News · 30 Oct 2012 · MTW Editorial Team
I finally had the chance to handle the first ever Windows Phone 8 handset announced which is also the one that nobody ever saw in the flesh since its first unveiling back in the summer: the Samsung ATIV S. As you probably all already know the ATIV S for the most part the Windows Phone 8 variant of the Samsung Galaxy S3 with a fresh new design and what looks like a slightly better screen. I admit that I’m definitely not sure of this but the 4.8″ 720P Supper AMOLED panel doesn’t seem to have the same PenTile sub-pixel array as the S3 and is closer to the one found on the new Galaxy Note 2. The screen really has the best viewing angles of any phone I have ever handled but as its usual the case with Samsung the color calibration seems to be totally off.
As you can see in the video above the handset is fairly thin but what’s even better is that it’s extremely light (135g) especially compared to the Nokia Lumia 920 (185g). The major downside though has nothing to do with the device but with Samsung who will not really market this device before January 2013 because the company already has its hands full with all the Android phones and Tablets already on the market. so don’t expect to see it on any carrier in Europe or the US this year (or in any of the marketing material). Verizon will have its own variant dubbed the Samsung Odyssey in Q1 2013. This is definitely a bummer given that the ATIV S is the only high-end WP8 device with en Micro-SD expansion slot.
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