The Ativ S's brushed metallic look is really plastic

[Gaichuke]

Not according to the Windows Phone Blog. The chassis and buttons are aluminum, the battery cover is plastic.

Oh, there are plenty of preview articles out there that state the same thing but I think that comes from the ambiguous wording in the initial official specs of the ATIV S. If you look at the official specifications page now, you can only see mention of "premium metallic hairline finish". There's also the fact that a full aluminium chassis is detrimental to the antenna performance, even iPhone 5 has those breaks in it's chassis to overcome this problem.

The chassis certainly looks like an aluminium chassis in the official renderings,

but in the real life it looks a way different. It looks more like a chrome finish if you ask me.

 

[a5cent]

This thread reminds me of the fact, that no matter how you design a device, something will always leave you wanting more.

If you want one of the lighter devices, you have no choice but to sacrifice other potentially desirable properties like rigidity and robustness.

If you prefer a smaller device, but still want the same size battery, you will need to accept that your device will be thicker. Alternatively, you can get a smaller device that is also thin, but you will need to make due with a smaller battery.

Engineering is all about these tradeoffs. That is why there is no perfect device, and there never will be. One of the good things about WP, is that we at least get choices.

The Ativ S sacrificed rigidity and robustness in exchange for less weight and thickness. The Lumia 920 did the opposite. Both approaches have their merit. I think it might be helpful to think about these devices more in terms of tradeoffs, instead of "better" or "worse". Yes, some parts of the Ativ S might be flimsy and not have quite the best "feel" to them, but you get other desirable traits in return. It's almost always like that.