Why I bought a Samsung Wave

Here's a confession - I have never spent more than Rs. 10,000 on a phone (excluding exchange price on the old handset). Not because I don't believe that high end phones are worth it, but because of my priorities in life. My job requires me to almost constantly work on a laptop, so I would rather put extra money into a high-powered ultraportable. And my first love is music, so I would rather spend on a dedicated MP3 player and 'phones which will give me years of listening pleasure.

The new generation of smartphones have upped my cellphone budget, because with their capabilities they are  mini-computers and fairly serious contenders for a netbook replacement.

And so I have replaced my Nokia E63 with the Samsung Wave.  

My reason for purchase? It's fantastic value for money in terms of specs offered at the price!

The expected price of iPhone 4 in India is at least Rs. 35,000 and the price of most comparable Android powered smartphones is Rs. 28,000 +, including Samsung's own flagship Galaxy S. The Samsung Wave offers equivalent hardware at Rs. 18,000. CNet has already reported that the iPhone 4 and Samsung use similar processing core (both are manufactured by Samsung).

I am aware that this price comparison will not hold in countries other than India where phones are sold on contract.

Here is a full comparison of specs of the iPhone 4 and Samsung Wave from the Samsung Mobile Innovator site






I have to admit though,  that the sticking point was the bada OS (or more precisely, the lack of apps developed for the OS, especially compared to the thousands of apps available for iPhone and Android phones). But I believe that bada is a serious attempt at a smartphone OS by Samsung and the bada app store should grow with time. I have blogged earlier about Samsung's vision for bada;

"The vision of bada is smartphone for everyone. bada's main goal is not to compete with existing smartphone platforms. Instead, bada will turn Samsung's conventional customers into smartphone users by providing cost-effective smartphones. This means that bada will open and extend a new smartphone market which does not exist in the current mobile market"

That's a pretty clear vision and I am ready to live with it for a couple of years at least to see what Samsung comes up with. Meanwhile, Android will become more stable and better, and hopefully, the hardware would become cheaper too!

I definitely intend to post about my experience with Samsung Wave, so do stay tuned if you are interested in buying one.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 17, 2010 at 11:12 PM

    There is a formatting problem; Samsung data is not displayed fully (truncated by the right margin). Please check and correct.

    I read somewhere that windows mobile will have most of the functions used by majority will be standard and the need to download additional applications will be less. (like MS office). I hope most of the standard function applications are available in wave.

    ReplyDelete
  2. NishaOctober 17, 2010 at 11:21 PM

    Hi, I just checked and it seems OK. Please double click on the JPEG, it will take you to the original page, or use the link to the Samsung Innovator site.
    You are right about Win Phone 7, it would have been my first choice, but they are way too late into the fray (even Symbian 3 and BB OS 6 are out already!). Now I don't have the patience to wait. I also expect their pricing to be similar to Apple in India (ie. too much). I actually lean towards Android but I am unwilling to spend a bomb on the best hardware. When prices drop and Android constant updates peter out, I will invest in an Android phone.
    About the Wave, it has all basic applications - what it lacks are a lot of apps for leisure/ personal use which are there on Apple/ Android.
    Thanks for commenting!

    ReplyDelete
  3. ArchitaaOctober 17, 2010 at 11:21 PM

    Though the phone looks amazing but I have a mindblock for touch screen phones, especially when I am constantly on the road, need a rough and tough phone and display getting fastest with the touch screens.
    What's your take on E5 - nokia?

    ReplyDelete
  4. NishaOctober 17, 2010 at 11:47 PM

    Archita, E5 is a great phone, its defintely better than E63, but not as good as E72. Suggest you play with both before you decide. E72 has same processor, same OS and better screen,battery and camera. It also has dedicated shortcut keys (which are there on E63 also but absent on C5). Bottomline is that all these phones are relatively behind the technology curve, so the cheaper you can get them for, the better. Depending on your budget, E5 is good if you get it under 10k and e72 is great if you get it around 12k. Let me know what you finally get! Thanks for commenting :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. NishaOctober 17, 2010 at 11:58 PM

    BTW I totally understand the mindblock about touchscreens. I am just getting over it myself. The hybrid "Touch + QWERTY" does NOT help, it just confuses matters :) There are fewer choices with QWERTY now, apart from Nokia and BB which are targeted at business users. But touchscreens are surely the future!

    ReplyDelete
  6. ramnikOctober 18, 2010 at 5:20 AM

    After some research; I have zeroed down to the soon to be launched HTC Desire HD. What's your considered opinion and do you have an indication on prices? Should launch by end October in India.

    ReplyDelete
  7. NishaOctober 18, 2010 at 8:01 AM

    Superb choice! Isn't that the same as HTC Evo in the US? You're gonna have a lot of fun with it. Expect price to be Rs.30-35,000 range. I would have loved to have one too :) Pl. write a review once you get it.
    Thanks for reading and commenting :)

    ReplyDelete

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