No California Blue or banana-yellow here: The Aluminum Silver Samsung ATIV S is all
business. But it it too buttoned-down to have a little fun? Let's find out. I'm Michael
Fisher, this is Pocketnow, and this is the Samsung ATIV S full review.The ATIV S shares
some commonalities with many of its Windows Phone competitors: it's powered by a dual-core
1.5Ghz Qualcomm S4 backed up by a gig of RAM, and it packs an 8MP camera, and either 16
or 32 gigs of onboard storage. But the similarities stop there, and in some fairly major ways.
Unlike the HTC Windows Phone 8X and the Nokia Lumia 920, the ATIV S features expandable
memory via MicroSDXC, and a user-accessible 2300 mAh battery. And its bright 4.8-inch,
306ppi SuperAMOLED display, familiar to anyone who?s seen a Galaxy S III, is the biggest
available in the Windows Phone 8 space. The screen?s not the only thing that?s familiar
about the ATIV S; the chassis bears a visual signature that is vintage Samsung, looking
like an updated Galaxy S II, or maybe a squared off Galaxy S III. Love it or hate it, the
home button is here again. The phone is light at 135g and slim at 8.7mm thick. It feels
nice in the hand, if a little slippery. Samsung has really mastered the art of faux aluminum
with the hairline metallic finish on the back, which looks incredible in person. This isn?t
a phone that?ll turn a lot of heads at the club, but it?ll definitely earn you some points
in the boardroom. The ATIV S runs Windows Phone 8, and our unit packs a newer version
of the OS that allows WiFi to remain on when the device is locked, and also allows for
text replies to rejected voice calls - both welcome improvements. The ATIV S hardware
runs the OS as smoothly as you?d expect, and it really pops on this big display, especially
with the inclusion of more accent color in Windows Phone 8. In our testing, the large
screen has led to fewer typos on the commensurately larger keyboard, and visually, the platform
scales nicely to this larger scale, especially with the new smaller tile sizes. We only encountered
one real bug - auto-brightness on this device is awful, always setting the wrong levels
and always lagging behind changing conditions - but that?s easily fixable with an update.
Samsung has its own section of the Windows Phone 8 Store called Samsung Zone, where you
can download Samsung exclusive apps much like on a Nokia device - most of them come preinstalled
on the ATIV S. Samsung?s apps aren?t as numerous or useful as Nokia?s, but we like them; Now
is a great hub for news and weather, though its live tiles could be prettier, and the
Photo Editor is full-featured and handy. Live wallpaper is a cool way to customize your
lock screen?s look and feel, and Music Hub is a nice music alternative to Xbox Music,
for people still pining for Pandora and Spotify. Even the MiniDiary seems to be a hit, with
4 and a half out of 5 stars. But without a larger, more robust assortment of apps -ideally
with some enhanced camera features and navigation options- Samsung?s collection continues to
lag behind Nokia?s. We tested the ATIV S on T-Mobile USA in the greater Boston area. Callers
said we sounded fine in normal mode, with a slight but manageable reverb when switching
to speakerphone. Unfortunately, as on most smartphones, though the speakerphone is capable
of delivering ear-splitting ringtones and media volume, it?s limited to perhaps half-intensity
on voice calls. That?s annoying, but sadly, it?s also common. Data speeds over T-Mobile?s
network were fairly good when we were in an HSPA coverage area - averaging 7 megabits
per second down and about 3 up - but the carrier?s coverage still lags behind its competitors
in our area, so we were on Edge much of the time. We?re still conducting battery life
testing - see those results on our full written review at Pocketnow.com - but as of the recording
of this video, performance looks promising. It took approximately 9 hours of moderate
use to reach the 25% mark. The 8MP camera seems to cope adequately with most lighting
situations, and there?s a fair amount of tweaking you can do in the software to either get a
great shot, or just have some fun with filters. Shots came out sharp and richly colored, for
the most part, and they look great on the ATIV?s Super AMOLED display. Video is acceptable,
though auto-focus is a little slow compared to other devices. The ATIV S delivers a very
good Windows Phone 8 experience. While its physical design is conservative and not as
flashy as the Nokias and HTCs, it packs the HUGE advantage of both a removable battery
and expandable memory - something you have to go into the mid-range for to find on the
other brands. In addition, there?s that huge display, a solid camera, and a good feel in
hand - and it?s light and thin enough to disappear in a pocket. We wish Samsung had more custom
software available, but we also think buyers will be quite satisfied with this device.
The unique features of the ATIV S combine with its many pluses to earn this device an
8.5 out of 10.