Why does it even surprise anyone anymore when a smartphone that has not been announced gets leaked online well before even the release date is final? Or maybe, it doesnt surprise anyone at all. However, what does surprise us is that Samsung still is continuing to pursue Windows Phone as a viable platform. There is no other reason for the leaked image of Samsung Ativ SE to even exist otherwise, after the previous flagship, Samsung Ativ s did not even see a worldwide launch. Battling between Android, Tizen and Windows Phone, you can see Samsung would rather concentrate on the former two platforms leaving the highway of Windows Phone free for Nokia to ride on.
However, Samsung looks to have conjured enough time to work on another Windows Phone device, and it is called the Samsung Ativ SE. Leaked by the internet phenomenon twitter account, @Evleaks, the device looks very much like a Samsung Galaxy S IV. The pattern work on the front of the device is really similar to the white Galaxy S IV we had seen.
Samsung ATIV SE, for Verizon, 2014. pic.twitter.com/xl0jr7Rzr0
— @evleaks (@evleaks) March 16, 2014
The back of the device looks like a deceptively metallic, though surely it is one of those hardened hybrid plastics that Samsung has been criticised for. There is also a Verizon logo on the back of the device given the leaked image is the Verizon variant, so we do expect the phone to be available in multitude of colours apart from the grey variant. On the specs front, the Ativ SE is expected to bring a 5 inch 1080P display with LTE on board. Given the imminent arrival of Windows Phone 8.1, you would expect the device would come it out of the box and may well launch at the Build Conference where Microsoft will officially announce WP 8.1 this spring.
By going ahead with a familiar design like the S4 on the Ativ SE, you feel Samsung must have saved a fairly decent chunk of time by not going back to the drawing board and given the appeal of Windows Phone, you do feel that Samsung may well keep adapting this strategy of throwing in WP OS in the body of their devices that were initially designed for Android. Will this trend also result in a budget or even a low end Windows Phone device from Samsung remains a very interesting question.
