Product Listing

Samsung Wave S8500 - An Ocean of Possibilities

By Seow Tein Hee - 23 Aug 2010
Launch SRP: S$698

Performance

Surfing the Wave

When we evaluated the Wave's overall performance, we had to factor in two considerations - usability and the hardware. The former is closely related to the design of the bada UI, while the latter is dependent on the Wave's hardware specifications and capabilities.

Following the footsteps of the recently introduced smartphones, the Wave is also armed with a 1GHz processor. This is evident as we blazed through the screen with smooth and fluid transitions across the menus. Loading apps isn't a slow affair, which took no more than two seconds to get the app active. The Wave was also able to handle its multi-tasking duties well with minimal lag in its operation, which we found out upon loading multiple apps.

The implementation of Samsung's Super AMOLED on the Wave has two implications - better screen clarity and power efficiency. Looking at the former point, we can admittedly say that our eyes had a more comfortable viewing experience on its 3.3-inch screen. Colors came off as rich and screen legibility under strong sunlight is good. With its 800 x 480 screen resolution, we also found details to be sharp and clear while we flipped through images and videos at the native resolution. Complementing the visual aspect is the audio performance, which came off average with no added bonuses such as a 5.1 channels surround sound as heard on the Galaxy S.

The Wave's Super AMOLED screen tossed back richer colors at various angles, as compared to the Apple iPhone 4 (left) and HTC Desire (right) screens.

Part of its the multimedia capabilities evaluation also involves the device's imaging capabilities. The Wave's hardware includes a 5-megapixel camera located at the rear of the device, ready for night shots with its LED flash.

Details were sharp, but colors were cool, which tends to rob it of the rich textures.

Disregarding the cooling hue seen here, detail levels were high with a sharp distinguishing of the fur.

As we've often said, it's not about the quantity, but the quality that matters. Though the Wave doesn't have the fancy 8-megapixel numbers used on devices such as the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, it's imaging sensor did the job just as well. White balance and color correction was decent, though the images might not have the rich colors one might expect due to what you see on the Super AMOLED screen versus the actual image results. Not to forget that this camera is also capable of 720p video recording, which turned out to be lag free and was smooth.

Our last performance evaluation segment is related to its battery mileage. What keeps the Wave going is a 1500mAh battery, a capacity that's commonly seen on smartphones of its caliber. Similar to our previous tests, we adopted our battery test with the following parameters: screen brightness and volume at 100%, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi active, with the latter used to constantly update Twitter feeds to simulate data download. Following which, a video encoded at 240 x 320 pixels resolution was looped on the Wave, and the results are listed as below.

Specifications/Device Samsung Wave HTC Desire Garmin-Asus M10 Nokia X6
Connectivity
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
  • Bluetooth 3.0 + A2DP
  • HSDPA
  • GPS with A-GPS
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + A2DP
  • HSDPA
  • GPS with A-GPS
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
  • Bluetooth 2.0 + A2DP
  • HSDPA
  • GPS with A-GPS
  • Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
  • Bluetooth 2.1 + A2DP
  • HSDPA
  • GPS with A-GPS
Dimensions
  • 118 X 56 X 10.9mm
  • 119 x 60 x 11.9 mm
  • 116 x 58 x 14.3 mm
  • 111 x 51 x 13.8 mm
Weight
  • 118g
  • 135g
  • 138g
  • 122g
Screen size
  • 3.3-inch, 800 x 480 pixels
  • 3.7-inch, 800 x 480 pixels
  • 3.5-inch, 800 x 480 pixels
  • 3.2-inch, 640 x 360 pixels
Battery
  • 1500 mAh
  • 1400 mAh
  • 1500 mAh
  • 1320 mAh

We rounded up the various mobile OS in this comparison to give you a better gauge of how the Wave's bada OS performed. Looking at Android (HTC Desire), Windows Mobile 6.5 (Garmin-Asus M10) and Symbian (Nokia X6) devices with similar specifications, we find Android scoring quite well in the power management scene.

Considering that the Wave is using a Super AMOLED screen, it's surprising to see it falling behind the Desire, which indicates a better power management on the Google Android platform. Nonetheless, its advantage over the more power hungry Windows Mobile 6.5 and Symbian devices is proof of how the hardware, i.e. its Super AMOLED screen, makes a difference in the device's usability. Though the Wave doesn't have the higher battery mileage, its Portability index was better than the HTC Desire's despite the higher battery mileage as enjoyed by the Android device. This goes to show that at times, you need a fair balance of design and hardware to get the best all-round performance. Interestingly, the Samsung Wave pulled it off and was a pleasant surprise.

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8.5
  • Design 8
  • Features 8
  • User-Friendliness 8
  • Performance 8.5
  • Value 9
The Good
Slim and compact
Good screen clarity from Super AMOLED
Intuitive user interface
The Bad
Limited 3.3-inch screen size
Battery life could have been better
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