Samsung Wave 3 Review
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The 1500mAh battery is rated for 8 hours and 50 minutes of talk time in 3G mode, which is slightly above average for the category. Bada handsets traditionally sport good battery life, and during our review we didn't notice any excessive draining, you should be able to get through a day and a half on a full charge with normal usage.
Conclusion:
The new flagship bada OS handset Samsung Wave 3 is thin, fairly light, and made of quality materials. When you look at its brushed metal shell, it looks diligently crafted, and, to top it off, it even has some unique chassis features like a sliding shell to reveal the battery compartment.
The new TouchWiz on bada 2.0 is an improvement over the previous version in terms of both eye candy and added functionality, but the OS still doesn't support Adobe Flash and multicore processors. When we consider, however, the 4” Super AMOLED display, good call quality, and the vast support of video codecs in the default player, the Wave 3 is indeed the best bada handset so far, and one that is showing how bada OS has matured.
Still, the bada flagship lacks a dual-core processor or a more resolute display and camera, yet at its current price it is positioned squarely against more advanced phones like the HTC Sensation or the Samsung Galaxy R with their dual-core chips and larger screens.
Considering the comparative lack of apps for bada, mid-range Android phones like Samsung's own Galaxy W or the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S with their 1.4GHz processors and large screens are an easy pick before the Wave 3. On top of it all they come with lower pricing, too, thus removing the advantages of bada as the “poor man's Android”.
Another alternative to the Wave 3 can be the Nokia Lumia 800 with the decent choice of apps at the Windows Phone Marketplace, 8MP camera, and its free offline voice navigation, although it is more expensive. The Samsung Omnia W also has a 1.4GHz processor and 5MP camera with LED flash, but sports a smaller 3.7” display at a price comparable to the Wave 3.
Software version of the reviewed unit: bada 2.0S8600XXKJC
Samsung Wave 3 Video Review:
Pros
- Distinct brushed metal design
- Ingenuous sliding chassis allows easy microSD and SIM card swaps
- Prettified bada 2.0 runs flawlessly on the 1.4GHz processor
Cons
- Pricey for a bada handset
- Lousy pictures and video capture indoors
- Only a modest upgrade from its predecessor Wave 2
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Samsung Wave 3
- Specifications
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- Review 6.5/10
- User Reviews
28 Comments
3. bobfreking55 posted on 25 Nov 2011, 07:37 8 3
What happened to him? I miss him. I wanna see a very stupid conversation.
5. HTCiscool posted on 25 Nov 2011, 10:08 4 0
I was wondering where this went...
Ohh Peter if only you could be here to see this.
Phonearena is just getting ruthlesser and ruthlesser every review.
10. RORYREVOLUTION posted on 25 Nov 2011, 14:53 4 0
Agreed, seems like everything is getting really low scores now.
19. RageQuit posted on 18 Dec 2011, 19:54 0 0
What about the Evo 4g?
6. sadaivadai posted on 25 Nov 2011, 11:15 0 2
Don't want a bada phone again ...
Its a great OS ... But only if Samsung shows some importance in it .. These wave phones have great hardware ... And a good software .. but they forget the old models once after they release .. And apps !!!! no comments ...
7. Muhannad posted on 25 Nov 2011, 12:19 1 0
PhoneArena is now as ruthless as Engadget in it's reviews when giving a phone it's final score.
8. Muhannad posted on 25 Nov 2011, 12:29 5 0
Also, the metal chassis should be one of the "pros" because this is very rare for Samsung.
13. Retro-touch posted on 26 Nov 2011, 00:58 2 0
They don't anymore probably due to complaints about the scores but they DID
15. jackhammeR posted on 26 Nov 2011, 05:56 3 0
maybe sammy will learn something and next S II will have alu body like this wave.
Looks much better than their flagship.
But this one is not good...first wave looks better...and is practically identical
17. Martine posted on 27 Nov 2011, 15:49 4 1
How can PA even give this 6.5 Totally bias score.
7.5 would have been fair IMO
18. rajeev_118 posted on 06 Dec 2011, 20:57 0 0
Does this phone have sound profiles. Unlike Samsung Wave AKA S8500 the sound profiles were present in menu-.settings->sound->profile. There were sound profiles which could be modified.
21. technot posted on 04 Feb 2012, 04:35 0 0
If only SGS11 had Samsung wave 3's design, it would be my dream phone. But you cant really have it all.
22. BioTek posted on 21 Feb 2012, 22:27 1 0
I would expect Samsung to put more effort into the flagship series of the OS the company developed.
23. bantilan posted on 22 Feb 2012, 09:07 0 0
Turn your Wave 3 to Pattern Lockscreen, downloaded at SamsungApps.com
http://www.samsungapps.com/topApps/topAppsDetail.as?productI d=G00004028678
24. abhishek83 posted on 24 Mar 2012, 10:14 0 0
samsyng wave3 have trobles:(
ITS RESTART RENDAMLY AND WHEN I USE ITS GOING RESTART :'-C
PLEASE SOLVE THIS
25. Subudhi posted on 27 May 2012, 15:01 0 0
Samsung Wave 3 GT-S8600 with all the hype is a disaster. I purchased one about a week ago and now I am repenting.
1. Bada is an outdated OS and there is no assurance from Samsung if there will be any improvement.
2.You can not play flash video in this phone, where as my old Nokia 5230 plays most flv files.
3. The date separator is not customisable. You have to be satisfied with '/'. You can not have '. 'or '- '.
4. There is no sound profile, such as Loud, General, Meeting or Silent. You have to configure the sound and vibrations individually.
5. Screen brightness and contrast are not customisable.
6. Touch-sensitivity is not customisable.
7. Its 5 mp camera produces worse photographs than my 2 mp Nokia 5230. Let the Samsung people come forward and prove me false.
Even smaller and cheaper phones come with all these features. THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU GO FOR THIS PHONE.
26. Subudhi posted on 28 May 2012, 13:09 0 0
Pros: Good display, fast processor at 1.4 ghz
Cons: Many;
Touch extra sensitive (some times incoming calls get rejected due to this.), Can't customise the sensitivity.
Can't customise home screen
Can't customise display brightness
Can't remove or create shortcuts
No predefined sound profile
5 MP camera, but contrast is too low, contrast or brightness of camera not customisable
Flash video files not supported
Can't select multiple contacts
In fact 'options' in menus is completely missing in this phone.
All-in-all, this is a pricey phone with very few features. The BADA programmers in Samsung need to look at a few more Symbian phones and improve upon the features. Is Samsung listening?
27. elyblor posted on 19 Dec 2012, 07:13 0 0
The worst thing in this @#%cking fone is that you can't even play your fuc@#%*ing memory sd card. That's why I hate SameSong, Nokia will always be the best, I confess
28. Subudhi posted on 06 Jan 2013, 02:11 0 0
Hi Everybody,
Just discovered another negative of Samsung wave 3, GTS 8600. You can't send a contact via sms as a business card, i.e as a vcf file, which is a very common feature available in all mobiles, even very cheap phones. You have to send it via MMS only, an option which requires a lot of configuration settings and large network resources. And Samsung cares two hoots.
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