Samsung Galaxy Note 2 vs Ativ S
If there was ever a record of releasing the first handset featuring new operating systems, it would definitely go to Samsung. The Korean based tech giant has done it again outperforming Nokia by releasing the first Windows Phone 8 smartphone to the market. It is known as Samsung Ativ S (Ativ is Vita spelled backwards) seems like a smartphone with a promising future. For the past 5 years, Samsung was well known for marketing Android smartphones, and they also marketed their own Bada devices, as well. However, Samsung was lesser known for producing Windows phones whereas Nokia and HTC had the crown for Windows phones. For some reason, Samsung has started to catch up by releasing this wonderful handset featuring Windows 8 to the market before HTC or Nokia. The reason why Samsung is trying to embrace Windows Phone operating system is controversial. For some analysts, it may be purely on terms of getting an even ground with the other manufacturers and diversifying their product portfolio. However, some believe this as retaliation against Google for letting Asus handle their Nexus 7 tablet since Samsung got to handle the Nexus smartphone line.
In any case, we as consumers are glad that we could have more flavors to choose from without the monotonic visuals Windows Phone used to have. Samsung seems to introduce this handset as a part of their eco-system with a wide variety. We couldn’t deny the striking resemblance it has to iPhones, but then again, it may well be because of the color choices Samsung used to decorate the exterior of Ativ S. Since this phone is about to go mainstream side by side with the Android giants, we thought of comparing it against them. As a start, let us compare Samsung Ativ S and Samsung Galaxy Note II which were presented in the same stage in Berlin.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (Note II) Review
Samsung’s Galaxy line is the prominent and flagship product line that has earned much respect towards the company. It is also these products that have the highest return for Samsung’s investments. Hence Samsung always maintains the quality of these products at a very high level. At a glance, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 isn’t any different to that image. It has a majestic look that closely resembles the looks of Galaxy S3 with the same Marble White and Titanium Grey color combinations. It has a 5.5 inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with vibrant color patterns and the deepest blacks you could ever see. The screen was viewable from very wide angles, as well. It features a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at a pixel density of 267ppi with a 16:9 widescreen. Samsung promises that the screen is more optimized to today’s visually oriented apps. It goes without saying that the screen is reinforced with Corning Gorilla Glass 2, to make it extra scratch resistant.
Following the footsteps of Galaxy Note, Note 2 is slightly bigger scoring dimensions of 151.1 x 80.5mm and has a thickness of 9.4mm and a weight of 180g. The layout of the buttons hasn’t changed where it features the big home button at the bottom with two touch buttons on either side of it. Inside this housing has the best processor that is featured in a smartphone. Samsung Galaxy Note 2 comes with 1.6GHz Cortex A9 Quad Core processor on Samsung Exynos 4412 Quad chipset with Mali 400MP GPU. The powerful set of hardware components is governed by the brand new Android OS Jelly Bean. It also features a 2GB RAM with 16, 32 and 64GBs of internal storage and has the option to expand the capacity using a microSD card.
The information on network connectivity is bound to change given the unit produced didn’t feature a 4G. However, when it is introduced to relevant market, necessary changes would be introduced to facilitate 4G infrastructure. Galaxy Note II also features Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n with DLNA and the ability to create Wi-Fi hotspots to share your internet connection with friends. It also has NFC along with Google Wallet. The 8MP camera has become a standard in the smartphones these days and Note II features a 2MP camera on the front for the use of video conferencing. The back camera can capture 1080p HD videos at 30 frames per second with image stabilization. One of the specialties in Galaxy Note series is the S Pen stylus provided with them. In Galaxy Note II, this stylus can do a lot more compared to the conventional styluses featured in the market. For instance, you can flip over a photo, to get its virtual backside and scribble down notes just as we do on actual photos sometimes. It can also act as a virtual pointer on the Note II’s screen which was a cool feature. Galaxy Note II also has the function to record your screen, every key stroke, pen marking and stereo audio and save it to a video file.
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 features a 3100mAh battery that may be able to survive for 8 hours or more with the power hungry processor. The increased mileage of the battery will suffice for the bag of tricks introduced with the Galaxy Note II compared to the original Note.
Samsung Ativ S Review
This Windows Phone 8 smartphone feels good in your hands but lacks the striking looks of its competitors since Ativ S looks plain and simple. It is housed in a 137.2 x 70.5mm exterior with a thickness of 8.7mm. Samsung calls this form factor as “chic hairline design”. The 4.8 inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen is present as would in any Samsung high end smartphone. It features a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at a pixel density of 306ppi and the screen in reinforced with Corning Gorilla glass to make it scratch resistant. Samsung followed their usual Android button and included a physical button in the bottom of the handset and two touch buttons on either side of it. Samsung has decided to market this product with a single color range featuring the Mystic Blue exterior with a brushed Aluminum back.
Samsung Ativ S is powered by 1.5GHz Krait Dual Core processor on top of Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 chipset with Adreno 225 GPU and 1GB of RAM. It runs on the brand new Windows Phone 8 and hence we are unable to report much about the operating system. Microsoft guarantees that it performs very well, but the operating system still hasn’t undergone any benchmarking tests, so we are not at liberty to predict how it would turn out to be. Hence we will primarily base our review on the specs of the handset. Following the usual aspects in a smartphone, Ativ S also has 8MP camera that can capture 1080p HD videos at 30 frames per second with 1.9MP front facing camera for video conferencing. The network connectivity is defined by HSDPA and hopefully Samsung will have 4G versions of the handset in the market soon. Ativ S also has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with DLNA and the ability to host a Wi-Fi hotspot to share your internet with your friends. Samsung also noticed that Ativ S supports sharing files through NFC which is a new feature introduced for Windows Phones. It comes with 16 and 32GB version with the support to expand the memory using microSD card up to 32GB. Samsung has been generous with Ativ S and included a beefy 2300mAh battery for prolonged usage times.
A Brief Comparison Between Samsung Galaxy Note II and Samsung Ativ S
• Samsung Galaxy Note II is powered by 1.6GHz Cortex A9 Quad Core processor on top of Samsung Exynos 4412 Quad chipset with Mali 400MP GPU and 2GB of RAM while Samsung Ativ S is powered by 1.5GHz Krait Dual Core processor on top of Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 chipset with Adreno 225 GPU and 1GB of RAM.
• Samsung Galaxy Note II runs on Android OS v4.1 Jelly Bean while Samsung Ativ S runs on Windows Phone 8.
• Samsung Galaxy Note II has 5.5 inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at a pixel density of 267ppi while Samsung Ativ S has 4.8 inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at a pixel density of 306ppi.
• Samsung Galaxy Note II is bigger, thicker and bulkier (151.1 x 80.5mm / 9.4mm / 180g) than Samsung Ativ S (137.2 x 70.5mm / 8.7mm / 135g).
• Samsung Galaxy Note II has 3100mAh battery while Samsung Ativ S has 2300mAh battery.
Conclusion
When you have to make a decision on two handsets like the two we just compared, personal preference may be the strongest governing factor. A fundamental difference exists where Samsung Galaxy Note II runs on Android operating system, and Samsung Ativ S runs on Windows Phone 8. Right now, I’m not at liberty to compare these operating systems given the information about Windows Phone 8 is rather limited. However, I can say this; Android Play Store has way more applications than Windows Mobile store can offer. That also raises the question whether the existing applications would be compatible with the Samsung handsets.
Besides that fundamental difference, Samsung Galaxy Note II definitely features better hardware specs than that of Ativ S, and it would reason that Galaxy Note II would perform better than Ativ S. Again, this is not a matter that can be so lightly compared given we are comparing the performance of the hardware controlled by two distinct operating systems. However, the starting price tag for both of these products would be rather high and particularly, Galaxy Note II would be higher. So one can take note of that as well as their personal preference of the operating system and make the decision between these two handsets.
Comparison of Samsung Ativ S vs Galaxy Note 2 Specification