



The Ativ S might look like a hybrid of Samsung's Android devices, but this is very much a Windows Phone. Microsoft doesn't allow for most of the customization afforded by Google and Android, but the company has opened up some additional features that Samsung appears to have ignored. As mentioned, there's no built-in camera lenses and Samsung hasn't really optimized its Windows Phone 8 apps here either. A fast resume feature of Windows Phone 8 allows developers to let apps quickly resume after they’re launched, providing similar functionality to iOS and Android — Samsung's apps simply load from fresh which is a frustrating experience.

There's a Samsung-made ChatOn app on the Ativ S that's also available on a number of mobile operating systems, including Android, BlackBerry OS, iOS, and Samsung's bada. It's similar to WhatsApp, allowing you to initiate group chats and messaging with friends by a user ID or just a phone number. I have around 500 contacts in my address book and most of them aren't actively using this service, so it was rather useless for me personally. A Family Story app, which lets you share notes and photos to groups, is very similar to the Family Room feature that's built into Windows Phone 8. One app I found useful was Samsung's Live Wallpaper: it allows you to pick a number of photos that will work as a slideshow on the lock screen, but it makes you wonder why Microsoft only offers static images or ones from Bing as a standard Lock Screen setting in Windows Phone 8. There's also a Photo Editor app and MiniDiary for taking notes with drawings, audio, and pictures. Like HTC's own app, Samsung has a Now app that provides weather, news, and stock information in a Live Tile on the Start screen.

Other than that, it's all the same Windows Phone 8 you'd expect — see our full review for a more in-depth look at the OS. It feels repetitive saying this, but with better notification support and more investment from third-party app developers Windows Phone 8 would really shine on these high-end devices. The ecosystem is lacking the same quality you see on iOS and it feels like you have to search around for apps with weird names that replace the functionality of official apps. The apps are getting better, though, with a recent Facebook app update taking it close to feature and performance parity with its Android and iOS equivalents. I feel like I used to complain about the lack of solid hardware for Windows Phone, but that’s certainly changed with the Ativ S, Lumia 920, and 8X. It’s now up to Microsoft to plug some of the feature holes and push for quality over quantity on the app front.