The Samsung ATIV SE is up for pre-order at Verizon, ships April 12

Verizon has listed the Samsung ATIV SEsmartphone for pre-order. Slated to ship by April 12, the 5-inchhandset will cost $199 subsidized and $599 unlocked. To promote it,Verizon is letting buyers of the ATIV SE procure another handset ofthe same value, such as the HTC One (M8) and Samsung Galaxy S5 for free, but atwo-year contract is required with each device.

The ATIV SE runs Windows Phone 8 out ofthe box. It's a powerful LTE device with a 5-inch 1080p AMOLEDdisplay, a 2.3GHz quad-core CPU (presumably the Qualcomm Snapdragon800), 2GB RAM, 16GB expandable storage memory, a pair of 13MP rearand 2MP front cameras with 1080p video recording, and a 2600mAhbattery. It looks like a capable alternative to the Nokia Lumia Icon, anotherVerizon Windows Phone-exclusive. It also has some perks, such as Channel Surf forSmart TVs, Samsung Link for sharing content across devices, and ATIVBeam for sending files to Android devices.

As the majority of our readers have been voting that they are really excited about Windows Phone 8.1, we askedVerizon whether the ATIV SE is eligible for an update. We'll update the article if the carrier responds.

source: Verizon