I'm unfortunately one of those hopelessly klutzy people. I often drop things or misplace them. This is why I never allowed myself to buy any expensive gadgets or sleek gizmos that might easily break or fall apart. Even when touchscreen smartphones started to get in vogue, I stuck with my trusty keypad cellphone.
But I couldn't help developing a crush on these gorgeous babies. It surprised me since I was never the type to lust after gadgets. Some of my friends had these touchscreen phones and I loved the feeling of swiping my fingers over the screen. It's silly I know, but working with touchscreens just felt futuristic - I got quite a kick out of it.
WiFi capability was also a big turn-on. Too many times, when my friends and I would hang out at coffee shops, they would get busy updating their Twitter and Facebook accounts, while I would stare at my old-fashioned cellphone, checking text messages for the nth time. They were apparently having more fun than I did and I wanted a piece of the action.
One day, after carelessly dropping my cellphone on the bathroom floor (told you so), my cellphone just stopped working. It was already past the warranty period which meant I'd have to shell out some money to get it fixed. I decided to just get a new phone and yes - this time, I was going to get a touchscreen smartphone!
I wanted to get something very affordable (that way, it wouldn't be so heartbreaking if I ended up breaking the phone in less than a year). It didn't take long before I discovered the Samsung Wave 525. It looked pretty good and it had some really neat features. In fact, I couldn't believe how cheap it was.
Here are some of the features:
- Uses the Bada platform
- 3.2-inch 262K-Color WVGA TFT LCD touch screen
- 3.2 megapixel camera
- Bluetooth and WiFi capabilities
- FM radio, music player, music recognition, and voice recorder
First, let's take a look at the things I really like about the Wave 525:
- The smartphone has a clean and simple design. It's stylish in a timeless and understated way. It doesn't look cheap at all.
- WiFi is pretty fast. Watching YouTube videos and downloading apps is a dream.
- The screen looks great. Colors are vivid and you can always adjust the screen brightness.
- The "fake call" feature. I don't know if several users realize this, but the Samsung Wave 525 actually allows you to give fake calls to yourself. You can even record a voice to make the fake call more convincing - very useful when you want to get out of a bad date!
- Expandable memory (MicroSD up to 16 GB)
But of course, there were also some things about the smartphone that I wish could be improved:
- User memory is only 100MB. I guess it's only fair since the phone is quite cheap. Besides, you can always use a MicroSD card for expanded memory.
- While the screen itself looks scratch-resistant, I noticed that the back cover of the phone already showed a few scratches in just a few days. Again, you get what you pay for. Good news is, you can always buy a protective case.
- Some functions are not very user-friendly. For example, when replying to a text message, the reply box is so small that it's difficult to go back and edit text you've already typed. You have to save your reply as a draft first so you can edit the text with more ease. Then again, for the price this isn't exactly a deal-breaker for me.
- The touchscreen is very sensitive.Sometimes, while holding the phone in my hand, I end up accidentally calling people.
While the Samsung Wave 525 is not perfect, I think it's a really great buy for its price. It looks good, offers great WiFi connectivity, and it's a really decent phone all in all. I personally give it 4 out of 5 stars.