The Samsung ATIV S Windows Phone 8 smartphone is favoured among many, including ourselves. We rated the handset highly in our in-depth review and rightly so - it's a top notch device. If you've been wanting to hop on the custom ROM path with the ATIV S, now's your opportunity with a new solution released over on XDA Developers.

The ROM, authored by WOLF, enables you to unlock the ATIV S, as well as take advantage of some other unique functionality not currently available in the retail version. We haven't loaded up the ROM ourselves, but judging by the response on the ROM thread so far, it's safe to say this is a sound solution. That said, there's always a risk involved when it comes to flashing custom ROMs.

Here are some highlighted features:

Unlock / Interop Unlock / Relock prevent

Volume limit disabled

No pre-pinned tiles of Samsung apps

Some of Samsung apps removed

Full access to APNs and Internet Sharing

Two search providers: Yandex and Google. Both can launch its app from search key (if app is installed). Here're those apps: Yandex, Google.

If you're considering the process, we strongly urge you to carefully read through the post by WOLF. It's recommended you perform a hard reset after flashing (which can be loaded with a stock flasher). While the CSC is based on SER (Russian), the default language is indeed English. There are some differences to general flashing, which have been highlighted by the author.

Be sure to head on over to XDA Developers to try out the new custom ROM, as well as get in touch with the author. If you've gone ahead and flashed your ATIV S with WOLF's custom ROM, be sure to shout out in the comments to let us know how you got on. Thanks to everyone who tipped us!