In today’s Windows Phone ecosystem, there are supposed to be three high-end devices that our smartphone-crazed brethren are supposed to look forward to – the Nokia Lumia 920, the HTC Windows Phone 8X and the Samsung ATIV S. Sad to say, only two of them made it to the shelves and fanboys of the platform only had either the Nokia flagship of the HTC top-tier to choose from. What saddens us even more is the fact that the Samsung ATIV S was the first Windows Phone 8-powered handset to be announced and the announcement of the handset came back in August right before Nokia, HTC and even Microsoft did their respective announcements.
During the past couple of weeks, the Samsung ATIV S has had more than its fair share of digital ink because the smartphone-buying population has already started getting restless because the handset is still nowhere to be found in the shelves. After all, Microsoft itself let it slip that the handset will likely hit the shelves this December and this passing mention of the Samsung ATIV S and its supposed availability was made during the Microsoft event in New York City when the software giant unveiled the bevy of Windows Phone 8-powered smartphone about to hit the market.
The Samsung ATIV S remained elusive as ever but is now slowly hitting the shelves and becoming available for mass consumption. Though we are yet to see the handset get released on a global scale, early adopters claim that the handset is just as capable, if not more than capable compared to the other high-end devices in the ecosystem today. And to make sure the handset keeps this edge, Samsung has already started pushing out the first update to the Samsung ATIV S which means that the handset could expect a strong support from its manufacturer.
As of the moment, Samsung is yet to release a changelog of the goodies and treats that the update is supposed to bring to the handset but several system apps have been affected by the update and these are:
- Additional call settings
- Advanced text messaging
- Call blocking
- APN
- Contacts import
With this update, Samsung has made its flagship device for the Windows Phone ecosystem even more capable than it already is.
As for the Samsung ATIV S, the handset is powered by a QualComm MSM8960 SnapDragon chipset and this SoC brings into the handset a dual-core Krait processor clocked at 1.5 GHz and a full gigabyte of RAM. The handset was released in a 16GB and a 32GB version in terms of onboard storage but a microSD card slot in the chassis of the handset enables memory expansion on the device. In terms of its display, the Samsung ATIV S comes with a 4.8-inch SuperAMOLED HD panel with a 1280 x 720 resolution while its dual-shooter configuration comes with a rear 8MP shooter and front 1.9MP snapper.
