Samsung Ativ S hardware hands-on at IFA
The smartphone member of Samsung"s new Ativ family, the Ativ S, is the first Windows Phone 8 device to go official. Unfortunately, a Microsoft embargo forbid us from being able to get any pictures of the device turned on, so we"ll have to share our impressions of the Ativ S purely from a hardware perspective.
The Samsung Ativ S
In hand, the Samsung Ativ S is surprisingly light, but in a good way. It comes in at right around the weight of the Galaxy S III, but the Ativ S has a brushed aluminum body. The slightly-curved back panel makes it very comfortable to hold. The thickness is just 8.7 mm, which certainly contributes, too.
The Ativ S is deceptively light
The Samsung Ativ S runs a dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait CPU with either 16 GB or 32 GB of storage and 1 GB of RAM. Its 8 MP camera is capable of recording 1080p video at 30 fps, while the front-facing unit is of the 1.9 MP variety.
The front and rear-facing cameras
Along the lower part of the back panel runs a faux-grille, which is mostly aesthetic but does hide the rear speaker along the left side.
The speaker grille on the back
We were able to snap a few pictures next to the Samsung Galaxy S III. As you can see, the two devices are very similar in terms of dimensions, but the brushed aluminum on the Ativ S feels better in-hand.
Next to the Samsung Galaxy S III
For more on the Ativ S and the other new Samsung devices unveiled at IFA, check out our Samsung overview.
