Samsung Wave II and Wave: Are They Class Apart?

Indian consumers are now bestowed with multitude of options as far as mobile handsets are considered. Every day new models are launched and there is hardly anything to choose between any two models. The same holds true for the famous wave series from Samsung.Company launched S8500 model under Samsung wave phones in 2010 and now followed up with an upgraded model of S8530 named Wave II. Let us look at both models to spot the key comparisons apart from a slight price variation.

S8530 just like S8500 run on 1.2 Bada OS platform. Appearance and form factor of both models vary; S8500 has a monoblock setting where as S8530 is a touch phone. Latter has a slightly bigger screen having a dimension of 123.9 x 59.8 x 11.8 mm compared to 118 x 56 x 11 mm of Wave. In terms of weight, Wave II is 17 gm heavier than its predecessor.

Both the Samsung wave and wave II phones support both GSM and 3G networks. But in terms of frequency range supported, one notable missing link in Wave II is its failure to operate in GSM bands of 1800 and 1900 MHz In terms of screen features, only key differentiating factor is that Wave II has a S-LCD (Super Liquid Crystal display) as compared to AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) display in Wave s8500. Which is better? S-LCD or AMOLED display, debate is still on, however there are claims that Wave II has better image clarity though resolution of both models remain the same.

There is hardly any difference when it comes to camera features. Both models have a five mega pixel camera with same resolution while viewing both still images and videos. But Wave II is provided with an additional auxiliary lens on the front side, this will help in caller identification too.

Compared to Wave basic model that can play only mp3 audio files, S8530 supports more audio formats like aac and wav too. Other than that there are no significant differences in terms of other entertainment features.

As per our review, Both Samsung wave phones support standard internet connectivity options of HSPDA, EDGE and GPRS. Bluetooth technology and WAP are enabled in both models. In terms of messaging options, again there is nothing to differentiate here except for the fact that Wave II supports Sync ML, a standard mark-up language gaining popularity as mobile data synchronization tool.

In terms of memory, though internal memory capacity is same for both models, Wave II has an external memory which can be ramped up to 2048 MB. This will help users to store more contacts, messages as well as other personal audio and video files.

As we have seen above, there are no major differences except for the display and form factor. But these two comparisons are enough to make the new Samsung Wave II model, S8530 more user friendly and elegant looking. More over Wave II scores over the other model especially for those users who love touch phones. A price variation of roughly Rs 1500 seems justifiable for these key comparisons in appearance and display. It may be recalled that Samsung launched Wave phones at around Rs 17500 and Wave II at Rs. 19000.