When I say 'branding', I generally refer to FEATURES, after-sales SUPPORT and wide COMMUNITY presence for Samsung brand of phones. Availability of Custom ROMS has got nothing to do with 'software support', since Custom ROMS are inherently built for faster speeds, better optimization and no-bar access to the OS. Samsung, HTC, SE..even if they offer FroYo on time, people will still try custom ROMs for aforementioned reasons.
Dude, Samsung (only ahem.. Nokia) is not known for its after-sales support (in fact, it is crap for most sets; one of the major reason why some people refrain from buying Samsung), or wide community presence.
Yeah, but feature-wise, Samsung usually prices its phones lower than competition.(Coincidentally, the same way LG O1 is trying to compete against G3

)
Custom ROMs (in terms of the number of people who will try it) have got a lot to do with lack of software support...There would be a select set of guys who would love to customise the phone , try out all ROMs..but I assure you that lots of owners (including me) got fed with waiting for Froyo
(which by the way, was release long way back on HTC Desire and was supposed to be release in September in Galaxy S!! Yeah, that is what Samsung Branding is

, and instead had to resort to custom ROMs..
We no longer have to wait. Two FroYo firmware versions are already available!
Yeah, right..Apparently,noone cares about samsung official firmware update to be released..

..(considering that the samsung one would be as buggy /only as stable as these leaked versions ,lol..)
Wave is a fantastic multimedia phone and even Galaxy S offers good audio output. So, Wave > G3 = GS for audio quality. Know also that I am talking specifically about Wave S8500, which is currently out of production. I have no idea about the later (cheap) Wave versions and they are best avoided, IMO. The only reason Samsung Wave was such awesome phone sold only for 17K, was that is was BADA flagship product. No Android was/is a clear killer factor though.
Yeah, I was asking specifically about "THE WAVE"(not Wave 2, or others).
I also found the wave's sound output to be better than Galaxy S's in loudspeaker as well as headphone. (but in the older firmware, which was when I compared them, Galaxy S had an uneven freq response which distorted the sound output in headphone mode, which AFAIK has subsequently been fixed)..
I also found the 5.1 mode, to be just a gimmick on both the phones. (You seem to have liked it ? )
I'd have taken Wave over any sub-15k phone (even considering the extra 2-2.5 K I'd have to spend) though, I was that impressed with it..

(Awesome VFM!! Also, has better battery life than GS, most likely due to the smaller screen + no android + v.little apps/situations to have the need to really stress it in daily use)..
I can be perceived as 'biased' to G3, but nowhere have I spoken untruth. I have objectively discussed the flaws of G3 and defended it on logical points. Same cannot be said for others, however!
Note that I never accused you of lying; I simply said that you might be biased towards G3.
And also your contention that "lower resolution of the G3 is not an issue" , "Lack of gaming performance should hardly matter", "Froyo is mainly useful for those want apps2sd functionality" etc. (highly disagree with that) are all subjective , if I may remind you that....
And I am fine with that. This is a forum to express your views/opinions..
Peace
