The new Samsung ATIV SE Windows Phone smartphone is now official and is already available for pre-order from Verizon Wireless, with a $199.99 price tag on-contract.
The smartphone has leaked quite extensively ahead of its official debut, which might explain why Samsung and Verizon chose to quietly launch the ATIV SE, without any press release or formal announcement.
Although Microsoft has just unveiled its new Windows Phone 8.1 operating system a couple of days ago, the Samsung ATIV SE comes with the older Windows Phone 8 because the new OS was not ready in time for the device launch. It will, however, get the latest Windows Phone 8.1 later, via an update.
The ATIV SE marks Samsung's return to the Windows Phone platform after a pretty long absence, but it definitely doesn't disappoint. The smartphone comes with high-end specs and features, ready to compete at the top of the market.
Samsung's new Windows Phone smartphone comes with a 5-inch full HD 1080p Super AMOLED display, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.3GHz, and 2GB of RAM. Other specs include 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, a 2-megapixel front shooter, 16GB of internal storage capacity, microSD card support for additional memory, and a 2,600 mAh battery. Connectivity options include 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.
Just like the high-end Nokia Lumia Icon Windows Phone smartphone, the Samsung ATIV SE will only be available as a Verizon Wireless exclusive. The carrier is offering the ATIV SE for $199.99 with a two-year contract, or for $599.99 outright, contract-free.
Moreover, Verizon is also offering a very attractive promotion: for a limited time, the carrier is running a buy one, get one free campaign. In this case, customers who purchase a Samsung ATIV SE can get another one for free, or choose to get a Samsung Galaxy S5 or an HTC One M8 as the second handset for free. This essentially slashes the price of a smartphone in half, but this promo is only available for customers willing to sign a two-year service agreement for each device they get.
To learn more about this promotion or to pre-order the new Samsung ATIV SE Windows Phone 8 smartphone, head over to Verizon's website at this link.
