When Neil Armstrong died a few weeks back, I wondered " Isn’t it amazing that he was the first to land on the moon ". (btw RIP Neil :( ) Its great to be the first , people remember the first, its a legacy, an honor. And Samsung has achieved it by launching the first Windows Phone 8 smartphone. But the biggest question I had in mind was "Will samsung have the same effect with the Windows as it had with the Android. Didn’t it fail earlier to do the same thing with Mango? I’ll leave this question to a techtalk i’ll write later. But for now lets dissect this device :)
Disclaimer - This is a specs review and not the actual one. The mobile is supposed to be released in Q4 2012 , you can expect me to write a full fledged detailed review then.
Lets start with the display
The ATIV S has a 4.8 inch HD Super amoled display with a resolution of 1366 x 786 with the pixel density of 306 ppi , good , not great , Nokia and HTC has managed to dwarf samsung in this respect.
The processor
This phone is equipped with a snapdragon s4 dual core processor which clocks at 1.5 ghz. Which seems to be a benchmark for windows phones. As the same one is used on Lumia 920 and the HTC 8X.
Memory
This comes with a 16GB/32GB onboard memory with a memory card expansion option , so samsung goes for a clear cut , tried and tested formula which has worked for them until now, The downer is the RAM which is just 1 GB. A huge dissapoitment considering that I expected it to be 1.5 to 2 GB.
Sensors
The phone is equipped with a proximity sensor, an accelerometer, a geo magnetic sensor and an ambient light sensor with a gyroscope. The same combination as of the Galaxy S3.
Connectivity
When in comes to connectivity this phone is equipped with 3.5 mm audiio jack, with NFC Capabilities. Wifi Direct and Wifi Channel bonding and Bluetooth 3.0,
The Camera
The phone has a 8 MP back camera and a 1.9 MP front camera , The back camera comes with a Dual LED flash with auto focus. The camera is nothing extra ordinary and falls behind its windows phone competitors (yet to see how iSight will fare against it ).
The Battery
The phone comes with a 2300 Mah battery , huge considering that it is a windows phone and I have gut feeling that I can run longer than the Galaxy S3.
The price
The price of the ATIV S is speculated to be around the release price of the Samsung Galaxy S3. maybe around 40 k. I’d say the Lumia 920 would be better at the same price (If Nokia does release it at the 37 - 40 k price range, I’m hoping so ). Wait for my Nokia 920 review. (I’m a nokia fanboy btw )
The design wise this phone is dull, with the same old black and grey rectangular bar design (Come on Samsung !!!, gimme a break) The build quality does seem to be amazing though similar to all of the Samsung phones. No colour variations though(again yuck!!!). There is just no innovative changes in the design. Samsung direly needs a Jonnathan Iyre in their ranks. But Samsung has defied the trend many times and it has done it yet again without releasing its mid range successor. Will this strategy backfire? Will the market leader slide in the third world, or will it triumph here too? Lets wait and watch.
Comments and criticism are welcome :)
Regards,
SlightlyDrunk