Overland Park, Kan. — Sprint announced Aug. 16 availability of its second Windows Phone 8 smartphone, the Samsung Ativ S Neo.
The $150 device, which the carrier previously said it would offer sometime in the summer, will join the $99 HTC 8XT, available since July 19.
The device will be available Friday through Sprint’s direct channels and will become available to Sprint’s indirect sales channels in the coming weeks, a spokesman told TWICE.
The Samsung model is Sprint’s first Windows 8 phone with international voice and data roaming via quadband GSM voice, quadband EDGE data, 1.9/2.1GHz W-CDMA voice, and 1.9/2.1GHz HSPA+ 3G data.
The phone features a 4.8-inch high-definition display, 1.4GHz dual-core processor, 16GB memory, 1GB of RAM, 64GB MicroSD slot, removable 2,000 mAh lithium-ion battery for up to 14 hours of talk time, Bluetooth 4.0 + LE, and 3G/4G LTE mobile hotspot capability supporting up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices simultaneously. It also features 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash, 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, external camera button to launch the camera function even if the phone is locked or sleeping.
The phone’s Ativ Beam technology uses NFC and Bluetooth to share photos, music and videos with other Windows Phone 8 smartphones and some Android devices.
Ativ S Neo also features Samsung’s Now feature, which highlights top news, weather and other information at a single glance.
Multiple preloaded camera apps include Beauty Shot mode to provide smoother-looking skin in headshots and Manga Camera, which turns people into cartoon characters. A built-in photo editor lets users edit and decorate shots.
Like other Windows Phone 8 phones, the Neo features Kid’s Corner, a built-in second screen designed just for kids. Through it, kids access only the apps, games and content that their parents want them to access, while parents get full access to all their apps, email and other functions. When Kids Corner is running, Pandora and other popular apps automatically filter out explicit content.
