Specifications head to head (take 2): Lumia 950 XL vs Google Pixel 4a 5G

 

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL

Google Pixel 4a 5G

Date first accessible

November 2015

October 2020

Present value, availability

Not formally on the market, although it is typically on clearance costs should you’re fortunate and at outrageous profiteering costs on account of rarity (should you’re not!)

£499 (has to get the win on value and availability)

Dimensions, type issue, weight

152 x 78 x 8mm, plastic chassis and replaceable backs (plastic/leather-based/wooden and many others, from Mozo, as modelled right here!), 165g, bezels are comparatively small

154 x 74 x 8 mm, 168g, glass entrance and plastic sides/again, sealed as per fashionable smartphones. Barely narrower than the 950 XL, although comparable weight, particularly as soon as (optionally) cased. Smaller bezels, in fact.

Sturdiness

No particular sturdiness metrics, although the truth that the again comes off will assist enormously for water injury, i.e. taking out battery and playing cards instantly, drying out the internals, even unscrewing the motherboard from the center of the telephone. I am old-school right here! All injury to the again or corners is trivial by way of substitute of the rear, however the display screen’s uncovered, in fact. If spare elements had been all nonetheless accessible, all this may get a win right here, however I discover that the likes of Replacebase have stopped itemizing substitute Lumia 950 screens, so it is all somewhat bit moot in 2020…

No particular sturdiness claims, although the SIM card tray has a gasket on it and I believe there’s water safety for jack, speaker, and many others. though it isn’t IP-certified. Certainly, YouTube assessments present the 4a fashions surviving underneath water for a number of minutes.

Working system, interface

Home windows 10 Cellular, (dismissable) digital controls, as wanted, now formally up to date to W10 Fall Creators Replace (Redstone 3, Autumn 2017) with safety to ‘January 2020’. No extra updates, although, so we’re at Finish of Help.

Android 11 out of the field (within the UK model right here), October 2020 safety, full-screen gesture navigation.

 

Show 

5.7″ AMOLED (1440p at 16:9 side ratio, matching most video media), Gorilla Glass 4, ClearBlack Show polarisers assist with out of doors distinction, glorious viewing angles. Display space is roughly 88 cm²

Look display screen accessible (in varied colors) for always-on time, day and notification icons, plus some detailed information from a specified app.

6.2″ 1080p OLED, 19.5:9 ratio, HDR, Gorilla Glass 3, display screen space is roughly 96cm², so extra display screen actual property in the identical type issue. Will get the win right here, regardless of the decrease decision, due to higher use of area, all different issues being equal – extra display screen in a smaller type issue.

All the time on ‘look’ display screen is on the market and consists of ‘Now taking part in’ detection of ambient music round you.

Connectivity

LTE, NFC (all makes use of), Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, integral wifi tethering, Bluetooth 4.2 (all makes use of).

Continuum connectivity to make use of a variety of first and third social gathering UWP apps on exterior shows as secondary display screen, unbiased of the telephone show. Consists of the brand new NexDock 2, remodeling the Lumia right into a Home windows 10 S laptop computer, successfully.

LTE, 5G (sub-6), NFC (all makes use of) Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, integral wifi tethering, Bluetooth 5.0 (all makes use of). Each telephones get a (joint) win right here, since I’ve to provide credit score to 5G help right here, conserving the telephone future proof, and many others.

Processor, efficiency

Snapdragon 810 chipset, 3GB RAM, decently easy on the Fall Creators Replace although nonetheless slower for nearly all the things than on the Pixel. Multi tasking and app resumption is superb although, a minimum of with all the fashionable UWP apps

Qualcomm SDM730 Snapdragon 765G, 6GB RAM, very quick at all the things in comparison with the Lumia, issues simply occur immediately. 

Capability

32GB eMMC inside storage, expandable by way of (low-cost) microSD to further 256GB

128GB inside storage, non-expandable, joint winners right here regardless of the shortage of growth as a result of – come on – 128GB continues to be an terrible lot.

Imaging (stills)

20MP PureView f/1.9 1/2.4″ BSI sensor, Part Detection auto-focus, devoted digicam shutter button and launch key, real 2x lossless digital zoom (in 8MP oversampled mode), OIS. ‘Wealthy Seize’ produces customisable HDR pictures and ‘dynamic flash’, with triple LED illumination. Excellent pictures in most mild circumstances, with simply focussing points in low mild as an Achilles heel.

5MP entrance digicam, no auto-focus

12MP, f/1.7, 1/2.55″, twin pixel PDAF, OIS, the identical as Pixel cameras for the previous few years, however (as typical) dramatically enhanced with intelligent multi-shot algorithms. 

16 MP, f/2.2, 107˚extensive angle digicam – testing wanted to see how properly that is built-in into the digicam workflow.

8 MP, f/2.0 entrance digicam, no auto-focus

Imaging (video)

As much as 4K, optically (and optionally digitally) stabilised, with ‘Greatest picture’ 8MP grabbing built-in, plus Wealthy Recording and HAAC microphones for top of the range, gig-level stereo seize.

As much as 4K video seize, digitally stabilised utilizing gyro-input. Stereo audio seize, although with no stay rock gigs underneath pandemic guidelines, it is laborious to check completely when it comes to dynamics!

Music and Multimedia
(audio system)

A tinny mono speaker by fashionable requirements, although as ever you possibly can commerce quantity for constancy in a easy tweak on Lumias.

 

Real stereo audio system, although with bass primarily coming from the underside part and simply mids and prime finish coming from the earpiece speaker. Nonetheless, it makes a satisfying sound for a telephone, when watching YouTube or Netflix and many others. They’re louder and crisper than these within the Pixel 3a vary, notably, however they fall wanting the astonishing Dolby Atmos output from the iPhone 11 collection or any current Samsung flagship, lots of which I even have right here for testing.

PS. Notably, the upper spec Pixel 5 (additionally in for assessment) would not have stereo audio system – all sound is delivered by way of the underside speaker, with simply tinny filler emitted by way of the under-screen piezo earpiece.

Music
(headphones)

3.5mm headphone jack pushed by a devoted Qualcomm DSP chip, plus Bluetooth A2DP+AptX, so nice wired and wi-fi headphone audio too. 

3.5mm headphone jack, A2DP+AptX HD on Bluetooth. The wired audio makes use of the essential DAC constructed into the 765G chipset, so it isn’t as loud or as top quality as that within the Lumia.

Navigation 

Home windows 10 Maps is now fairly mature and spectacular, particularly as soon as you have realized the stay visitors routine trick! Offline maps save loads of knowledge bandwidth for these on tight contracts or anybody in a low sign (knowledge) space, and these get the win right here.

Google Maps is now the gold commonplace in telephone navigation, tied in with many different Google companies and providing true actual time navigation round visitors points.

Cortana/Voice

Cortana was now mature and properly built-in, although performance has been falling away and it not features in any respect in most elements of the world.

Google Assistant is built-into most Android telephones now and is now considerably extra succesful than the competitors.

Battery, life 

Detachable 3340mAh battery, and the power to alter cells are a constructive right here (and also you CAN nonetheless purchase respectable spare batteries), plus USB Sort C Energy Supply (as much as 3A, so 15W) and 1A Qi wi-fi charging built-in additionally helps. Nonetheless, a Lumia operating Home windows 10 Cellular will now discharge in 24 hours even should you do not use it a lot.

Sealed 3885mAh battery, USB Sort C quick charging (as much as 18W, i.e. 9V at 2A). No Qi wi-fi charging, sadly, this may have gotten the Pixel a win right here, regardless of the sealed cell.

Cloud aids

Home windows Photographs syncs throughout all signed-in units, topic to your OneDrive tariff (stingy, except you may have Workplace 365), ought to you may have hundreds of pictures within the system. Plus Home windows 10 backs all of your media, utility knowledge and settings to a separate backup folder system, tariff-free on OneDrive, for simple restoration on a brand new or manufacturing unit reset telephone.

Google Photographs, as soon as put in, will do an amazing job of organising photographs and syncing them throughout all signed-in telephones and tablets. Plus backup area is free eternally, with only some caveats…

File compatibility

As with all Home windows telephones, plugging right into a Home windows PC provides full drag and drop to the telephone’s consumer file system. Plugging right into a Mac is not trivial, although see right here!

Plugging right into a PC provides full MTP entry to the Pixel’s (consumer) file system, plugging right into a Mac requires Google’s Android File Switch utility, however this works very properly too.

Biometrics 

Iris recognition (‘Home windows Hi there’) works properly except you put on varifocals(!), however takes a few seconds (together with an animation!) in actual world use. There’s additionally no official method of paying in retailers utilizing this, a minimum of not in many of the world.

Fingerprint sensor (on the again) so it is going to work and very shortly. Sure, it is ‘old style’ biometrics, however in right now’s mask-wearing society such an method works fairly properly.

Purposes and ecosystem 

Home windows 10 Cellular has most (although not all) mainstream apps and companies coated. Typically third social gathering purchasers are concerned, thoughts you, there are firms who hate Microsoft a lot that they merely refuse to put in writing for Home windows, it appears. And ‘lengthy tail’ area of interest/boutique apps are laborious to search out for actual world firms and retailers.

The would possibly of Google and Android’s app ecosystem – all the things is on the market and virtually all the time in first social gathering type.

Upgrades and future

Home windows 10 Cellular is now successfully out of help. Any further, will probably be useable however with increasingly service caveats making use of. Nonetheless, ‘finish 2019’ was a full 4 years for the reason that Lumia 950 XL was launched, so it is laborious to complain.

The one greatest USP of a Google Pixel system is the upgradability and help, on this case a assured three years, taking us as much as Android 14, and positively safety updates by way of then.