Samsung's Ativ range of PCs, tablets and phone

At this year's IFA trade show, Samsung showed off new branding for a range of its products.

Lexy Savvides Principal Video Producer

Lexy is an on-air presenter and award-winning producer who covers consumer tech, including the latest smartphones, wearables and emerging trends like assistive robotics. She's won two Gold Telly Awards for her video series Beta Test. Prior to her career at CNET, she was a magazine editor, radio announcer and DJ. Lexy is based in San Francisco.

Expertise Wearables, smartwatches, mobile phones, photography, health tech, assistive robotics Credentials

Webby Award honoree, 2x Gold Telly Award winner

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Lexy Savvides

Aug. 31, 2012 9:15 a.m. PT

2 min read

At this year's IFA trade show in Berlin, Germany, Samsung showed off new branding for a range of its products.

It appears that Samsung is trying to integrate its branding of "Smart" products across more than just televisions. Building on the success of the Galaxy brand name which has been integrated across tablets and smartphones, the Ativ range aims to bring another series of new products under one umbrella.

The Ativ Smart PC being used as a tablet. (Credit: CBSi)

Ativ, which is "Vita" reversed if you were wondering, will have amongst its products a Smart PC and Smart PC Pro. These two models are hybrid devices, which have screens that appear as if they are tablets, but can be attached to a keyboard docking station to make it more functional like a laptop. Think Asus' Transformer for the most contemporary comparison.

A physical button on the keyboard docking station prevents the dock from dropping off, if you pick up the device using the screen. (Credit: CBSi)

The Ativ Smart PC will have an 11.6-inch HD display (1366x768), and Samsung approximates 9.4 hours of battery life, based on video playback. It's not a feather-light option though, as in the tablet configuration it weighs 750 grams, and with the dockable keyboard, it's 1.48kg, which definitely enters into the weighty territory oft held by laptops and ultrabooks.

The Smart PC will also be compatible with the S Pen (also showed off with the Galaxy Note II) that allows users to write notes and offers 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity. The Smart PCs also come with 10 finger multi-touch support.

Samsung also announced the Ativ Tab, running Windows RT and with a 10.1-inch display. It is 8.9mm thick and weighs 570 grams. An 8200mAh battery inside is a good sign that it'll stay on for quite some time.

The Ativ Tab, one of the select Windows RT tablets slated for release. (Credit: Samsung)

Finally, the Ativ S is a smartphone running Windows Phone 8. It has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM and a 4.8-inch super AMOLED display, with an 8-megapixel camera on the back with autofocus and LED flash, and a 1.9 megapixel front camera. A microSD slot is included, and the phone will support NFC. Expect 16GB and 32GB versions, along with a 2300mAh battery.

Lexy Savvides travelled to IFA as a guest of Samsung.

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