Samsung Wave Y Review

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Posted: 16 Mar 2012, 10:10, by Daniel P.

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Interface and functionality:

As mentioned above, the screen resolution on this size is very positive for the initial impression from the TouchWiz UI over bada 2.0 in the Samsung Wave Y. The eye-candy introduced by the widgets on the home screens is pretty detailed, and text is legible.


The Samsung Wave Y has TouchWiz UI over bada 2.0

TouchWiz UI in bada 2.0 introduces notifications on the lock screen, and a dedicated homescreen for cool weather, news, etc. widgets with transparent backgrounds, which you can scroll up and down, instead of swiping, called Live Panel. The UI also sports revamped icons and folders, as well as green radio buttons for turning different functions on and off.


Notifications on the lock screen

You can read a more detailed review of bada 2.0 in our Wave 3 piece here, and about the only thing missing from the Wave Y are some transparencies, as the processor is not as powerful. Still, the 832MHz CPU runs things very smooth and zippy, without major interface jams.

The 3.2” display size makes it uncomfortable to type on the virtual keyboard, especially in portrait mode, although bada OS 2.0 has this pretty well-spaced keyboard layout we've come to appreciate. Communicating via the new ChatON messaging service, or using the Social Hub that aggregates your social networking and messaging services in one place will thus not be you primary pastime with such a cramped on-screen keyboard, but it’ll suffice for the occasional text message.


Virtual keyboard

Internet and Connectivity:

Samsung's new version of bada's Dolphin browser in bada 2.0 adds a download manager and prettier interface compared to the previous version, but still doesn't support desktop Adobe Flash, and even Flash Lite seems to be missing, as we couldn't see Flash ads, or embedded YouTube videos. Text reflow, pinching and scrolling are executed fine, and reading text is a pretty decent experience thanks to the good pixel density.


The browser of the Samsung Wave Y

The Samsung Wave Y sports a fairly standard suite of connectivity options – 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct, as well as Bluetooth, A-GPS, DLNA with the AllShare app, FM Radio and even NFC, which has its own app for making and receiving NFC tags.

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Samsung Wave Y

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1. Muhannad posted on 16 Mar 2012, 10:22 4 1

Looks are better than the Galaxy Y but the Galaxy Y is better soley because of Android.

2. mercorp posted on 17 Mar 2012, 06:41 0 0

great phone.i will take this over the galaxy y any day.

5. chirag01 posted on 16 Apr 2012, 09:37 0 0

which is better samsung galaxy y or wave y

6. devark posted on 16 Apr 2012, 11:59 0 0

i was checking the same and wave y is better than galaxy y
http://www.smartprix.com/compare.php?ids=1783,118,2002
see the above 5 points win by wave y

7. ruchi posted on 17 Apr 2012, 05:32 5 0

Samsung wave Y is definitely better than galaxy Y but too bad it doesn't have android. Here is the comparison between the two:
http://www.smartprix.com/mobiles/samsung_wave_y_s5380_vs_samsung_galaxy_y_s5360-c2002_1783.php

8. mvmnrao posted on 05 Jun 2012, 00:50 0 0

I don't know about the galaxy Y much, so I couldn't compare these two.
But after I have gone through few reviews I bought Samsung Wave Y and I am very dissatisfied with this phone.
Apart from the disadvantage that, it doesn’t support more apps because of it bada operating system, I is not working in lots of situations as a simple phone.
I couldn’t answer the phone some time, the green bar get strucked; I had to restart the phone.
The micro speaker gives very bad quality in sound.
The signal goes off suddenly and after some time when I noticed that I am not getting call what I am expecting, then I used to realize that the phone is not taking the signal and I had to restart.
When I select network automatic mode, it can’t switch between GSM and UMTS (3G) properly, instead I goes to emergency calls only mode.
And I am not sure about the reason but I couldn’t open my office web mail in the browser in this phone, may be the browser is not sending a secured request (but I used to check my companies web mail in my last phone and the major reason I went for this smart phone is to access companies web mail which I am not able to do now.)
So like this I have faced issues with this phone, so guys please take a while before you buy this phone.

9. spark00 posted on 04 Jul 2012, 22:21 0 0

A good phone and it's worth the money....

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