Why is the Ativ S so unpopular?

[OrangeBerry02]

What intrigues me is why the Ativ S is so unpopular ... yet users are in the main such avid fans of the phone. I found it one of the most comfortable and competent phones to own and twice now one of my old Ativs has come to my rescue when I have been obliged to send my Lumia 830 in for repairs.

 

[anon(8316658)]

its not "unpopular"
the problem is simple SAMSUNG = Android, nobody knows about Samsungs WP devices + the fact that WP has a low worldwide share compared to iOS or Android

 

[Dusan Randj]

It's not unpopular, Samsung had few percent of WP share, and that is almost all with Ativ S.
Problem is nobody knows that Sam had WP phones, every time I pulled out my Ativ people were amazed there is Samsung WP.

 

[fatclue_98]

I think the "unpopularity" has come from people who feel Samsung was too lazy to rehash the Galaxy S3 instead of designing an all-new phone. Critics slammed the Ativ SE for being a clone of the S4 even though the SE is one of, if not the most, feature-packed Windows Phones ever released. People also forget that Samsung, and to a lesser extent HTC, was the face of Windows Phone until Nokia came on board.

 

[HeyCori]

I think it's unpopular because people lost faith in Samsung. Spec wise, it was a good phone for the time. From a hardware perspective, it didn't deserve to be shunned. However, the perception is that Samsung treats WP like a contractual agreement and not a passion like Nokia did. I think people naturally assumed that once the Ativ hit the shelf then that was the end of Samsung's commitment to the device.

 

[Matthew Becker1]

The phone wasn't really marketed or pushed, and has/had limited availability as tends to be the case with a lot of Samsung Windows Phones. (The ATIV SE a Verizon exclusive? Yuck).

 

[Mirakle]

The ATIV S is an old phone now, but it still seems faster than my Lumia 830 (That has been sent for repair (defective camera)). Shame.
I haven't had one issue with the ATIV S in 3 years (aside from the body that has not aged well)

And I must confess the ativ is a joy to use in comparison to the 830.

 

[lukas_ita]

The ATIV S is an old phone now, but it still seems faster than my Lumia 830 (That has been sent for repair (defective camera)). Shame.
I haven't had one issue with the ATIV S in 3 years (aside from the body that has not aged well)

And I must confess the ativ is a joy to use in comparison to the 830.

Why?

 

[bo_woods]

Because Lumia

 

[Mirakle]

oh well. here's a comparison from my point of view:
- You don't need 5' for an HD resolution(i don't watch movies on my phone), the ativ s just stands perfectly in my hand. One hand usage is better for me.
- Lumia 830 screen is grey and pops less than the ATIV S (that sounds logical). However 830 screen legibility in direct sunlight is perfect. it also has an advantage when watching pictures, it seems color accuracy is better on the 830.
- You cannot add a lot of live tiles to 830 homescreen without having it to stutter. Cortana is the worst case, this is something you don't experience on the ATIV S.
- 830 feels way more premium.
- camera is ok on the ATIV S and awesome in the 830 (however, selfie cam shots look grey on my 830)

So basically, for speed and usability, ATIV S seems better to me.
For look, camera, battery life and softwares, 830 seems better to me.

So obviously, in sept. 2015, if you have to chose, the 830 is a better choice.
errr.... if the camera don't die in the first month after your purchase.

 

[Dan Preda]

Is not unpopular, just is not popular because is not known.
I mean people don't hate Ativ, just don't heard about Ativ.

 

[Jonathan Pearson1]

I purchased about 7 of these just over a couple of years ago for my business and still have mine today. Everything great apart from 2 major let downs which has made the phone unpopular with my staff.
1 weak signal
2 unreliable bluetooth

 

[ptrkhh]

Well, first of all, Samsung NEVER advertised it. People buy what they see on the ads. Samsung got their Android dominance because they advertised more than the rest of the Android competitors combined. Same case here, Nokia advertised a lot, and they got most of the WP market. Samsung haven't done anything marketing-wise to the ATIV S.

Then try going to some brick-and-mortar stores. Ive been to several countries when the ATIV S was new: Indonesia, USA, Germany. I have NEVER seen an ATIV S in person in any of those countries, and I go to the stores a lot. I bought one online last year without actually having seen the device in person. That was my first phone purchase without a hands-on experience before.

And up to this date, the only ATIV S I have seen in my life is my own ATIV S. I have never seen it anywhere else, not in the stores, not in the wild.

Continuing the theme of other posters up there, people are amazed when I pulled my Samsung, which runs Windows Phone. They don't know that such device exist, how could they buy a phone they don't know?

 

[RJ Priest]

Even though I picked up a Lumia 1520 back in May, I still use my ATIV S as my game phone / alarm clock / music player. I don't care for the poor quality camera and the round corner design, but the AMOLED display is excellent (no burn in after more than 2 years), and the phone hasn't given me any problems. Compared to my Lumia 1520, the performance for 99% of tasks (outside of photography) is pretty much identical. The ATIV S is an excellent device.

I only ever ended up with the ATIV S because Bell Canada offered it and the Lumia 920 was exclusive to our evil Comcast equivalent - Rogers. However, put an ATIV S side by side to a Lumia 920, and you can't resist the larger 4.8" display of the ATIV S compared to a 920 - but the 920 looks so much better, and has the far superior camera. The ATIV S is nice and thin / light for those whom love thin and light devices.

 

[slivy58]

The ATIV S is an old phone now, but it still seems faster than my Lumia 830 (That has been sent for repair (defective camera)). Shame.
I haven't had one issue with the ATIV S in 3 years (aside from the body that has not aged well)

And I must confess the ativ is a joy to use in comparison to the 830.

Just replaced the defunct sim tray in my Ativ S and agree it feels peppier than my 830, a much smoother overall experience IMO, and we’re running 8.10.14203.306 at the moment. Besides the Samsung and 830 I also have the 1020 which has an awesome camera albeit slow to launch/process, using the three and putting them in order of best to worst in that, the most well rounded for everyday use, I’d give it to the Ativ S hands down, the body on mine has held out well too.

Oh yeah, in my arsenal best to worst (IMO) is the Ativ S, 1020 theeen 830 when comparing most rounded for everyday use, 830 woould be decent if it weren't for all its little quirks, thinks me got a phone manufactured on a Mon or Fri in that instance LOL.

 

[P4geD0wn]

i had 920 and brother had Ative S. Had more problems with Lumia than he had with Ativ S. Also the Ativ S always felt smoother for some reason. The only two thing Lumia did better than Ative. were Camera and design. All other things ware better on Ativ.
It is a Shame that Samsung is not upgrading it to 10.

 

[mageman17]

Well, not being picked up by a carrier in USA was a factor, although it was somewhat of a roaring success in countries like Canada (via the 4G T899M model which did get picked up by carriers), Spain, Hong Kong, Macedonia, etc.

Also the lack of attention while it was on the market hurt it. While Nokia followed up each OS update with firmwares that offered exclusive features, Samsung just hit publish when they received the testing results without adding to it.

Sure at some point they went left and right, releasing exclusive software like ATIV Beam and MangaCamera, but they didn't follow up on that momentum and soon found themselves back in the ravine that Nokia dug up by devoting 100% attention to WP.