Samsung announced new windows8 based devices this weekend at the IFA trade show in Berlin, first windows8 smartphone
ATIV S, Samsung’s 11.6 inch ATIV smart PC, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 was also unveiled.
The galaxy note 2 which increases the screen size to 5.5", adds a quad-core CPU, the Android 4.1 (a.k.a. Jelly Bean) operating system, a battery more than 20% larger, and an improved S Pen, all in a package that is only slightly larger than its predecessor and weighs just two additional grams.
And just a quick glance at its specs sheet is enough for us to conclude that we are dealing with a top-tier device. The new Microsoft-sanctioned smartphone offers a 4.8-inch screen with an HD Super AMOLED display, a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm CPU, 8MP rear camera and 1.9MP front-facing cam. Additionally, it's got a beefy 2,300mAh battery, 1GB RAM, Gorilla Glass 2 and will come in both 16 and 32GB flavors. At 8.7mm, it's also reasonably thin.
1. 1.5 GHZ dual-core Qualcomm CPU
CPU is the heart of every smartphone, and the one that beats inside the Samsung Ativ S is a powerful one indeed. Like all Windows Phone 8 devices expected to be announced in the near future, the Ativ S is powered by a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor clocked at 1.5GHz and backed up by 1GB of RAM. Older Windows Phone devices could not handle dual-core, which is why seeing such potent piece of silicon inside the first WP8 handset is such a big deal.
2. 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display
In addition to being the first Windows Phone handset to equip a dual-core processor, the Samsung Ativ S is also the first to be equipped with an HD display. In this case, the screen uses Samsung's tried and tested Super AMOLED technology. Spread all those dots across 4.8 inches of display real estate and you get a really high pixel density – exceeding the 300ppi mark, for sharp visuals and smooth curves.
3. 8 Megapixel camera
The Samsung Ativ S is equipped with an 8-megapixel auto-focus camera, and an LED flash has been added for those times when light just isn't enough. We can only guess what photos taken with it will look like, yet a high-end device like this should be capable of delivering photos well above what the average handset can produce.
4. Windows8 OS
Windows Phone 8 takes care of many limitations that plagued its predecessor and adds plenty of more-than-welcome improvements, both on the outside and on the inside of the platform. For starters, there's the redesigned home screen that can host live tiles of more sizes and of different colors, not to mention that there is more information that they can contain. Also, the mobile platform shares the same core with its desktop counterpart, which should help developers port their PC software to WP8. Let us not forget that Internet Explorer 10 comes included with improved JavaScript and HTML5 handling.
5. WP8-friendly MicroSD slot
This might not seem very important to us, but for a fraction of users, having a microSD card slot is an essential smartphone feature. Well, the Samsung Ativ S supports micro SD cards, meaning that by getting a 64GB card, the smartphone's total storage can be expanded to the whopping 80 or 96 GB, depending on whether you have the 16 or 32GB model.
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