Overview

Samsung Wave Y S5380 - Innovative and Stylish

Overview of Samsung Wave Y S5380

In a Samsung Wave Y S5380 (also referred to as Samsung Wave538), innovativeness meets helpfulness in something measuring 110 x 58.2 x 12.3 millimetres and weighing 102.4 grams. The phone, available exclusively in black, has internal storage capacity of 150 MB with a 2 GB microSD card included. Should one wish to expand the memory, the phone can work with up to 32 GB of memory card space. The Wave Y S5380 offers a nice opportunity for those who like collecting different files from the people they meet or from the Web. To ease collection of files from others, this phone has three avenues: (i) WLAN, that has three kinds of Wi-Fi working the Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi hotspot; (ii) version 3.0 of Bluetooth with A2DP; and (iii) version 2.0 of microUSB. To ease collection of files from the Web, the phone has GPRS, EDGE and 3G HSDPA connectivity. Powering the Samsung Wave Y S5380 is a standard Li-Ion battery that promises talk time of up to 6 hours and 40 minutes and stand-by time of up to 570 hours. Where the phone interacts with the user, there is a 3.2-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen in place. The screen is 320x480 pixels with a pixel density of 180 ppi. With the screen comes an accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, TouchWiz UI and a proximity sensor for auto turn-off.

Samsung Wave Y S5380 Design and Build Quality

With a candy bar style and 3.2 inch touchscreen, the Samsung Wave Y S5380 has a metallic finish. The cover looks like brushed aluminium, but in actuality is plastic. Tapered edges are reminiscent of the Wave's line-up. It is a bit on the chubby side, while still being comfortable in your hand. Its plastic body still manages to give the device a solid build quality.

User Interface and Comfort to Use Samsung Wave Y S5380

Samsung puts its flagship TouchWiz user interface over the Bada 2.0 operating system. Widgets show up well detailed with good text quality. The combination of TouchWiz and Bada 2.0 introduces notifications on the lock screen and a dedicated home screen for news, weather, etc. widgets that have transparent backgrounds. All in all, it is a very user friendly and pleasing interface.

Messaging and Emails

Text, multimedia, and email messages are all supported not eh S5380.

Gallery, Photo Viewer and Video Player

The Gallery app user interface has been redesigned with some neat features. For instance, you have a page-turning effect when you turn on the sideshow function. There is a lack of a picture or video editor so you are such with some basic functions like rotate and crop. The S5380 does have a visually pleasing video player with a transparent interface. MPEG-4 is the only type of file support up to 720p.

Samsung Wave Y S5380 Music Player and FM Radio

The music player has also been given a pleasing look and a nice one-touch DLNA streaming function. There are no equalizer presets and audio quality via the loudspeaker is not adequate.

Samsung Wave Y S5380 Camera and Image Quality

With a lack of a front-facing camera, you have the 2MP shooter as your option. There are some nice camera features such as smile recognition and Panorama mode. Pictures themselves will not be as saturated or sharp as you will want. This really isn't a surprise given the devices 2 MP shooter. Make sure you have good lighting and a steady hand for indoor shots.

Video Camera and Video Quality

The HVGA video capture is hardly worth using or watching on the device. It records at 30 frames per second but that hardly makes a difference.

Samsung Wave Y S5380 Connectivity Options

For 2G GSM networks, the S5380 is compatible with 850, 900, 1800, and 1900 MHz bands. On a 3G HSDPA network, you have 900 and 2100 MHz as your options. Bluetooth 3.0 and microUSB 2.0 give you all the options you need to transfer files to other devices.

Web Browser and Applications

A new version of Samsung's Dolphin browser has a nice clean interface for your internet experience. It still lacks support for desktop Adobe Flash. The application market is not near as robust as Android or iOS.

Value for Money and Verdict

The Wave Y S5380 comes in at a price of Rs. 7140 (approx., may vary). Call quality on the S5380 sounds clear and crisp. The battery life will give you about a six hour and forty minute talk time average which is adequate. All-around, the S5380 has little disadvantages other than the camera quality. The problem lies in that it uses Bada instead Android and it is a bit over-priced for similarly priced devices.