Wave 3

Now-a-days, Mango and Droid phones are being launched at cruising speed and thus a new smartphone on a developing platform is going to struggle to get noticed. Perhaps, Samsung is in a mood to do so. The company’s latest Bada flagship smartphone, Samsung Wave 3, will soon hit the markets in countries around the world. Initially, the Wave 3 was supposed to be released in October, but it’s only now that Samsung has announced its availability. The third generation of the Samsung Wave is all set to make a difference. Running completely redesigned Bada OS version 2.0, the Samsung Wave 3 comes in a 9.9-mm thin metal case with anodized brushed aluminum. The Samsung S8600 Wave 3 flaunts a bigger and better screen. It's blazing fast, thanks to its 1.4 GHz Snapdragon single core CPU processor. The other key features are the unhitched multitasking and presence of one of the best video players in this smartphone.
Samsung Wave 3 has a 4-inch WVGA super AMOLED display, HSPA 14.4 Mbps connectivity, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, ChatON service, 512MB of RAM, 5 MP autofocus rear photo snapper, and a VGA front-facing camera.
The Samsung S8600 Wave 3 has a good build and appeal and looks of a true flagship device. The brushed metal case of the device is very impressive and the unibody slider design is also a novelty. Samsung S86000 Wave 3 measures 125.9 mm x 64.2 mm x 9.9 mm. The phone weighs 122 gm and it is impressively slim and lightweight.
There are some disheartening issues also with this otherwise very talented gadget. First and foremost is with the Bada OS. This revamped OS still has comparatively limited number of available applications. Besides, the card slot of the device is not hot-swappable and the phone has no proper smart dialing feature. Even the “SatNav” software pre-loaded on Wave 3 is available only on a 30-day trial.

User Interface and UI functionality

To begin with, Samsung Wave 3 has Bada OS whose new major version and the interface can hold it high even against high-end Androids. This has made the device certainly an attention grabber. The Samsung S8600 Wave 3 has a solid metal body with the traditional brushed finish. It's a slim and very stylish handset with a minimalist exterior and a unibody design. The handset boasts of an innovative slide-up construction, refurbished Bada OS v2.0 with Samsung Apps and 1.4 GHz Scorpion single-core CPU.
The phone flaunts a 4" 16 million-color super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen (480 x 800 pixels) which is scratch-resistant. The front Gorilla Glass covered 4" superAMOLED screen dominates its otherwise subtle design. The display is of WVGA resolution. The superAMOLED design looks great and adds to the phone's overall durability. Also, even though the screen is not as bright as LCD screen, it has a very good sunlight legibility. It's undoubtedly an asset of the S8600 Wave 3.
The display uses a PenTile matrix that reduces the sharpness of the display. Wave 3 uses two capacitive call keys around the Home key. When idle, they're not backlit but the single massive Home key becomes prominent because the front is minimalistic.
The gripping exterior is a security for a solid performance. But ergonomically, the polished metal surface on the downside of the phone doesn't allow a secure grip. There are aluminum wraps around the sides and its rounded edges feel great in hand and make the design almost seamless.

Multimedia features

There is standard 3.5mm audio jack, TV out, DivX/XviD/H.264/MKV video support with subtitles, AC3 audio support,stereo FM radio with RDS, FM recording in Samsung Wave 3.
The 5 MP autofocus camera with touch focus and LED flash, geo-tagging, face, smile and blink detection, 720p video recording at 30fps is located at the unprotected rear. Fortunately, the 5MP camera lens is sufficiently recessed into the body of the phone, which keeps it out of the way of scratches and fingerprints.

Pictures and Video quality

The picture and video quality of images and videos shot by the 5 MP photo shooter of Samsung Wave 3 is quite good. The camera records 720p HD video at 30 fps with insignificant shutter lag. There are no complaints about loss of color depth, trueness, or picture clarity. HD videos are also of incredible promising quality.

Internet support

One can access Internet on Samsung Wave 3 via its web kit-based Samsung Dolphin Browser with Flash Lite support. Browsing is fun and users will enjoy it.

Internal and External Memory

Sadly, both the SIM and microSD card slot are blocked by the battery on Samsung Wave 3, which needs to be out if you're going to be ejecting or inserting a card in either slot. That's something we wish Samsung had fixed. Thus, quite evidently, there's no hot swappable microSD card in the phone.
Nevertheless, it has an available built-in storage of 1GB for user files and 2GB for system storage and apps.

Applications and Gaming

As already mentioned that the Samsung Wave 3 apps and games front is its weak end. However, it is for the people to understand that the Bada app store has been building up content. Hence, along with 250K Android apps, the limited supply in Samsung’s app store apps will still be ample. Moreover, one must also give up on the prejudices and try the new fresh, efficient, and friendly apps available on the Samsung S8600 Wave 3.

Battery Backup

Samsung Wave 3 rear cover slides up to let users access the battery and memory and SIM slots. Sliding reveals the 1500 mAh battery of the phone that is rated at an enormous 8.30 hours of talk time and 480 hours of standby time.

Connectivity Offered

All the connectivity ports are at the bottom of Samsung Wave 3 and so we find the microUSB port and the 3.5-mm audio jack there. The Quad-band GSM supported device enjoys dual-band HSPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity, Wi-Fi Direct support, Wi-Fi tethering, Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS support, digital compass, YouTube client, Facebook, and Twitter integration, voice recognition for both commands and dictation. There's also Samsung LBS powered by ROUTE 66 standard microUSB port and Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP.