Samsung Wave 723 Review: Specifications Design and User Interface

Samsung Wave 723 Review: Specifications  Design and User Interface
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Samsung has made a huge bet on the Bada OS by offering both Bada OS based phones and Android phones when Android is clearly the most dominant mobile OS now. It is offering both Android and Bada phones in almost all budget segments now, but is offering the Bada phones at slightly lower prices than the Android ones.

The Samsung Wave was probably the best launchpad that the Bada OS could get. Samsung followed through with its Bada bet by launching a few budget Bada phones too, like the Samsung Wave S5250 and the S5750 etc. It has also launched the successor to the Wave, the Wave II S8530 and a low cost version of the Wave - the Wave 723 S7230. The Wave 723 is a nice phone powered by the Bada OS which comes with a 5 MP camera and a 3.2 inch display. In this review, I will check out the Samsung Wave 723 and list its pros and cons.

Samsung Wave 723 Specifications

  • Dimensions: 109.5 x 53.9 x 11.8 mm
  • Weight: 113.8 gms
  • Display: 3.2 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display, 240 x 400 pixels
  • Camera: 5 MP camera, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
  • OS: Bada OS
  • Memory: 90 MB internal, 16 GB microSD card support
  • Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, microUSB 2.0
  • GPS: GPS with A-GPS
  • Battery: Standard Li-ion battery, 1200 mAh

Design (4 out of 5)

The Samsung Wave 723 is a very compact phone with dimensions of just 109.5 x 53.9 x 11.8 mm and a weight of about 113.8 gms. It has a standard candybar design and isn’t as stylish as the Samsung Wave. The body is composed mainly of metal and plastic and the build quality seems quite good. It sports a 3.2 inch capacitive touchscreen TFT display which is a step down from the Super AMOLED display of the Samsung Wave. The display offers decent brightness and contrast and has a resolution of 240 x 400 pixels which is a bit less.

Below the display are the standard keys - Call, End and Menu. The left side of the phone houses the volume rocker and the right has the camera key and the Power button. On the top, there is the microUSB port and the audio jack. It also comes with a leather flap which protects the display from scratches. The back of the phone sports the 5 MP camera, LED flash and the battery compartment.

User Interface (4 out of 5)

The Samsung Wave 723 sports the same OS as the Samsung Wave - Bada OS. It comes with the TouchWiz UI which is almost similar to the TouchWiz UI on Samsung’s Android phones. The UI is composed of familiar elements like widgets, homescreens, notification bar etc. It also has a Task Manager and supports 3rd party apps and games from Samsung’s Bada App Store. The user interface is quite intuitive and easy to use.

Bada’s application library has been growing and it now sports thousands of apps and games. While still a speck compared to the iOS App Store or the Android Market, it is definitely encouraging to Bada users.

Multimedia (4 out of 5)

samsung-wave-723

The Samsung Wave 723 is quite adept when it comes to multimedia, though nowhere compared to the Samsung Wave. The Wave 723 comes with a 5 MP camera with autofocus and LED flash. It also has features like geotagging and smile detection. The camera interface is very intuitive and responsive. It offers a lot of advanced customization options which you can tweak to your liking.

The 5 MP camera takes some really good shots with a good amount of detail. The still images are just as good as those captured by the Wave. It can also record video, but at a lowly QVGA resolution at 15 FPS. The audio quality of the Samsung Wave 723 is quite good, especially with a set of good headphones.

The Wave 723 comes with a Media browser which allows you to view all your images and videos easily. It also has a nice music player built in which offers equalizers and presets as well as features like DNSe, Bass enhancement etc. It also has a built in FM radio. The video player is mediocre and can play only MP4 and 3GP files at low resolutions. It cannot play DivX, XviD and MKV files, unlike the Wave.

Connectivity (4 out of 5)

The Samsung Wave 723 comes with all the connectivity options you would want in a smartphone. It has GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n as well as Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP and microUSB 2.0 connectivity. It comes with the Webkit based Dolphin 2.0 browser which is quite decent and includes Flash support. It also comes with a GPS transceiver with A-GPS. The UI is integrated with Twitter, Facebook etc.

The Wave 723 is powered by a 1200 mAh Li-ion battery which lasts for about 2 days with moderate usage.

The Final Verdict (4 out of 5)

The Samsung Wave 723 is quite a good smartphone which runs the new Bada OS. However, in this budget I would recommend phones like the Samsung Galaxy 3 which offer a slightly better overall package.