cannot search … very primitive. Is this a fault of MS? I think partially. At least MS failed to motivate the ISVs to invest on this platform.

          I am an existing 1520 user, only positive with: camera, screen, GPS (super quick and sensitive) and battery life. Will not consider another WP unless it's cheap as chips.

        • @MrFunSocks:

          Yes. But I don't see the point in a world where there are competent web apps which integrate into the browser, or standalone full featured versions of the program to install on desktop.

      • The only reason a lot of people have Windows Phones is because of $30 530 deals. Microsoft 'upping its game' means porting bridges which aren't guaranteed to take off, and even if they did, don't guarantee people are going to spend $800 on one, at least not in meaningful numbers.

      • Now we just have to wait for Windows developers to up their game.

    • As someone who loves Windows Phone and has bought 5 of them……….completely agree. No way in hell am I paying even $500+ for a Windows Phone when my 735 cost me $250 and is a great phone, like my 636 for $200 before that, and my 620 before that for about the same price. Asking iPhone money is just stupid, and as soon as they announced the price I thought to myself "well there goes any last hope Windows Phone had of getting market share". What they need is affordable flagship spec phones that really give current iPhone/Android users a reason to switch. Better specs than their iphone/nexus/galaxy for half the price? That's attractive. Same price but with 1/10th of the apps? Tell 'em they're dreaming.

      I'll wait for the inevitable 650/750/850, then the rapid price drop to 50% of launch price, then buy one.

      • Even if they offered a phone at the nexus 5x price I'd still buy Android over them. And really that would be the best they could get pricewise. People seem to forget that the 930 came out late to market with inferior specs and was expensive too at the time. These will depreciate fast, only a few months away from a new generation of flagships using s820, which is around double the speed of the s810.

  • +2

    Very tempting for dual sim and dock feature… However even my bank app is not found in the platform as well as no pptp/openvpn support. Should I give MS another chance?

    Or maybe the price of this phone will drop to less than half rrp within 6 month.

    • i think with universal apps, many more companies will just modify their apps from ios/android with minimal fuss and it should be available. but only time will tell.

      • +3

        Hehe you're mixing up Project Islandwood and Project Astoria, iOS app and Android app porting respectively, with the Universal App Platform.

        Though reports are that MS might can Project Astoria.

        • +2

          Islandwood by itself would be enough IMO.

        • +1

          @myfeetarehappy: Agreed. And from the start, it was the better process, as it's supposed to be able to yield actual Universal Apps too.

    • +1

      if you want awesome photos then yes!
      http://wmpoweruser.com/new-lumia-950-ok-pretty-good/

  • +1

    $973 for 950 at HN with a $25 off voucher and a free bonus 200gb micro sd card, with local warranty. Though only really worth the price if you do want the 200gb card which goes for a fair amount too.

    $1102 for the 950xl with same bonus.

    • +1

      Is the local HN stock dual SIM?

    • +2

      Really? The 200GB MicroSD card itself is worth $300 local stock.. OMG..

        • +1

          Although in US, they are giving away the USB Dock with their deals instead of the 200GB MicroSD.. Pretty awesome - wish Telstra can get such deals too.. sigh

        • @bchliu: Several other countries too, strange to of not had it here as well. Though there are some small rumours around that may imply it coming soon. Zylax computers (aus store) is bundling the dock for about $1000 though. I'm planning to wait and see what other retailers plan to do first though.

        • What is the speed of this MicroSD?

        • @windwai: Well it's not said what brand/model it is so we don't know yet! But I can imagine there aren't many 200gb microSD cards around so you can probably get a good idea.

  • +1

    Windows 10 on my Nokia 1520 is awesome and if the phone dies, it will be the 950XL. Duel sim would be nice, you visit another country, go to the a vending machine, grab a data pack and Bob's your uncle.

  • +6

    not sure why you need 2 sims

    One for spouse and one for non-spouse?

    Dual Sim Phones

    Dual Sim phones are becoming more common these days and their intention is business related. The idea is that you can have your Irish sim and perhaps a UK sim for when you travel to the UK, this means cheaper local calls when abroad. However it is still rare for companies to provide their workers with dual sim phones, more often than not they just pay the workers personal phone bill or provide a second work only phone.

    What’s the problem here, well many men and women are using dual sim phones, their normal sim for home life and another sim for the ‘other’ life. Dual sim phones don’t look any different, your partner could arrive home with a new phone as their old one broke and have a secret second sim. Do you know if your wife or husband’s phone is dual sim, take a look.

    • I have dual SIM. One for normal, one for Scumtree and Fleabay

  • This A Black Friday special?

  • +1

    I was so looking forward to the new Lumia flagships, been a huge Windows Phone/Mobile fan and up until recently was using a Lumia 1020 for 2 years. But…

    I played with them at the MS store in Sydney and they feel beyond cheap, just ridiculous, for me the biggest feature was the Lumia hardware, the flagship Nokia Lumias had the hardware that let you see past the huge app gap, they were beautiful works of art. I wouldn't touch a windows phone on a cheap Lumia, the OS is just not comparable in functionality vs a cheap Android, but I love it on a flagship.

    They took that away with the Lumia 950 and the XL, they feel just as cheap as a 535.

    Also with a supposed Surface Phone in the works (Google Surface Phone for the leaks) there is no way these things are going to maintain their value. They are just not worth anything beyond 450 and even that is pushing it.

    I'd recommend to stay away from them, us windows phone fans have been cheated by MS. Hopefully they kill it with the Surface phone.

    • Haters gonna hate! I would use nothing but Microsoft. Streamline and fast.

      • +1

        I'm all MS too but these new phones feel cheap. I ain't hating!

        • +4

          That's my biggest concern about the 950/xl is that its so cheap looking build wise, doesn't look like a premium phone. Pretty much every other flagship at $1000 has a more premium build. Also the Samsung and iPhone have better hardware to justify their ridiculous price tags. I'd take the LG V10 over this phone anyday to be honest, just for it's awesome dac.

        • +1

          @Ronnnie:

          100% agree, the new Lumias are absolutely shocking to say the least, even the display felt washed out, I seriously thought the display models were proto hardware or something, they are nowhere near worth 1k.

          I believe the 4-500 dollar Androids are the way to go if you want the best bang for buck and not an iPhone. As someone above mentioned the G4 is like 500 ish, way more worth it than the 950 and XL.

          Yea the V10 sure is an interesting phone, I'm not aware of it coming outside of the US.

    • +2

      I wouldn't touch a windows phone on a cheap Lumia, the OS is just not comparable in functionality vs a cheap Android, but I love it on a flagship.

      This is the opposite of reality. Cheap Lumias are the absolute best cheap phones. Cheap Android phones are terrible. WP runs incredibly well on low spec hardware, that was one of their main goals when creating it.

      • I disagree that cheap Android phones are terrible, there's some fantastic cheap Android phones that offer great performance. Phones like the 532 is terrible compared to some similar priced Androids from past deals like the Y550 or even the zte fit.

        However at around the 150-200 mark the hardware on some of these windows phone have offered in past deals is pretty much impossible to find on sub $200 Android phones. Probably because the recent deals are from clearance thanks to wp not selling. Couldn't find an amoled 720p screen phone with decent rear camera and 5mp front camera for $150 in Android world. Or a phone with as good as camera the pureview ois camera and with metal sides and wireless charging etc for less than $200. Even the lumia 640 is an incredible phone for $129 and nothing hardware wise from Android can compete. Unless you're happy to risk Chinese imports and miss out on bands and warranty.

  • The specs on these 2 new phones are as good as anything out there. The camera is equal to or a little better than LG G4 and Sammy GS6. If you can live without some of the apps then this won't disappoint.

  • +3

    I thought the prices of windows phone are lower than the Android ones to attract people to the platform. But if you compare this to LG G4 this is 250 AUD more expensive for … dual sim I guess. Lets put USB C as a possible benefit. Isn't this phone kind of overpriced?

    • +1

      If you actually follow the deals here, you can get a G4 for $450, or a Nexus 6P for $744. If $800 is considered a 'bargain,' I'm not sure how many people would buy this phone besides hardcore WP fans.

      • I do follow the deals :) and I got an G4 for 450 and I am loving it. I compared the specs and they are very similar. But I am not sure that is a fair comparison as right now you cannot find it with 450. I thought I would give it the benefit of the doubt put some benefits that are very small and compare it to the current price and even at the current price I still think the G4 is a much better deal.

  • +4

    950XL is the PERFECT phone.
    ….If only it had the Google Play store.

    • No one has made the perfect phone. The closest was the HTC One M8 imo, but the camera and huge bezels let it down. The perfect phone won't be mostly made out of plastic and lack front facing speakers. Also phones need better dac.

    • +1

      i share the exact same phantasy.
      even the 1520 and 1320 are till now my favorite looking phones.
      if only the ran android :(

      • I had a 1320, it was too big and heavy. The only good thing was the battery life, though it sucks compared to my G4 battery life.

    • Fellers at XDA managed to side load google and and make it work but MS put a stop to that quick not sure if smart.

  • +2

    as a MS fan, my first WP was Samsung Omnia 7, then HTC Radar, then HTC 8X, then lumia 930.
    I think im out of patient… especially with app developers…
    it really makes it inconvenient sometimes…

    thinking of switching to ios/android…

    • +1

      watch Blackberry Priv. It is an interesting phone - Android app store + BB's privacy technique.

    • I had an Omnia 7. Hubs were such a good idea, especially the people hub. Once they removed those it lost it's uniqueness….Android does everything WP does and then some.

    • i went through a similar experience.
      they have had so much time to catch up, but microsoft just moves at snails pace.
      The idea of a surface phone appealed to me, only if it could run .exe files on it.
      Windows phone relying on the windows store is just not good enough in my opinion.
      the UI still looks squarish, old fashioned and lacks anything exciting.

  • +3

    Windows 10 is pretty crap at this point. Good thread over on windows central about how poor it is at this stage.
    http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-10-mobile/393127-ms…

    I suppose if you buy this phone might have to wait 12 months for ms to get things right. The app gap will hopefully be resolved, but once again it may take at least 12 months if not longer. Lots of people have been waiting for years and have given up. The worse thing about windows phones is the browser, too many websites aren't displayed properly and have performance issues.

    • I haven't had any issues with Edge not displaying websites properly. It has other issues, but displaying sites isn't one of them in my eyes.

      Try it out, if you like it now, buy it. Do NOT hope for MS to improve things in the future..

  • +3

    if you are spending so much buy local. too much money imo.

  • Preorder… i wouldnt. Wait for it to actually come out here. I'd pay a slight premium for local 2yr microsoft warranty.

  • Finally a good dual sim phone.

  • Is WP10 interface tiles only, or do you also get the desktop view?

    • Just titles. But with continuum you get some sort of mix of Metro-desktopish apps. However it requires an adaptor to hock up a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

      • +1

        Said adaptor is going to be $150-200 when it lands here…

        Hardly an impulse buy for most people.

        • Yup and practically useless, if you're going to be carrying around a monitor, mouse and keyboard, might as well just get a tablet or laptop or hybrid!

        • I'm not sure what the specs are but it just sounds like a glorified usb otg hub with Slimport/mhl passthrough for video.

          Unless MS keep it entirely proprietary, I'd expect 3rd party accessory makers such as Belkin to offer Continuum compatible docks at lower prices.

        • +2

          @Zylam Marex: You've completely missed the purpose/point of Continuum. You aren't supposed to carry around that stuff, the whole point is that you just carry your phone and then anywhere there is a TV/monitor/keyboard setup you have a basic computer in your pocket.

          Get up in the morning, go to work, put your phone on a NFC card and it automatically connects to your mouse, keyboard and monitor on your desk. Do your work for the day, pick your phone up and put it in your pocket and go home. Plug it in at home and carry on where you left off.

          It's amazing how many people don't seem to understand the usefulness of Continuum.

        • +2

          @MrFunSocks: We understand it just fine. But if you think that office workers are suddenly going to embrace Continuum, you're cracked. Firstly, it doesn't run x86 programs, it uses the same sorta neutered, faux-desktop apps that RT tried and failed to push. Secondly, anywhere there's already a monitor, keyboard and mouse, there's probably also a PC… a PC that isn't hamstrung by running only Windows Store apps, doesn't require an expensive peripheral, and is constantly backing up your work to the cloud anyway. The ability to 'carry on where you left off' isn't exactly ground-breaking.

        • @Strand0410: spot on.

          They are throwing an idea in because Ubuntu have that idea down and Ubuntu has demonstrated how it works but these are 2 different types of eco systems.

        • +1

          @Strand0410: It doesn't need to run x86 programs for anything where you just do basic word processing and use internet based applications.

          For your second point the point is you don't need to have a PC there as well if you have Continuum. Any offices that use thin clients could absolutely replace them with continuum. All of the non-developers at my work have i5 desktops that are used 100% exclusively to do excel, word and internet based work. The employees don't use Win32 programs, and they don't even have the ability to install them anyway.

          Also continuum doesn't require an expensive peripheral - it can work using Miracast, no peripheral necessary:

          using Bluetooth peripherals and a Miracast wireless display device, Microsoft's upcoming Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL devices can use Continuum mode entirely wirelessly. ( http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2015/11/18/windows-10-… )

        • +1

          @MrFunSocks: Desktop MS Office and Mobile/Web Office are incomparable. I don't even use Excel professionally, but even with peripherals, where are the macros on the mobile version? Hotkeys? Shapes? And unless it's changed since I last used it, what about the password-protected spreadsheets I couldn't open? Bear in mind, I don't work with Office and if even I chafe, I can't imagine how professionals might feel if forced to use a substandard version of Office.

          For your second point the point is you don't need to have a PC there as well if you have Continuum.

          There are hundreds of millions of PCs in the world, many of which aren't due for upgrades for years, especially if, as you say, 100% of the average workflow solely involves Word and Excel, so it's a sunk cost, whereas upgrading all your employees to Windows Phones and buying Continuum/Miracast docks isn't. And what about shared workspaces? A monitor and KB/M just sitting there is useless unless the next person has their own Windows Phone. So does WP adoption need to be 100% within a workplace for this to make sense? I don't buy it, at least not now with 1.7% market share.

  • +1

    Hey, with all due respect Lumia series have remarkable and beautiful design in their high-ends, however only the OS is a little bit disappointing. Or I should put more specifically, 3rd party apps on that OS are a bit disappointing. I have owned a Lumia 920 ages ago. Nothing really needs to be complained about. But Instagram was in beta then and I believe it is still in beta now, in which you kinda get my points now.

  • +1

    The older Lumia's look much nicer than these new ones.

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