Samsung have pulled out all the stops with their collection of Android smart phones. But what about their non-Android Wave phone. Is it any good?
Samsung have been pulling out all the stops this year with their collection of Android smart phones. They’ve also introduced the Wave which comes in a fair chunk cheaper than their Android offerings but still offers a fair amount of connectability.
It’s slimmer than an iPhone and benefits from a phenomenally impressive screen. That doesn’t mean to say it’ll be right for you, though. The only way to decide that is to look at some of the pros and cons.
Pros:
The main pro? Hands down, that has to be the combination of camera, video camera and Super Amoled screen. It’s simply stunning – the colours are incredibly vibrant and in dim light there’s a flash for still pictures which stays lit to record video.
Even when not being used to view pictures or videos, the screen provides a pin-sharp interface for you to check out the web or tap in phone numbers.
If you want to surf the net, answer emails and update your Facebook or Twitter accounts, the Wave is very capable of doing that.
I downloaded a few (free) apps easily enough, including one for Leinster rugby and ones for the Indo and The Irish Times.
There’s a nifty little drop-down notification menu that works well and gives you a quick and easy way to, for instance, put the phone on silent or check an incoming message.
The battery life is ok – sure, if you use the phone for an internet surfing marathon or take a load of video late at night with the in-built light shining brightly, the battery life suffers. But isn’t that the case with just about every mobile device?
Against:
If you love your apps you’ll find the Samsung Wave to be pretty limited. The apps you get have to be specially made to work on the Wave’s platform and the number of apps on offer is paltry when compared to the apps available to iPhone or Android users.
The biggest downer, however, is the occasionally unresponsive screen. And unfortunately, the occasion when it becomes unresponsive is the point at which you want to press to accept a call.
You can press, press and press again and, frustratingly, if the phone doesn’t want to let you answer you’re on a hiding to nothing. Around one in five calls received seems to require a call back because of this annoying issue.
Conclusion:
Negatives aside, not a bad phone at all. Samsung have certainly taken a few pointers from their time pawing over the market-leading iPhone. And the problem with occasional missed calls at least gives you the excuse for not responding to calls you don’t want to take.
Nick Bradshaw
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