Reviews

Samsung Wave review

The Samsung Wave is the first of Samsung’s Bada-based smartphones, but is it a real competitor to other platforms on the market? We review it to find out.

18 Jun 2010

.polaris__post-meta--date { display: none; } .polaris__post-meta--date.no-script { display: block; padding-left: 45px } 18 Jun 2010

When the Samsung Wave landed at Mobile World Congress in February, we were pretty impressed by its stunning, super AMOLED touch screen.

Although we didn't have a chance to test all the features, it seemed fast and the Bada operating system appeared to be well thought out, despite being an almost carbon copy to Android.

Now we've had a little more time with the Samsung Wave, it's clear that the device and platform could be a viable competitor to Android.

The hardware feels great in the hand it's slim, heavy enough to feel premium and inoffensive on the eye.

The screen is probably the best available, although that opinion may change when people get their hands on the iPhone 4.

The Wave's display may not be the largest on the market at 3.3in, but at 480x800 pixels, the Super AMOLED display is ultra crisp and the 16 million colours ensure it's vibrant, especially when watching video.

The Samsung Wave features five customisable home screens.

To add widgets, you simply need to tap the widgets' button in the top left corner of the screen and a selection of available widgets will appear at the bottom.

Select one and it'll move to that homescreen. To move them around, you just need to press and hold the icon and swipe it into the position.

The lock key is at the side, above the camera button. At first this was a little confusing as we're used to gripping the bottom half of a handset while tapping an unlock button, as is the case on the HTC Desire.

To unlock the screen, you have to swipe diagonally across it nothing different there.