Samsung Wave M Preview

Introduction:

On our own count, the Samsung Wave M is not supposed to replace the Wave 723, which was a midrange bada alternative with some clever design tricks to make it stand out. It is introducing a lower- midrange category in the bada lineup, as it sports a 5MP camera and a larger screen than the entry level Wave Y, but keeps the same resolution and processor.

With this filing issue out of the way, let's examine what will make the Samsung Wave M stand out in comparison with its low-ranked Wave Y brethren and the plethora of Android handsets with similar specs out there.

Design:

Patterned battery cover doesn't really count for exclusive design, but it does a serve a nice purpose in keeping the phone gripped to your palm. Not that you will be dropping down the Samsung Wave M very often, as it is a pretty bulky piece for its screen size. It is light, but comparatively thick, and this chubbiness, coupled with the signature tapered back of the new bada handsets make it easy to hold. The three-tone chassis sports grey with dark grey and black, which is not exactly an inspiring combination.




You can compare the Samsung Wave M with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The 3.65” display sports the same 320x480 resolution we find on the lowly Wave Y, which means here the pixel density is a tad worse than the average for this category - the interface looks a bit granular throughout, and the small text in the Live Panel transparent widgets is barely readable.


Our early prototype unit doesn't have an LED flash on the back, but Samsung confirmed for us that the final version will sport one next to the 5MP camera on the back, which is good news for future owners.

The addition of a front-facing cam compared to the Wave Y is a nice touch, and one more way for the phone to deserve its place in the upper M category of Samsung's new naming scheme. Overall, the Samsung Wave M sports an OK design, without any bells and whistles, but it feels sturdy, and is comfortable to grab and hold, albeit bulky.

Interface and functionality:

As mentioned above, the screen resolution on this size is detrimental to the initial impression from the TouchWiz UI over bada 2.0. Whatever eye-candy the interface overlay adds, the pixel density takes a bit away from, but, as with anything else, you get used to it with time spent with the handset.

The TouchWiz UI here, however, introduces notifications on the lock screen, a dedicated homescreen for cool widgets with transparent backgrounds, called Live Panel, which you can scroll up and down, instead of swiping between homescreens. The UI also sports redrawn icons, folders, and the new radio buttons for turning different functions on and off. All this fine and dandy, we just wish for a tad higher screen resolution, but that would have put the phone in the upper W category probably, according to Samsung's new naming logic.



Messaging, Internet and Connectivity:

The 3.65” display size makes it comfortable to type on the virtual keyboard and bada OS 2.0 has a pretty well-spaced layout we've come to appreciate, so communicating via the new ChatON messaging service, or using the Social Hub that aggregates your social networking and messaging services in one place should be fairly easy.



The Dolphin browser adds a download manager and prettier interface compared to the previous versios of bada, but still doesn't support desktop Adobe Flash, only Flash Lite. Text reflow, pinching and scrolling are executed fine, but while reading text we again get unpleasantly close with the pixel density, which makes letters look a tad jagged.

The Samsung Wave M sports a full set of connectivity options – 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Direct, as well as Bluetooth, A-GPS, FM Radio and even NFC, which has its own app for making and receiving NFC tags.

Camera:

The 5MP camera didn't have a flash on our preview unit, but will in the final one, and we won't comment on the picture quality before we get a finalized unit. You can see for yourself below that even now the shots come out pretty decent.



The Samsung Wave M records 640x480 video with 30fps, which should make for a watchable experience, but can't be compared to the latest HD 720p and 1080p video capture phones, of course.

Samsung Wave M Sample Video:



Mulimedia:

The Wave M has a pretty decent music player, which supports albums, artists and playlists, but is nothing visually spectacular. The 5.1 channel mock surround sound is present here in headset mode as well.



The handset played MPEG-4 and DivX videos up to VGA resolution with no issues, and the experience is fine on the average screen size.

Expectations:

While nothing spectacular, the Samsung Wave M does introduce a new lower-midrange niche in the bada handset lineup with its 3.65” screen, 5MP camera and a front-facing shooter. It also has an NFC chip inside for those rare occasions when you would need one.

We have a bit lower than usual pixel density for the category, which sometimes makes text appear jagged, and the TouchWiz interface a bit granular. The chassis is fairly bulky as well, and the looks are nothing to write home about.

We did appreciate the decent pictures from the 5MP shooter, though, and hope they will stay like that or even get better in the final unit. The Wave M doesn't stand much chance against a decent Android midrange phone with the hundreds of thousands of apps backing it up, but it is a decent addition to the bada lineup nonetheless. As usual, much depends on the pricing scheme.

Samsung Wave M Video Preview: