Samsung Wave S8500 Review:Using Samsung’s Bada Operating System

Samsung’s Bada OS makes an impressive debut appearance…

The success of Google’s Android operating system hasn’t gone unnoticed by Samsung, but rather than hiring Google’s roamin’ OS, it’s created its own: Bada. The Samsung Wave is its first  showcase.

The phone looks exquisite, with an aluminum body less than 11mm thick, a 3.3-inch “Super AMOLED” screen that’s pain sharp, bright and copes better outdoors that other OLEDs to date, although it’s still not great in sunlight.

Bada is simple to use and versatile, with a total of ten home screen to customize and a central menu for accessing everything else. The only drawback is that you can only place widgets on the phone screens, not app shortcuts.

General functionality is classic Samsung:icon lead directly to menu screen and the whole thing reacts rapidly top the touch. The battery lasts for a day and a half.

As a media player, it’s as good as anything this side of the iPhone. Music sounds engaging, with SRS virtual surround sound if you like that kind of thing. Video looks disarmingly sharp on the OLED screen. Add a five-megapixel camera with 720p HD video revording and the ability to stream footage wirelessly to your Samsung TV, and you have a fun package.

However, while the Wave is an impressive start, Bada is not yet the finished article, being noticeably less sophisticated than Android or iPhone. The app store is also under populated in comparison to rivals.

The internet browser is also far from perfect. Not only is there no flash, but it struggles to resize text making pages difficult to read

The keyboard is passable and generally accurate, but predictive text is so poor that it’s better to turn it off altogether.

The Wave is a solid first outing for Bada. It pales in comparison to its rivals here, but it’s still good enough to be worth considering if you’re more interested in music, photos and video than web browsing.

Details

• OS Bada
• Processor Samsung Hummingbird 1Ghz
• Storage 1GB, microSD
• Screen 3.3 inch, 480×800 capacitive AMOLED
• Connectivity 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack
• Camera 5 megapixels, LED Flash
• Video Capture 720p, 30fps
• Battery 7 hours 3G talk

Love – The AMOLED screen, video quality and music playback are all first rate. A great looking, compact handset.

Hate – Few apps. Apps not accessible from home screens.

We Say – A good first attempt for Bada OS, but it’s  not yet able to compete with the iPhone or Android crowd.

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