Samsung Ativ SE review: Under the radar

Excellent camera

Samsung Ativ SE for Verizon Wireless packs the same 13MP camera sensor as the Galaxy S4. The camera features a single LED flash, though it lacks a dedicated button.

The smartphone features two camera interfaces headed by the standard Windows Phone setup. It features capture options and settings on the right side and an arrow button to access the gallery on the left. Images are captured by tapping on the screen.

The camera interface

Additionally, the Ativ SE features a Samsung-exclusive camera app dubbed Shooting Modes. It closely resembles the layout and settings featured in the Korean giant's Galaxy lineup of smartphones. They include Auto mode, continuous shooting, beauty face, and HDR mode.

Samsung Shooting Modes app

Additional photography modes from Samsung are also available. They include Artistic Effects and Manga Camera, Fun Shot, and Color Effects.

The Samsung Ativ SE camera produces sharp images with plenty of detail. The colors turn out nice and so does contrast. Noise is really low, practically invisible in daylight. Edge-to-edge sharpness is even.

Our only gripe is that the camera tends to overexpose the photos in scenes, which are even remotely high contrasty, preferring well developed shadowy areas instead of well preserved highlights.

You may be interested to know that the photos produced by both camera apps – the stock Windows Phone one and the Samsung Modes – have identical quality and processing.

Samsung Ative SE camera samples

Low light: Flash On • Flash Off

Video recording

Video capture is handled only by the Windows Phone app. Once again, the capture settings are laid out on the right side, with the arrow button on the left offering access to the gallery.

The video capture interface

The 1080p@30fps videos by the Samsung Ativ SE have a bitrate of around 20Mbps. It seems this is enough for the phone to produce some excellent videos with punchy colors and plenty of resolved detail.

Also, thanks to the constant framerate, the motion is smooth, just as you would expect it to be.

Here is an 1080p@30fps camera sample, taken straight of the Samsung Ativ SE.

And here goes a longer video sample from the device.