Samsung Wave II: Media savvy handset

Spotting the difference between the Wave and the Wave II is not an easy task. The Wave II is heavier (135g) than its predecessor and about one millimetre thicker. Its display is now larger at 3.7 inches as compared to the 3.3 inch of the original version. A Super Clear LCD sporting a resolution of 480x800 replaces the Wave's AMOLED display. Now Gorilla Glass is also present.

Familiar interface
Bada, Samsung's own mobile platform has not changed much since the Wave was launched. This OS is an extension of Samsung's existing platform that powers its lower-end devices. It performs quite smoothly in most situations. Powered by the same 1 GHz Cortex-A8 processor, the phone's speed leaves you with nothing to complain about. Samsung's customised interface — TouchWiz — will let you customise the device with multiple desktops and preloaded widgets. The applications in the main menu can also be moved around to suit your preference. Social network integration with your contacts is tedious, as the process is manual. Unfortunately, there's no option to sync the phone with a Google account. Another issue is that the thumbnails of any multimedia content are all extremely pixelated.

The Wave II is by far a media-friendly handset. There's a built-in music recognition and the FM radio application takes about 13 seconds to find and store six of the nine available radio stations. Courtesy the display's vivid colours, the black levels in videos are superb. The Wave II supports 720p video files in MOV and MKV formats, and of course, DivX and XviD file playback is also supported. With Wi-Fi, the Wave II supports wireless tethering. Other connectivity options include 3G, EDGE, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP and USB 2.0. Facebook, Twitter applications and Samsung's 'Feeds and Updates' widget are preloaded. For chatting, Palringo is loaded. Setting up your email is a tad more meddlesome than on Android or other modern phone operating systems. The handset's also has GPS that uses Route 66 software for navigation.

Very good camera
The Wave II's 5 megapixel autofocus camera is pretty much the same as the former phone's, but includes an LED flash. Image quality, however, is really good. Although details aren't as sharp as on other higher-end devices; colours are reproduced quite well with good clarity. Another area where the Wave II excels is battery life. We found no need to charge the device in two whole days with a regular amount of usage.

Verdict
At ₹15,400, the Samsung Wave II is a good multimedia handset that delivers on all fronts. If you're looking for a smartphone that isn't too complicated to use and offers great battery life with all the connectivity areas covered, the Wave II is your phone.