Basking Ridge, N.J. — Verizon Wireless is adding a Windows Phone to its selection, pricing the Samsung Ativ SE at $199 with two-year activation and planning a Windows Phone 8.1 update later in the year.
The no-contract price is $599, and the price under the carrier’s Edge trade-up program is $25.22/month for 24 months for a total of $605.28.
The LTE-equipped device is available for preorders, which will ship by April 12. The preorder deal includes a buy-one-get-one-free offer. The carrier didn’t say when the product would be available in stores.
The model joins a short Windows Phone selection at Verizon, consisting of the Nokia Lumia Icon, Nokia Lumia 928 and Windows Phone 8X by HTC. The carrier also sells the Nokia Lumia 2520 Windows tablet.
The global-ready device accesses voice and data networks in 205 countries and features a 5-inch FullHD Super AMOLED display, 2.3GHz quad-core processor, 13-megapixel main camera, 2-megapixel front camera and removable 2,600 mAh battery.
Key camera features include photo-editing apps, continuous shot and HDR (high dynamic range).
Ativ Beam lets users tap to transfer multimedia files to other NFC-capable devices, including Windows Phone and Android devices. Consumers can use Samsung Link to sync pictures, videos and documents with other compatible Samsung devices and personal computers, enabling access to files from multiple devices.
The phone’s WatchOn feature lets users browse TV show listings with personalized recommendations from the phone’s screen and, via IR, change the channel on TVs and set-top boxes.
Office Hub lets users start a Word document or Excel spreadsheet on a PC and sync it to the Cloud so they can be viewed and edited on the phone.
