My ATIV review after 2 weeks

[trxmec]

I am quite satisfied.
Pros:
- it is impossibly thin.
- it has a great battery life and the battery is removable.
- it is light
- design, there is much talk about Ativ design. Many say that is classic and lacks of personality. In my opinion it's very nice, it is a premium and intriguing look. I did not realize till I had it in my hands that the Gorilla glass is a bit curved at the disply edges, making the phone nice to handle. The rear is nice as well... with that aluminium-like cover which looks like metal.
- it has an impressive 4.8 display. Even if here, coming from an HTC Titan with 800x480 and around 200DPI resolution, I was expecting a bit more from 1280x720 Super Amoled with 326DPI technology. It has extraordinary deep blacks but I was expecting it to be brighter at max settings and I was a bit puzzled to see quite severe colors/shames changes by tilting the phone of few degrees (from white/green background to rose and the like). Maybe it's just me not used to Super Amoled.
- it is responsive. I did not experience any lag, in no circumstances
- good camera. Not at Nokia's level but it does what need to do. Still need to try it sunny landscapes
- memory. Built in memory (16Gb) is enough and the capability to expand it with a SD (additional max 64Gb) is a pro
- home button. I like to have a physical button.
- call quality. Loud and good conversations. External speaker works fine.
Cons:
- poor customization. I don't know if it is a fault of Samsung or it is dictated by limits of WP but I was expecting Samsung at least to develop more as integration of the pure OS (eg camera options)
- software support. Maybe it is just my hardware, but the manufacturer SW (Kies) does not connect and MS app does not work as expected (does not record settings, does not work properly for sync etc)
- no LTE support
- accessories. The market is offering more and more accessories but I did not find a bumper or the perfect case yet. Maybe in the future
- many have the impression/fear that Samsung does not really believe in WP expansion and this phone will no longer benefit of updates. I hope Samsung will clear those doubts showing dedication to this model.

Glad to see your comments

 

[Mankku]

Had the Ativ S for about 2 ? months, ever so pleased with it! Good review! I agree with you on most points regarding the phone.

In my opinion the call quality isn?t that great, but it could depend on my carrier here in Finland. Audio quality is very detailed, I?ve noticed a lot of new sounds when listening to music through good headphones, and the output is strong. Recently a Flac player showed up in the market (still only possible to download from a Skydrive-account, not store on the card), and the possibilty to listen to high quality recorded music just got even better, even 96 kHz is supported

Yeah, let?s hope Samsung will provide updates / support for this phone in the near future; a lot of people are pessimistic, but Samsung is releasing th Ativ S to new markets now, so it?s perhaps too early to tell if Samsung is really ditching WP8.

 

[trxmec]

Thanks Mankku, I think the phone is a bit underestimated and I am glad to hear other positive opinions about this device

 

[Coolknight1968]

You forgot to mention that the phone awakes from sleep when you push the physical home button I love that feature!

 

[trxmec]

Yeah, do you mean that you push home when it is locked? I think this is nice and I love the physical home as well. I mentioned that!

 

[pedenske]

Only had mine for a couple days now but that review is pretty much spot on for me, except for the lack of LTE. SGH-T899M Canada Version

 

[WasteSomeTime]

Don't all windows phones awake from pressing the home button?
Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express

 

[Smg-Uk]

Don't all windows phones awake from pressing the home button?
Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express

Nope the Lumia's & HTC's i've owned all only wake from pressing the power button and not the home button but then the Ativ is quite unique in having a physical button.

 

[anon5658834]

I think the camera is excellent and better than some Nokia's

 

[phonohead]

I just put my thoughts on the line in someone else's "personal review" thread.

http://forums.windowscentral.com/samsung-ativ-s/215458-3.htm

 

[failed1234]

Sounds awesome. Deciding between this and a 920. What should I get?

 

[phonohead]

Sounds awesome. Deciding between this and a 920. What should I get?

You ask a Samsung owner, you ask a Lumia owner, you're most likely ending up with a pretty obvious answer from either two. You should read the "reviews", and perhaps make up your own mind about it; consider what you need and what pleases you the most about the devices.

 

[z33dev33l]

Sounds awesome. Deciding between this and a 920. What should I get?

I'd say go for the one with software support... They're similar in quality but the software support makes a near infinite difference.

 

[Exotic Hadron]

I would add a single major con I noticed in Samsung ATIV S after 2 month of using the device. The camera. It is not supported by the majority of camera apps (lenses) over at WindowsPhone.com.

• Clever Camera
  Doesn't work at all. It starts successfully but once a shot is made and shutter is pressed, nothing happens. No shot is made.
  
• Camera360
  Exposure works quite strange.
  
• ProShot
  Doesn't work at all. Crashes on manual focus, fails to start after you attempt to make a timeline/burst shot.

I am quite disappointed with that. I'd love to use the camera in full, but I can't. The only lenses that work fine are built-in camera and BLINK. Both by Microsoft. Other cameras crash every now and then. That alone, the phone is fantastic.

 

[Exotic Hadron]

Sounds awesome. Deciding between this and a 920. What should I get?

I am a Samsung ATIV S owner, but provided that Nokia issued Lumia 1020 that sports a SuperAMOLED screen and a 41 Mpx camera, I'd recommend going for Nokia.

Yet one plus you'd get from buying Nokia is their Lumia storage check beta that allows to mitigate the notorious issue with Other storage where the phone gets bloated with service/temporary data consuming all available space on phone's memory.
More here:

• What is "Other" under Storage?
• Manage "Other storage" on internal storage, install apps and save files on SD cards

 

[failed1234]

I am a Samsung ATIV S owner, but provided that Nokia issued Lumia 1020 that sports a SuperAMOLED screen and a 41 Mpx camera, I'd recommend going for Nokia.

Yet one plus you'd get from buying Nokia is their Lumia storage check beta that allows to mitigate the notorious issue with Other storage where the phone gets bloated with service/temporary data consuming all available space on phone's memory.
More here:

• What is "Other" under Storage?
• Manage "Other storage" on internal storage, install apps and save files on SD cards

The 1020 is a wee bit expensive, even on contract.

I also have large hands, which is why I'm considering the Ativ S.

 

[Coolknight1968]

The Ativ S is a good value and has a good battery. Reception is good but not as good as on a HTC OneX+ or HTC One (signal reception). I love mine and will keep it a while as it works near perfect on Orange. Camera is surprisingly good when there is sunshine and no where near the Lumia 920 or HTC One in low light conditions. I love the 4.8 inch Amoled display.

 

[Villain]

no LTE?

 

[phonohead]

no LTE?

No. But, between LTE and HSPA+ there's not much of a difference.

 

[Matthew Becker1]

no LTE?

The Canadian version (SGH-T899) is LTE-enabled. The i8750 version is not.