Samsung Wave 525 deals & review

In a word or two

The Samsung Wave 2 is a more affordable and accessible Bada-based smartphone.

The Design

A smaller version of the iPhone 3G S in shape, being tall and slim with a minimalist design, the Samsung Wave 2 brings the Bada OS experience to the cheaper end of the market. The screen is a mere 0.1 inches smaller than its big brother, the Wave, at 3.2 inches but does not boast the Super AMOLED technology – it is capacitive, though, and supports 256 thousand colours to allow for rich images onscreen.

The Samsung TouchWiz UI is onboard, a popular feature also found on the latest Galaxy phones, 3 and 5. This UI brings with it 7 home screens which you can make all yours, with any apps and features you so choose. With shortcuts to the likes of messages, apps and dialler, aligned along the bottom of each screen, navigation on the Samsung Wave 2 is simple and effortless.

The smartphone comes in a choice of pearl white, romantic pink or metallic black. A nice size for a phone, the Wave 2 is comfortable to carry, hold and use – just like the Wave 2 Pro, which is the same phone but with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

Specifications

The platform Samsung debuted on the Wave is also found in the follow-up, more affordable Wave, number 2. This is because Samsung wants to expand accessibility to the OS as well as to continue to grow its App Store – which already contains a number of apps for business, health, social networking and more, which you can download onto the phone. The Samsung Wave 2 has Java support which enables non-Bada specific apps and games to be added to your phone too.

Messaging and social networking are popular themes among many affordable smartphones including the LG Town GT350 and Galaxy Apollo. And the Samsung Wave 2 is no exception. The Social Hub function acts like MotoBlur on Motorola devices such as the Dext, and brings all your messages from numerous platforms into the one place – you can view, reply and update your own activities from here too. This is handy for sharing images taken on the phone’s 3.2-megapixel camera or video recorder. With email, Bluetooth and MMS available too, there are plenty of ways to share. And for longer communication with friends, you can always launch the separate apps for Facebook and Twitter.

Considerations

Although there is Wi-Fi support on the Samsung Wave 2, there is no 3G ability – which is a shame considering this is a messaging device.

Verdict

An attractive device that runs on the Bada platform, the Samsung Wave 2 offers you a cheaper alternative to the Wave and brings you a capacitive screen and social networking for a reasonable price.