Related Articles
The UK will be awash with three new Samsung Wave phones in November, as Big Sam makes a big push before Christmas on its mobile platform Bada.
Joining the upcoming Samsung Wave 2 and Samsung Wave 723 are three brand-new Bada-powered phones, the Samsung Wave 525, 575 and 533. The three are very similar in terms of features, all carrying a 3.2-inch touchscreen and 3.2-megapixel camera. All will run the TouchWiz 3.0 interface and carry the Dolphin 2.0 Web browser. They’ll have 100MB memory built-in, expandable to 16GB with a microSD card.
The Samsung Wave 525 is the most basic and likely cheapest of the three phones, only carrying EDGE Internet connectivity, which will result in some pretty sluggish browsing. The Samsung Wave 575 has 3G, while the Wave 533 will carry a Qwerty keyboard, but no 3G.
The three phones should be cheaper than the two previously announced Wave phones, as the hardware isn’t as high-end. But these handsets do fulfil one of the main aims of the Bada platform, which is to provide useful smart phone features at an affordable price. In the past this role would have been taken by Symbian phones, but Samsung has announced it’s dumping the platform.
As well as having touchscreen capability, the three Wave devices will be able to access the Samsung Apps store. When we reviewed the original Wave we said there was a lack of apps, so by the time November rolls up we hope there will be more to choose from.
The Samsung Wave Bada family will be up against an awful lot of competition, and to be successful the five new phones need to be easier to setup than we’ve previously experienced with Bada. But if it gets this right, Bada could be a popular choice for Christmas from a very familiar brand.
Image credit: Recombu
