Samsung Wave II Review

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Samsung’s first Bada handset, the Samsung Wave was a kind of a trailblazer for the company.  The handset allowed the debut of the Super AMOLED screen technology and the Hummingbird processor of 1 GHz. The handset is sure to be a special place in the hearts of the techies. The Android is moving out slowly and the Bada is creeping in to the company’s portfolio. The Wave series of handsets include the popular Wave 525.

Samsung Wave II - Design:

The Wave II is quite bigger in size when compared with its predecessor. The handset has a display of 3.7 inches. The screen makes  use of the Super AMOLED technology. The screen has a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels and supports 16 million colors. The Wave II is made of aluminum and has a larger profile that is comfortable to hold. The camera lens at the rear panel has a diamond shaped metallic opening. The handset is available in four different coloura such as black, white, pink and grey.

Samsung Wave II - Interface:

The Wave II makes use of the Bada OS 1.2 version. This operating system has some fixes like operating the handset when it is connected through the USB. There are some latest features like Swype like text input, OpenGL ES implementation for the improvement of games and improved browser. The Bada has all the requirements of the modern operating system. It has the home screens with the support to widgets. It also supports the social networks integration in the phone book. The main down side of the operating system is the lack of the support to third party applications. The basic applications like emails and calendar alone support the multi tasking. The handset is expected to upgrade to the Bada OS 2.0 in a few months. As a result of this updation, the handset will support the True Multitasking and the Adobe Flash.

Samsung Wave II - Camera:

The handset has a 5 mega pixel camera with the auto focus and the LED flash. The interface of the camera is touch friendly and it is a great pleasure to use. It has number of settings like preset scene modes and shooting modes. The time taken between shots is also very less. The shots captured in the outdoors appear with exact exposure and color representation. The details are slightly lacking. The camera is quite adequate for a phone as per the quality of the indoor images is concerned. The flash does its job of illuminating the objects clearly. The camera records high definition 720 pixel videos with a frame rate of 30 fps. The videos are smooth and they are of accurate colors. The exposure is the same as in the images.

Samsung Wave II - Multimedia:

The music playback of the handset is great as in the other Bada devices. The operating system supports the FLAC audio format which is lossless. It also has the 5.1 channel surround sound in the headset mode. There is also the Digital Natural Sound Engine DNSe feature in the handset. the interface of the music player is nice and it is better than the one used in the Froyo operating system. It has an in built music recognition software. Te default loud speaker is a bit unnatural and a better on is recommended. The handset is capable of playing any video that is thrown to it. It also plays the DivX and the XviD files in the high definition.

Samsung Wave II - Performance:

The handset handles the calling capabilities well. It does not have dual microphones for the noise cancellation but only one that performs well in filtering the background noise completely. The earphone is also loud enough and the callers sound natural without any distortion. The loud speaker is tinny and weak. The 1500 mAh battery that is included in the handset is rated to offer a talk time of 6 hours and a stand by time of 20 days in the 3G connectivity.

Conclusion:

Overall, the Samsung Wave II makes a very good impression as the younger, hulkier brother of the original. It has grown in size, thanks to the inclusion of a larger 3.7” screen, making it feel more solid and comfortable to operate. It’s somewhat disappointing that the screen is not Super AMOLED, as that would really make the handset stand out.

Other than that, the Wave II exhibits the same sweet characteristics we’ve come to expect from Samsung’s high-end smartphones lately - powerful 1GHz Hummingbird chipset, wide codec support both for audio and video, and excellent camera module. The bada OS has a lot of features for which, with other mobile operating systems, you need 3rd party apps, but the Samsung Apps store has to catch up significantly with the sheer number of applications available for the most popular platforms. One of the biggest software drawbacks is the browser with its high compression rates and lack of true Adobe Flash Player 10.1 support, which is not coming any time soon. If you can live past these though, the Wave II is a pretty nicely-balanced performer.

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