Why did you Pick the Ativ S

[sukimtk]

Whatzaaaa ppl
I bought ativ s 3-4 weeks ago
Verry heppy with it
I like the clarity of the music but i would like eq to improve the bass
For the price you get epick phone, and i paid it 267?
Well ppl this was my first samsung and so far i am loving it
I woiuld recomend it to any1, and with the price same as 820 , i dont know why would some1 pick lumia
And for me 920 is overpriced, yeah nokia has gr8 quality, exclusive apps/games and one of the best cameras, but that all is not worth 420 ?
I mean 820 only got little worse screen and camera...
But anyway ♡.♡ my ativ s

 

[AlexanderJJJ]

Just sold a BlackBerry Z10 and bought with it was the ATIV S. Have had many Windows Phone's before; Samsung Focus Flash, Nokia Lumia 900, HTC 8X, and Nokia Lumia 920. So I obviously liked Windows Phone. Like it more than Android and iOS, thought BB10 was good, just didn't have all the apps I wanted but nice OS, reminded me of webOS a bit, which I also loved and had many devices!

Anyway, I like the ATIV S the best out of all the Windows Phone's I had so far because:

Got the biggest battery. Don't have to worry about charging it up as often.
Big screen. Kind of weird holding it at first because it's so big, but you get use to it.
Expansion for more memory by microSD card slot (which other high-end Windows Phone's don't have)
Has very good build quality. (Doesn't look as cheap as a S4 or Note 2 because of the aluminum-like finish on the back of the phone.)

Only thing I miss is LTE, but at least I get HSPA+, which is pretty good. Overall, happy with this phone, but as I switch phone's often I may go with a 925 and a Q10 once I get rid of AT&T and have T-Mobile, so I can finally have unlimited data! 200MB just isn't doing it for me...

 

[ssx1000]

I am trying to buy an Ativ S as a refubished device for 190€ in germany. BUT today I got my second device, after sending back the first one, because Camera and LED didn't work or were broken. Now today first thing I tested was the Cam and .... this f*in' thing is broken on that "new" refubished device, too. So I wrote to the Online-Store that they should send me a factory new one because if I give it back to them they will send it to Samsung and get a new one anyway ... so why not just give this new one to me But I'm starting to belive that this camera problem is a common thing on the ativ s. Pretty weird that everything works fine but the camera doesn't .... I really tried everything I could think of (factory reset, different apps, with sd and without, turning everything on and off, samsung diagnosis even closes itself when trying to test the camera)
Anyways I still hope that I get a new one by monday or tuesday next week because I am pissed off by my HTC HD2 with windows phone 7.8 running and the touchscreen slowly dying and everything else falling apart.
The reason I am "trying" to buy it,
- Windows Phone 8 + that really awesome price (190€ for refubished)
- SD card support
what I am missing in windows phone 8 is support for DLNA and MHL

 

[RoyalX]

I wanted to start a topic about why you got yourself the Ativ S. But with a little search and I found this thread.

Well, why did I buy meself the Ativ S?
Back then the specs of the Ativ S where better than similar Lumia phones.
As I was coming from several Nokia symbian phone, the usual step would be a Nokia Lumia phone.
But I felt the Lumia is bringing me back in time, with the low ram, low CPU and no slot for microSD.

The Ativ S has everything I like: the design with a pushable home button, and even a camera button.
The screensize is not to big. The flipcase is great and I got a spare battery too.
Battery life is great, which was very astounding! Cause Samsung is known for worse battery life on their android phones.

And now hoping and waiting for WP8.1 update.

 

[PaulMilbank]

I knew I wanted a phone with specs like the Ativ S. I saw one come up on local auction site. Was an unwanted prize and I picked it up for NZD 250. something like 125 euro for you northern hemisphere guys. Screen is beautiful and sharp, camera is good, Windows phone is great, really like it. I didn't want to go back to Android after having an HD7 and Ascend W1. It is a bit hackable which is cool and means I now have 8.1 even though it hasn't been officially rolled out by my carrier. Works well and is so smooth. I find it a bit too slim and slippery out of the box, but with a case, it is perfect. Best phone I have ever had. I like smaller phones so I preferred the 8x, but that had hardware issues where the ativ just keeps on trucking and very seldom does anything bad. All little issues have been ironed out with new firmware like the inability to use wifi and bluetooth at the same time. Going to stick with this one until it dies.

 

[Motel75]

I've had mine since May 2013, after I upgraded from a Lumia 620 that I'd been using for 5 months.

- Removable battery
- 1 GB RAM
- microSD slot that supports 64 GB (and, it turns out, 128 GB and probably more)
- Beautiful OLED screen in HD 720 resolution
- Relatively powerful at the time
- High build quality
- Standard USB slot for charging (granted, all EU phones have this, but it's another reason to avoid Apple)
- Very competitive price

 

[vicu9mx]

I have mine for 205? a year ago
1. Amoled screen
2. SD
3. Physical Windows button
4. screen size
5 Removable battery
6 Cheaper than Lumia 920/925

 

[TheMelonOfWater]

I had the Lumia 710 and I didn't want to be left in the dust with WP7 when WP8 was released so I got the only WP8 phone that my carrier Sasktel ... eventually... released, the ATIV S.

 

[migsy111]

Did Sasktel roll out the 8.1 update yet? I'm with Bell (Ottawa) and am still waiting....Not overly worked up about it because it's still the best mobile phone I've used.

 

[ptrkhh]

Ive been wanting the ATIV S, being one of the few WP with AMOLED screen. I recently switched from Lumia 820, and I had a Lumia 800 before that, following the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate (Android). Having the Lumia 820 with short battery life has trained me to use two batteries and a desktop charger (NOW THATS WIRELESS CHARGING), so I basically just swap batteries without ever plugging a cable to the phone.

It was, however, hard to justify the price even at 200 bucks when you already have a fully-working Lumia 820. Then eBay changed everything, I found this one for 50 bucks with 12-month warranty, so I couldn't resist anymore.

Few of my other options;
Lumia 925 - no removable battery.
Lumia 730/735 - no camera button.
ATIV SE - no camera button, overkill specs
Lumia 950 - even more overkill specs.

Just got it yesterday. My first impression was; its huge. I was expecting the device to feel smaller than the 820 due to the similar width but slimmer body. Turns out, the chubby 820 gives more grip to my hand so I can hold it with more confidence. Its probably something that i could get used to. The buttons positioning also leaves something to be desired. The power and volume buttons of the ATIV is too high.

The main benefit of the ATIV S is, first of all, the 16:9 aspect ratio. Moving from the 16:10 Lumia to the 16:9 ATIV, I feel like I get more real estate, and I actually do. Some apps failed to put more content on the screen, and instead putting black bars on top and bottom. Most apps though, manage to scale perfectly. The 720p screen also makes the 3-column start actually usable. But the main reason why I got the ATIV S is, of course, the battery. The 820, even when I double the battery (spare battery), can sometimes still run out of power.

If there is a perfect device for me, I would take the design and dimension of the Lumia 800, with the (slightly smaller version) of the ATIV S screen, combined with ATIV's huge and removable battery, and glance + double-tap-to-wake feature. I am yet to find that perfect one. Until then, ill keep using the ATIV S.

Have a question though;

I heard that Samsung optimized 8.1 much better than they did on 8.0, is it true? The reason is because I am using, and I prefer 8.0 on my Lumia 820. Its just snappier. I do notice some places where 8.1 stutters, both on the 820 and ATIV S, and its quite subjective but to me 8.0 looks better with the pure Metro UI (the 8.1 has been neutered a bit by Android Windows 10 UI). So, I am ready to flash the 8.0 firmware but quite hesitating due to the optimization thing. What do you think? Do you have any recommendation on which image you recommend? I downloaded the latest (?) CMK2 image

 

[Kevin Houle1]

Ive been wanting the ATIV S, being one of the few WP with AMOLED screen. I recently switched from Lumia 820, and I had a Lumia 800 before that, following the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate (Android). Having the Lumia 820 with short battery life has trained me to use two batteries and a desktop charger (NOW THATS WIRELESS CHARGING), so I basically just swap batteries without ever plugging a cable to the phone.

It was, however, hard to justify the price even at 200 bucks when you already have a fully-working Lumia 820. Then eBay changed everything, I found this one for 50 bucks with 12-month warranty, so I couldn't resist anymore.

Few of my other options;
Lumia 925 - no removable battery.
Lumia 730/735 - no camera button.
ATIV SE - no camera button, overkill specs
Lumia 950 - even more overkill specs.

Just got it yesterday. My first impression was; its huge. I was expecting the device to feel smaller than the 820 due to the similar width but slimmer body. Turns out, the chubby 820 gives more grip to my hand so I can hold it with more confidence. Its probably something that i could get used to. The buttons positioning also leaves something to be desired. The power and volume buttons of the ATIV is too high.

The main benefit of the ATIV S is, first of all, the 16:9 aspect ratio. Moving from the 16:10 Lumia to the 16:9 ATIV, I feel like I get more real estate, and I actually do. Some apps failed to put more content on the screen, and instead putting black bars on top and bottom. Most apps though, manage to scale perfectly. The 720p screen also makes the 3-column start actually usable. But the main reason why I got the ATIV S is, of course, the battery. The 820, even when I double the battery (spare battery), can sometimes still run out of power.

If there is a perfect device for me, I would take the design and dimension of the Lumia 800, with the (slightly smaller version) of the ATIV S screen, combined with ATIV's huge and removable battery, and glance + double-tap-to-wake feature. I am yet to find that perfect one. Until then, ill keep using the ATIV S.

Have a question though;

I heard that Samsung optimized 8.1 much better than they did on 8.0, is it true? The reason is because I am using, and I prefer 8.0 on my Lumia 820. Its just snappier. I do notice some places where 8.1 stutters, both on the 820 and ATIV S, and its quite subjective but to me 8.0 looks better with the pure Metro UI (the 8.1 has been neutered a bit by Android Windows 10 UI). So, I am ready to flash the 8.0 firmware but quite hesitating due to the optimization thing. What do you think? Do you have any recommendation on which image you recommend? I downloaded the latest (?) CMK2 image

I used the CMK2 image and it was very snappy. Mind you, from there I updated to 8.1.1. But it was definitely snappy while I used it.

On a side note, I chose the Ativ S because of huge screen, LTE capability, removable battery, SD card slot.

 

[ptrkhh]

Thanks for the input. Was it snappier than 8.1 though? How about other Samsung-specific optimizations (battery life, auto-brightness, camera, etc.)?

Oh, the camera sometimes just refuses to display anything (just black viewfinder, greyed out shutter button). It's running the latest 8.1 OTA (8.10.14203.306).

Oh I have another question, if I want to go CMK2 (8.0 GDR3, right?), can I get the 3-column start screen? I heard that I need some hacking for that. Or does it come like that by default?

WAIT, the ATIV S has LTE??? I don't have LTE plan now, but its definitely a nice bonus for the future.

 

[Kevin Houle1]

Thanks for the input. Was it snappier than 8.1 though? How about other Samsung-specific optimizations (battery life, auto-brightness, camera, etc.)?

Oh, the camera sometimes just refuses to display anything (just black viewfinder, greyed out shutter button). It's running the latest 8.1 OTA (8.10.14203.306).

Oh I have another question, if I want to go CMK2 (8.0 GDR3, right?), can I get the 3-column start screen? I heard that I need some hacking for that. Or does it come like that by default?

WAIT, the ATIV S has LTE??? I don't have LTE plan now, but its definitely a nice bonus for the future.

Definitely snappier then 8.1. Battery was the same. Camera was the same (at least I thought so). I heard there was a way to get 3 column start screen, but can't recall how it's done without upgrading to 8.1. I know it doesn't come by default. As for LTE, its the Canadian t899m model that can do it. I hear our American and UK cousins cannot.

 

[ptrkhh]

Definitely snappier then 8.1. Battery was the same. Camera was the same (at least I thought so). I heard there was a way to get 3 column start screen, but can't recall how it's done without upgrading to 8.1. I know it doesn't come by default. As for LTE, its the Canadian t899m model that can do it. I hear our American and UK cousins cannot.

Just downgraded to CMK2 image, and its exactly as I expected. Super smooth, super snappy. Man, this is the nicest phone that anybody could possibly get for less than 150 bucks on any planet. I cant believe people are buying the budget Lumias over this.


I used this guide http://forums.windowscentral.com/sa...guide]-how-revert-back-wp8-gdr3-wp8-1-dp.html

To get 3-column, download this tool ROM for everyone! MBN Creator. | Windows Phone 8 Development and Hacking | XDA Forums, and add the following entry to the registry tab

[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Shell\OEM\Start]
"ScreenSize"=dword:00000001

and generate the MBN file. Flash the MBN file exactly like how you did in the first guide, then factory reset.