Samsung Wave review

Samsung offers its most powerful phone yet

The definitive Samsung Wave review
The definitive Samsung Wave review

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Samsung wave

If you've ever met a Samsung phone, you'll know that one of its defining characteristics (especially at the higher end) is a tip-top camera: the Samsung Tocco Ultra Edition, the Samsung i8910HD, the Samsung Pixon 12 are all examples of how the Koreans know how to give a phone a decent eye.

And that trend is continued on the high end Samsung Wave, despite 'only' having a 5MP camera.

Samsung wave

The addition of an LED flash helps matters too, but overall the quality of the pictures is generally very good, with a decent level of detail along with a fast shutter speed.

There are a huge number of shooting modes on offer as well, such as panorama, continuous and 'vintage', as well as the option to adjust the scene being shot, automatically sorting settings to work against bright light, shooting sports or taking pics of fireworks. Which we clearly all do on a regular basis.

Samsung wave

PLAY UP: The Wave is great at capturing a large amount of detail from multiple sources

Samsung wave

WIDE VIEW: The Wave handles large landscapes with ease in a dedicated infinite focus view

Samsung wave

PIGEON WITH A MOHICAN: Quick snaps are easy with the fast shutter speed

Samsung wave

BEAUTIFUL VISTA: Capturing panoramic views is a gimmick, but it works well here with the accelerometer telling you where you need to go

Video

Samsung wave

While the camera on the Samsung Wave is something to crow about, the addition of the HD video recorder is even more so.

It's a great addition to the line up, and works surprisingly well given the Wave's dinky dimensions.

There's the option for slow motion capture as well, meaning you can work on your golf swing etc (we've reviewed phones with slow motion on so many times, and we've yet to see anyone use the mode for anything but dancing like a rabid dog on heat and watching it back slowly).

Samsung wave

Exposure, colour, contrast and brightness can all be tinkered with, but ultimately it's just a rather good video recorder with some nice extra touches and decent sound recording too.

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As you can see the captured video shows off motion well - it might not look as slick as other HD recordings but it's certainly better quality than most.

Gareth Beavis
Formerly Global Editor in Chief

Gareth has been part of the consumer technology world in a career spanning three decades. He started life as a staff writer on the fledgling TechRadar, and has grown with the site (primarily as phones, tablets and wearables editor) until becoming Global Editor in Chief in 2018. Gareth has written over 4,000 articles for TechRadar, has contributed expert insight to a number of other publications, chaired panels on zeitgeist technologies, presented at the Gadget Show Live as well as representing the brand on TV and radio for multiple channels including Sky, BBC, ITV and Al-Jazeera. Passionate about fitness, he can bore anyone rigid about stress management, sleep tracking, heart rate variance as well as bemoaning something about the latest iPhone, Galaxy or OLED TV.