It’s hard to believe it’s been almost two years since Nokia first introduced its giant Lumia 1520 Windows Phone. At 6 inches, it was the largest Windows Phone at the time and one of the biggest phones on the market. While bigger phones are becoming more common, Microsoft is stepping back slightly from the huge 6-inch footprint today as the company reveals its new Lumia 950XL with a 5.7-inch display.
It's a bigger version of the Lumia 950, so the two devices have a lot of things in common. That includes what Microsoft calls "tablet-class liquid cooling" to allow these phones to handle more powerful chips, which, at the very least, sounds awesome. The phone has a 20-megapixel camera on the back, and beside it is what Microsoft calls a "Triple LED RGB natural flash" — basically, Microsoft claims, it's what'll let you take well-lit pictures where people look normal. The camera has optical image stabilization, and it can shoot in 4K, too. Photography enthusiasts will also be happy to know that it has a dedicated camera button on the side.
The 950XL includes 32GB of storage by default, but it'll be expandable through microSD. It's charged over USB Type-C, and Microsoft says it can go from dead to a 50 percent charge in 30 minutes. That's all the same for both the 950 and the 950XL. The one big difference between the two phones is that the 950XL includes an octa-core processor, while the 950 uses a hexa-core processor.
The XL is a bigger, more powerful Lumia 950
The XL will also include support for Windows Hello. You'll be able to log into the phone with just your face, making use of the latest features in Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft is also adding in Continuum support to connect up a mouse, keyboard, and monitor and transform the Lumia 950XL into a PC using a dock. It's a feature that turns your phone UI into one that's very similar to the Start Menu and desktop found in a real Windows 10 PC. Application developers will need to create Windows 10 apps to take advantage of Continuum, but Microsoft's built-in apps and Office Mobile software will be fully supported out of the box.
The Lumia 950XL will go on sale next month for $649.
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