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Our online poll suggests Samsung has done well but still has to win over many

Yesterday during the IFA trade show in Berlin, Samsung surprisingly unveiled the first Windows Phone 8 device for 2012—the ATIV S—to mostly cheers and approvals from current and prospective Windows Phone users.

In an online 24-hour poll conducted yesterday here at Windows Phone Central, nearly 4,000 respondents (cookie and IP locked) responded to Samsung’s announcement of the Galaxy S3 clone for Microsoft's upcoming Windows Phone 8 OS.

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Nearly a third of respondents (29.8% or 1,120 votes) said that they would consider Samsung’s new device as it has some great specs and the looks to back it up. Only 13.57% (510 respondents) steadfastly said ‘no’ to the ATIV S, noting that the phone was not for them.

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The bulk of respondents took the more cautious approach with a wait-and-see attitude until Nokia and HTC reveal their lineup in the coming weeks. With 56.64% (2,129 respondents) chiming in, this category shows that consumers are savvy enough to not commit too early to a new phone, especially since Samsung did not reveal price, availability nor partner-carriers.

But it may also highlight a lack of brand loyalty to Samsung as compared to Nokia and companies like Apple, which conjure up a dedicated base of users.

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The ATIV S, while a solid design and excellent specs, including a 4.8” HD Super AMOLED display, dual-core 1.5GHz CPU, a massive 2300mAh battery in a thin body, seems to lack imagination and the boundary pushing that consumers are demanding these days. In perusing comments, most users seem lukewarm to the device remarking that it’s a good offering but it lacks the ‘wow’ factor that Windows Phone 8 may need this fall if it is to gain any traction—something to which we agree.

We’ll of course revisit the ATIV S later in September to see which new Windows Phone 8 device users are most excited about. With Nokia calling Samsung a good ‘warm up’, the ball is clearly in the Finnish company’s court to woo potential consumers next week at their press conference.