Samsung Wave II S8530 deals & review

The Samsung Wave S8500 was the first phone to be released featuring Samsung´s Bada OS, and also came with a gorgeous Super AMOLED screen. While the screen offered very high quality graphics there were reports that it did so at a large cost to battery life and so with Samsung´s follow up to the Wave there has been a transition to the less power hungry Super Clear LCD.

As well as a change in screen technology, the size of the screen has been increased for the new Wave II S8530. The original Wave featured a 3.3" display which was somewhat compact by today´s smartphone standards, and the new iteration has been bumped up to a more standard 3.7". This offers a much richer visual experience but also adds to the size and weight of the handset. The screen still features 16 million colours and 480 x 800 pixel resolution, as well as capacitive technology making it in all other respects much like the original Wave.

The Bada OS has also been upgraded to the latest version (1.2) which introduces some new features into the bargain. For starters, the OS can now update itself over the air and a much welcomed feature known as T9 Trace has been introduced, offering Swype like text input.

Many other features on the Wave II have remained true to the original Wave, with the same 5 megapixel camera present, including LED flash and HD video recording. Internal storage is the same at 1.5GB but support for 32GB, with 2GB included with the phone.

The Wave II offers great support for SMS, MMS and email, as well as Palringo instant messaging. Full web browsing is a joy with HTML support and 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity available. The Wave II features the same fantastic media player, and also comes with FM radio with RDS and FM recording, so that you can record the latest hits as they are released.

Between the Wave 8500 and Wave II 8530 there is not a huge amount of difference. Many of the internal and software features remain the same but the Wave II has had a noticeable revamp in terms of its screen. With an increase from 3.3" to 3.7" and a switch to Super Clear LCD the Wave II offers a much greater visual experience and less battery drainage, but is perhaps not enough of a difference to seduce owners of the original Wave.