 Hey guys this is Tom Warren from the Verge and we're looking at Samsung's Ativ S Windows phone which at first glance looks very similar to the company's S3 and S2 Android phones. Looking more closely at the device it's obviously running Microsoft's latest Windows Phone 8 operating system and Samsung has opted for capacitive back and search buttons. The company has also included a physical Windows button, when it's triggered it will wake the device. Looking at the front of this handset there's a 1.9 megapixel camera that's part of a grey colour scheme that wraps around the 4.8 inch display. At the side of the device there's a camera button at the bottom and a power button at the top and there's no volume rocker on the right hand side. If you turn to the very left of the device you can see the volume rocker at the side there. Moving to the bottom of the Ativ S there's a micro USB port that sits at the very centre of the device, this appears to be a common placement area for Windows Phone 8. At the top there's a headphone jack which sits above a brushed aluminium back which at first glance looks like it's metallic but when you pry a little bit closer it's clear it's plastic. Once you remove the rear cover of the Ativ S you're met with the familiar bendy plastic of a Samsung battery cover. The battery itself is removable and there's also micro SIM and micro SD slots, this is particularly useful if you want to store photos, music or movies on your device. If you look more closely at the Ativ S it becomes very clear that this is a standard Windows Phone. Samsung has done very little to differentiate from the competition. Familiar features like the People Hub with Twitter and Facebook integration and Microsoft's new Xbox Music service are a core part of the Ativ S but I would have liked to have seen Samsung really extend Microsoft's operating system here. There's a pre-installed Now app that features weather, news and stocks information and a chat app for cross platform messaging but most of the apps replicate functionality that's already baked in or is available from other popular services like Evernote, OneNote or WhatsApp. It just really feels like Samsung's got the hardware right here but they could do a whole lot more on the software side for Windows Phone 8. Moving over to the camera on the Ativ S, it appears to be the same 8MP one that's available on the Galaxy S3. Despite Microsoft's new lenses feature, Samsung hasn't opted to create its own software here and the options for shooting photos are fairly basic. There's no panorama, there's no burst mode or any other similar options that could be found on rival Windows Phones. Thankfully Samsung has opted for 1080p as the default video resolution. I found that the results in daylight were fairly standard for a smartphone. The pictures aren't too blurry and although it copes well in low light, it's no match for Nokia's Lumia 920. The Ativ S is a lot better looking and functional than I expected. It might have a 4.8 inch display but it's easy to use in one hand and the slim line design helps ensure it remains that way. It includes a large battery that will easily see you through a days worth of push email, calls and other moderate smartphone use. Compared to the competition from HTC's AX and Nokia's Lumia 920, there's a lot of choice and some difficult decisions to make if you're opting for a Windows Phone. It's hard to pick between all three but colourful handsets and better software support might lure shoppers to HTC or Nokia. However, Samsung has a solid device here that you won't be disappointed with.