Samsung's New Wave Series-Wave 525,Wave 533 Aka Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro

                  Samsung Wave 525-
Introduction: 

Samsung announced the low-range phones to carry its own bada OS back in June, naming them the Samsung Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro. Afterwards the company took care of the mid-range with the Samsung Wave 723, which we reviewed recently. The last news from the bada camp were for a true successor to the first Samsung Wave, called the Samsung Wave II. 

To avoid duplicate pronunciations, the low-end members of the bada family are now ready to enter the markets, but with names consisting strictly of numbers. The Samsung Wave 2 is now the Samsung Wave 525 and the Samsung Wave 2 Pro, which simply adds a QWERTY keyboard, is Samsung Wave 533.  We have the Samsung Wave 525 of the duo announced in June, and are taking it for a spin to check how bada OS looks and behaves on a rock-bottom hardware...



Design:

The Samsung Wave 525 will not win any design awards with its plain black rectangular shape with chrome-like accents, such as a thin rim around the phone. The capacitive touchscreen screen is 3.2" with 240x400 pixels of resolution, which makes the interface and websites look scraggy, and average sunlight visibility. Underneath it is the home button, flanked by send and end keys. There is a volume rocker on the left, microUSB port and 3.5mm audio jack on top, as well as a lock/power button plus a dedicated camera key on the right. Don't ask us why bada phones have a separate shutter key, while their Android brethren by Samsung only have virtual camera buttons, as we can't answer that on behalf of the company.                              

The back hosts the 3MP camera, and replaces the usual glossy black plastic Samsung is using in most of its handsets of late for a dotted pattern one, which makes the phone less slippery to handle. The phone lies comfortably in the hand, and is fairly thin and light at 4.31 x 2.17 x 0.47” (109.5 x 55 x 11.9 mm), and 3.53 oz (100 g) of weight. The back cover is pretty prone to smudges and visible marks from everyday use, despite that it is not glossy plastic, but a simple wiping takes it all away. The Samsung Wave 525 will be available in three colors - black, white and pink. 

Pros

• Bada OS
• Feature Rich
• Bang for the Buck
• Battery Life is Awesome
• SNS Intergration
• Java

Cons

• Net Surfing Little Laggy on Default Browser

You can find the detailed specificatons below:-

Samsung wave 525 Specs.

Samsung Wave 533-

Introduction: 

After reviewing our first low-range bada OShandset in the form of the Samsung Wave 525, now time has come to take a closer look at its version with a physical keyboard – the Samsung Wave 533. It is the first handset with Samsung's own mobile OS to sport a slide-out QWERTY. 

Thus, we will keep most of the software part, which duplicates what we found on the Samsung Wave 525, and focus on the design differences and keyboard performance instead, so read on to find out what they are... 

Design:

The Samsung Wave 533 is a plain looking all-plastic handset, with a chrome-like rim around it, which marks the separation of the screen and keyboard halves. The 3.2" capacitive touchscreen has the lowly 240x400 pixels of resolution, which makes everything on the display look jagged. The viewing angles are decent, though, and it has average sunlight visibility on full brightness. Below the screen is the  menu button, as well as send and end keys, in a typical bada OS handset fashion. 

 The Samsung Wave 533 is a plain looking all-plastic handset with a chrome-like rim around it


The rest of the buttons are found on the keyboard half. There is a volume rocker on the left side, protected microUSB port and 3.5mm audio jack on top, as well as a lock/power button and a dedicated camera key on the right. Every button is easy to find and press, with the exception of the rather smallish lock/power key.

 

The back is flat, with a 3MP camera centered in its upper part, and the speaker grill down right. The usual piano black plastic Samsung is using in most of its handsets of late, is replaced for a battery cover with dotted pattern, which makes the phone easier to grip and hold. The 0.59” (15.1 mm) thickness is average for a phone with a physical keyboard, and adds to the easy grip feeling. At 4.09 oz (116 g), it is a heavier than the 3.53 oz (100 g) Samsung Wave 525, but not by much, and feels pretty light in the hand. Similar to the other two basic bada phones, the Samsung Wave 533 will be available in three colors - black, white and pink.

 The physical keyboard is what makes the phone stand out in the tsunami of bada handsets, so let’s slide the screen half away open and check how are the keys' spacing and tactile feedback. The keyboard  is pushed out with a rather tight and controlled movement, revealing four rows of keys, which light up in white when used. The additional symbols, including the number row on top, are colored in yellow, and the mode switch is down left, colored the same. 

Samsung has included four grey dedicated cursor arrow keys, which we pencil as one of the advantages of physical keyboards over virtual ones, together with the fact that the whole screen remains visible when typing. Each individual key is placed in a frame independently, with enough space in between, and the key travel has reasonable depth. Long-pressing the spacebar mutes the phone. The screen slides back over the keyboard with a significant push, making the spring mechanism feel rather solid. Overall, we were quite satisfied with the physical keyboard, and feel it can be a major selling point for the Samsung Wave 533.

‘India will become world's No. 1 mobile market by 2013'

India's cellular subscriber base is set to rise to 1.159 billion by the end of 2013, making it the world's largest mobile market, according to London-based Informa Telecoms and Media's latest forecast.

This will represent an extraordinary growth since 2000 when there were just 3.2 million active mobile subscriptions. Conversely, growth in China is set to slow down, and by the end of 2013, the number of active mobile subscriptions will be 1.106 billion.

“There are two main factors fuelling this growth in India - increased competition and the prevalence of multi-SIM activity. With just three national operators in China, there is just not the same level of competition as in India, and therefore not the same febrile atmosphere surrounding pricing and promotional activity,” explains Ms Shannon Keefe, senior market forecaster at Informa Telecoms and Media.

Not only will India surpass China in terms of the total number of active subscriptions by 2013, but, according to Informa's forecasts, the Indian market will have a higher subscription penetration rate (75 per cent ) than China's by the end of 2011 (69 per cent ). By the end of 2014, India's subscription penetration will be 101 per cent .

This serves to accentuate the preponderance of multi-SIM activity in India and the speed with which cellular communications have spread to the mass market.

However the bad news for operators is that when it comes to revenues, India will continue to lag behind. Informa Telecoms and Media projects that, by the end of 2013, the Chinese mobile market will be worth approximately $107.5 billion, as compared to India's mobile market, which is set to be worth approximately $35.5 billion.

Market share

Bharti Airtel, currently the market leader with over 127.6 million active subscriptions and a 22 per cent share of the market, will lose market share to the new entrants. Informa projects that Bharti's share of the market will fall to about 19 per cent by the end of 2013 (233 million subscriptions).

Newcomers such as Telenor, Etisalat and Videocon, will, between them, account for about 5 per cent of the total market by then.

Informa projects that India's mobile data market will be worth approximately $9 billion in 2014, up from $2.3 billion in 2008.

Samsung Galaxy S Vs. Nokia N8

Introduction:

If a Clash of the Titans movie was to be made for the smartphone industry, it would certainly feature the Nokia N8 and the Samsung Galaxy S. These are the current cream-of-the-crop handsets of the world's largest and second-largest cell phone manufacturers. The Nokia N8 and Samsung Galaxy S might be the high road for both companies, but the purposes behind them are different.

The Nokia N8 is a flagship phone with premium feel, and still, with Symbian^3, it feels like the pinnacle of Nokia that were, a peak hardware effort, before the Finnish company morphs into something yet unknown. Nokia wanted to make the highest end device to run a tried and true mobile OS that millions of users are accustomed to for years. In that respect, it is an evolutionary phone, despite some best-in-class features. 


The Samsung Galaxy S, on the other hand, represents the top effort of a novel path that Samsung undertook with Android, having the fastest graphics chipset in a phone, and an enormous  4”  Super AMOLED screen. Nokia N8 is like the brilliant film of a beloved movie star at the zenith of their hectic carrier, while the Galaxy S is the straight-As grad student, ready to change the world. 


Design: 

The Nokia N8 and the Samsung Galaxy S are both touchscreen-only devices, and that is where the design similarities end. Nokia N8 is beautifully crafted from a single sheet of anodized aluminum, and exudes that premium feel, aided by the solid heft of the metal body. It is enough to run your nail along the back, or rub your thumb against the etched logo, in order to conclude that this is a high-end craftsmanship. 

 Design: 

The Nokia N8 and the Samsung Galaxy S are both touchscreen-only devices, and that is where the design similarities end. Nokia N8 is beautifully crafted from a single sheet of anodized aluminum, and exudes that premium feel, aided by the solid heft of the metal body. It is enough to run your nail along the back, or rub your thumb against the etched logo, in order to conclude that this is a high-end craftsmanship. 



The Samsung Galaxy S also wows you, but from a different perspective. It is extremely thin at just 0.39 inches (9.9 mm), compared to the Nokia N8's 0.51 inches (12.9 mm). It is also very light in the hand, and thus doesn't feel like the big phone it actually is. Being made entirely of plastic has its positives - plastic is lighter and less rigid thаn metal, and this might actually help the precious Super AMOLED screen survive drops and other rough handling. 


The Galaxy S experience centers around that 4” 480x800 pixels Super AMOLED display, and the 3.5”regular AMOLED with 360x640 pixels  can't hold water against the Super AMOLED Goliath. Thanks to the Super AMOLED tech, the Galaxy S delivers incredibly high-contrast ratio and great viewing angles. For the most part, the ordinary AMOLED screen on the Nokia N8 manages to replicate this experience, but things get quite different when taken outside, under direct sunlight. The regular AMOLED has a relatively high reflectance ratio, while the Super AMOLED's is only 4%, one of the lowest in a smartphone. Still, Nokia has done a great job coating the N8, and the display is decent outside, but the Galaxy S fares even better, on par with the best LCD screens out there.

 Both handsets have physical home buttons under their screens. The Samsung Galaxy S, though, also adds capacitive back and menu Android buttons on its sides. Android’s hardware back and menu keys are frankly a better idea, since the virtual Options and Back in Symbian just take screen real estate.




Looking around the handsets, we find not less than ten openings and buttons on the sides of the Nokia N8, compared to the four in the Samsung Galaxy S, indicative of the difference in the design approach.




One notable difference is that the Nokia N8 has a non-removable battery. The card slots (SIM and microSD), are taken out of the battery compartment, and placed on the left side, while Galaxy S has them inside. On the right side the Nokia N8 has the camera button, while the Galaxy S uses the touchscreen to focus and shoot.




The buttons on both handsets are very responsive, with enough travel. The important ports are protected either by sliding lids or by plastic caps, and, all in all, despite the difference in materials, both the Nokia N8 and the Samsung Galaxy S are manufactured with precision, and feel like they can go for years of faithful service.