Anyone purchased the Ativ S in Canada

[freestaterocker]

Interesting! So the TELUS phones are shipping with Portico as well... I wonder if Samsung was waiting for the 10211 RTM to ship out the Ativ S so they would have a better/more consistent out-of-box experience.

 

[Nataku4ca]

just played with my sister's Ativ S, it is a really nice phone, i actually like it alot

 

[freestaterocker]

just played with my sister's Ativ S, it is a really nice phone, i actually like it alot

Yeah it really is a great phone. Just not my 1st choice. I still want a 920

 

[beard57]

I purchased an HTC 8X after watching reviews of the phone on TWIT and Engadget etc. I was impressed with the form factor of the phone and in particular the Beats audio. I was having all sorts of issues with the phone, random re-booting, blue tooth connectivity issues, dropped calls etc. I called my carrier (Bell Canada), HTC tech support and Microsoft with all three of them blaming each other for what I knew to be crappy performance. My dealer swapped out the phone but the symptoms remained! Having been a LONG time Windows Phone user (dating back to the Palm Treo days with Windows Mobile through to Windows Phone 7.5 on an LG C900B) I knew that eventually they would get the crap sorted out and I would have a decently working phone!
Then I heard that the Samsung ATIV S had arrived (finally, this was originally the phone that I was leaning towards when the models came out. based on the additional ram and removable battery and the reputation of the manufacturer). I had another phone eligible for a hardware update so I went with the ATIV S.
There is NO comparison. This is how Windows 8 should work! NO reboots, no Bluetooth issues, The only hiccup I have had thus far is with the additional RAM and metadata for music. If you don't store at least one song/album on the phones memory the OS does not "poll" the additional RAM for metadata info (probably as a memory feature of the OS) after sync you will see your albums and artist details but 10 minutes later all the songs will be there, however the "Artist" and "Album" art and info will magically disappear! Put one album on the phone memory and viola the OS starts polling the external RAM and works perfectly! This is a bug that I am sure will be addressed in an update but thank-you Microsoft for suggesting this work around. Call quality and reception is better with the Samsung, my clients complained of poor sound quality with the HTC, no complaints thus far with the ATIV S. I do like the wide angle camera on the HTC and the F2.0 aperture but the camera has no image stabilization which the Samsung has. All in all I am very happy with the Samsung, wish it had a burst and panorama mode for the camera (hopefully these will be provided as an update), and the headphones that came with it are workable but a little tinny, plastic sounding (although the HTC doesn't even come with HP's).
I highly recommend it.

 

[crystal_planet]

I went into Telus to try to pick one of these up since my unlocked 8S won't work on the network. Here's what happened:

telus: I'm sorry, but they are all sold out right now. They sell out almost as soon as we get them. They're really popular.
me: (shocked) Really? People actually want windows phones?
telus: oh yes. People seem to like them.
me: okay what about the other stores?
telus: ( checks inventory computer) there's one left at our Kenaston location and that's it.

So I head out to that location the next day.

telus: sorry sir, we just sold that one last night.
me: (disappointed but impressed) when do you expect another shipment to arrive?
telus: we get shipments in every week - probably Monday.
me: how many are expected to arrive?
telus: we have 3 coming in, but at our big store probably more. Like 4.
me: that's it? Meanwhile, you're probably getting tonnes of S3's and iPhones in...
telus: Yeah, probably. It's a Samsung thing I guess.

So there you have it. Windows Phone is selling out here. Just not in the quantities I hoped.

 

[Cordanim]

Now that I have a couple of weeks under my belt using mine, and my IT guys at work solved my EAS issue (it was a needle in a haystack setting they had to flip a switch on), I'm not looking back to my BlackBerry days at all (although my wife is enjoying my Bold 9900 )!

I am getting used to the People functionality, and actually really getting into tying peoples' networks together, etc. I actually uninstalled the separate Facebook and Twitter accounts, since the integrated functionality was working so well.

The responsiveness is amazing on this phone...maybe I'm jaded as an ex-BlackBerry user for years, where 5 minutes after unwrapping a new device, it starts to slow down and lag :winktongue:

I haven't had a chance to get an opinion on the music quality that people have been complaining about yet - will be able to try that next week on a business trip - we'll see if the sound is bad with my BOSE headset on the plane

All in all, no regrets, and loving the Windows Phone experience!

Kev

 

[sporty2k]

I got it and loving it. Purchased Rogers version, unlocked it and am using it on AT&T in the US. At first I couldnt even see an internet sharing option in settings so had to reset the phone with my AT&T sim inserted and it when it restarted the option was there. Had the Lumia 900 and for me its sooooo much better. Mostly from a form factor perspective.

 

[crystal_planet]

I might as well weigh in here. I just picked one up from Telus after trading in my Nokia L800 for it and upgrading my plan. It's definitely faster in terms of rendering pages despite having the same HSPA (LTE is not available), and as expected, buttery smooth. Despite people's various complaints about missing apps and features, this o/s is so silky it's almost is a little freaky, and I can't praise Microsoft enough because of it. The device itself feels really light but is solid and well put together, but I still refused to use it until I got a case for it - even if the case choices are pathetic at this point. I must admit I was worried about the size, but if feels comfortable when handling it, and unless you have large hands, you'll need both hands to navigate around it.

I am going to miss Nokia's apps, especially Drive and Samsung's apps are good for one thing - deletion. At least with Windows Phone you can. Oh, and about SD card storage? A God send. Especially for a flag ship phone.

One complaint: the power button is too recessed and small imho, especially with a cover. I have to push quite hard to get it to activate, but it might just be the cover.

 

[unstoppablekem]

Pictures please!!

 

[StantheManLee]

I have the HTC 8x. Never had reboot issues any of the other problems described - phone a has been a dream. The ONLY problem is that its with Bell Canada. This company has extrememly poor support for hardware they sell. While Rogers has already provided 2 OTA updates for this phone, customers at Bell are left out in the cold! Stay away from Bell. If you should ever have ANY problems with the phone you will have serious regrets.

 

[halibutstu]

I just got the Ativ S from Telus the other day. It's my first WP phone and I'm truly enjoying it. In fact I can't put it down. They are hard to come by here in Calgary and it took me a few weeks of waiting to get it. Then when I did get one I had to drive way across the city. I think they are getting low volumes here as well but when I was in store somebody else was walking out with one. People here seem to want them but everyone at work I've showed the phone to has never seen one, and most haven't heard of WP. I got it because it's the only WP that Telus offers, I would have gone with the 920. There are things I like about the Ativ though. I could care less about the changeable battery but I slapped a 32GB card in there right away. I love the colour saturation of the screen and I like the over all look. I know it gets knocked for being boring but at 40 I don't want a bright blue phone!! The Ativ is thin and light and slips in the pocket nicely. Plus I think the sound quality is great. I use high end ear buds and don't care for exaggerated bass.

Anyways I joined because I have a lot of questions. After being on Android for the last 3 years I got very frustrated at first. I realized I was trying to work the phone like an android device and needed to step back from that. re-invent the way I do things. And accept bloody "Bing" into my life. Although I'm getting more ok with that lol. Another thing that I struggle with is the volume control. Why would MS make it so one volume control changes everything!?!? It doesn't seem to affect the alarm clock though.

Over all though I couldn't be happier with my Ativ and it's amazing with media. I still have stuff to learn but I'm feeling I made a good decision.

 

[halibutstu]

The device itself feels really light but is solid and well put together, but I still refused to use it until I got a case for it - even if the case choices are pathetic at this point.

The only case I've really seen so far is available at the Telus store. I didn't bother with a screen protector as I'm not that worried about scratches but I got the case to increase the odds of the screen not breaking should I drop it on the concrete floor of my work place! What do you guys think, is a screen protector needed? That glass seems very tough.

Edit: I agree the power button is tricky with a case but the camera but is really tricky! There's just no feel going from focus to shutter.

 

[Rgodel]

@crystal_planet - Did you know that you can get Nokia's Drive + Beta for free?

 

[crystal_planet]

@crystal_planet - Did you know that you can get Nokia's Drive + Beta for free?

Yep. And of course paid for an off line app the day before...

 

[MrDH]

I want to buy an unlocked Bell Ativ s online for use on Tmobile USA. Tmo continues their dismal wp selection, with only the 8x (too small for me) and some old trailing edge models. Feel a little silly asking because I should know this,, but if I am using the unlocked Bell Ativ s on Tmo, would I get future wp8 updates? Does Samsung push them out? Or Microsoft? Or the carrier?