Samsung Wave II Review
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Introduction:
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Bada is slowly creeping into the company’s portfolio, and the Wave family is now big and happy, including everything from the lowly Samsung Wave 525, to the above mentioned flagship. Thus we were really curious what surprises Sammy had in store for us, when it announced the Samsung Wave II. Will it live up to the popularity of the original, or will it be scrutinized like every sequel to something successful? Read on to find out...
What’s in the box:
- Samsung Wave II handset
- Charger
- 1500mAh battery
- 1GB microSD card
- microUSB cable
- Stereo headset with microphone
- Warranty and quick guide leaflets
Design:
The Samsung Wave II is way bigger than its predecessor, in every way but the silicon. Not that we expected the Hummingbird chipset to be replaced with something else here, as there is nothing better with one core - even NVIDIA Tegra 2 barely equals it in the graphics department.
The phone’s screen has grown in size to 3.7”, quite larger than the 3.3-incher on the Samsung Wave, which brought along an increase in all three spacial dimensions. It is a quite respectable handset now at 4.88x2.35x0.46 inches (123.9x59.8x11.8mm), with the more palpable 4.76oz (135 g) of weight. To be frank, the original Samsung Wave looks spectacular, but is made for smaller hands - it is so thin, that only the metal casing prevents it from being lost in our grubby mitts. Samsung Wave II keeps the aluminum chassis, but we welcome the growth in size and thickness, which makes it easier to handle, if you have bigger hands.
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The Samsung Wave II is easy to handle, even if you have bigger hands | ||
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You can compare the Samsung Wave II with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.
It is still a looker, actually it looks almost the same as its founding father - same metallic color and same diamond-shaped opening for the 5MP camera lens on the back. The only differences are the middle menu key beneath the screen, which is a flat inverted trapezoid now, rather than the protruding diamond-shaped key before. The handset is now also offered in four colors – ebony gray, white, pink and black.
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The screen part is also completely flat, not slightly recessed at both ends like on the Samsung Wave. And here comes the biggest surprise - instead of a bigger, brighter Super AMOLED screen, the 3.7-incher is of the Super Clear LCD variety with the same 480x800 pixels of resolution. Oh, well, we guess Sammy was hit by its own Super AMOLED supply problems here. Don’t get us wrong, the display is still one of the best the LCD technology can offer in terms of sunlight visibility, color gamut and viewing angles, but the punchy, oversaturated colors, and almost infinite contrast of the Super AMOLED will be missed regardless. The lack of an ambient light sensor to automatically adjust the screen's brightness is a letdown.
Overall, in the Samsung Wave II the design centers around the larger screen size, making the handset taller, thicker and more solid to handle with our paws. It keeps all the elements of the original’s chick appearance, like the brushed metal body and laser-etched branding. We are especially pleased that the screen lock is comfortably placed on the right side, so we won’t have to look for it at the top every time we want to check the hour of the day, like with so many handsets lately (cough, HTC, cough).
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The sides of the Samsung Wave II | ||
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31 Comments
1. hoang (unregistered) posted on 12 Jan 2011, 19:12 2 5
Regardless of all the strong points that Samsung tech can deliver, Wave I and Wave II suck for no huge app store and particularly the cannot-be-uglier design. indeed the design looks real cheap.
3. Preetam (unregistered) posted on 13 Jan 2011, 06:03 3 1
Design is cheap?? Every other phone except HTCs and Nokia's and now Arc look like iPhone brothers, and you call the Wave II cheap??
4. rocketlog (unregistered) posted on 13 Jan 2011, 19:31 3 0
Quite frankly, if the Samsung Wave II grows a set of physical QWERTY keys, It'd be the perfect phone for me. Not much of an app-whore. So a few functional apps here and there would be sort of a side-bonus for me. I just hope a decent Pro version comes. Not with downgraded specs like the Wave 2 Pro.
5. codymws posted on 13 Jan 2011, 20:31 1 0
The phone itself looks very nice, it's the OS I just can't see myself using. You're limited to what Samsung gives you, since there isn't an app store (yet).
Not that I'd even be able to get it, since I'm on Verizon (CDMA) in the US.
7. srv86 (unregistered) posted on 28 Jan 2011, 04:59 0 0
Wave II is One nice phone. Samsung is offering high end features in such low cost ( About Rs. 18000/-). Only that Bada OS not Mature enough is the main drawback, othrwise its a very good smartphone.
8. Lol (unregistered) posted on 10 Feb 2011, 15:41 0 2
This phone has a camera better than Nokia c7 with 8 m pixel and more video detailed better than Nokia n8 12 m pixel I think wave has the best 5 m pixel camera ever.
9. sunnyyyy (unregistered) posted on 04 Mar 2011, 02:29 0 1
hey;;;;;; r we talkin about phone or we'r talkin about a camera............>>???
19. royal jaat (unregistered) posted on 13 Sep 2011, 02:03 0 2
the camra is a part of a smartphone or a phone.................
10. Pankaj (unregistered) posted on 26 Mar 2011, 06:33 0 0
If i buy Samsung Wave II now with Bada OS 1.2 than will i be able to upgrade it later to Bada OS 2.0?
11. JIVRAJ (unregistered) posted on 28 Apr 2011, 04:32 1 0
Pankaj yes u will be able to upgrade it and also wave 2 has an ambient light sensor and a proximity sensor.
12. Anuj (unregistered) posted on 03 May 2011, 14:53 0 0
hello, the price of wave 2 in gujarat is just 14,500 in my city. waiting to go down further so that i can get it ata cheaper rate :)
13. mob posted on 10 May 2011, 07:01 0 0
The Samsung Wave II is a phone that I liked.
The screen is great, battery life is good, build quality is great and looks classy.
The user interface is nice and friendly.
The phone is quick. The touch screen response is good but not as good sure as that
of the iphone.
What I miss is speed dial which I realy need. Also there are some things I dont like. The Bada does not support VOIP, and does not offer good apps (also apps are very limited ).
The drop down notification panel drops during a call due to slight toutch of the ear and sometimes activats silent mode and causes phone to vibrate during call (main thing that annoys me). The speaker is somehow weak.
Other than that the phone is very good.
Mohib Haddad
14. mayank (unregistered) posted on 15 May 2011, 03:26 0 0
is wave 2 also heat like wave........?
15. tayohgao (unregistered) posted on 02 Jun 2011, 00:18 0 0
Do you think which phone is better if you have a mid-range to moderately high budget?Samsung galaxy ace or samsung wave ll?
16. Khushi (unregistered) posted on 18 Aug 2011, 06:34 0 0
Wave II is a better option for u tayohgao
17. PeterIfromsweden posted on 23 Aug 2011, 06:46 0 1
"bada 1.2 browser still doesn't support Adobe Flash 10.1"
And the iphone, does that support flash iphonearena...???
20. Arun Kumar (unregistered) posted on 13 Sep 2011, 23:21 0 0
Hi Friend,
can any one of you please tell me is there black color available in samsung wave 2 or only one color i.e Ebony Gray.
21. Arun Kumar (unregistered) posted on 13 Sep 2011, 23:22 0 0
Hi Friends,
Can any one tell me is there a black color available in samsung wave 2.
