Want to buy Bada OS phone

Cool Buddy

Wise Old Owl
I was looking for a smartphone for my sister in the range of 7-8k. I have heard that Android is a bit difficult to use for the not so geeky type and in any case, my sister would not be needing so many features of android. Not taking Symbian into consideration, Bada OS is the only other choice in this price range. Samsung Wave Y is available at this price and I liked the features.

However, I have never seen what Bada looks like. So wanted feedback on the following:

1. Is it easy to use (wrt to contacts, messaging, gallery, settings etc.)
2. Are the following apps availble:
Nimbuzz (or any other similar app)​
Skype​
Watsapp​
Ebook reader​
Maps​
3. Does it support Java (jar) apps

And also please tell me if Wave Y is a good phone in general
 

Empirial

Youngling
Spend 2k more & gift your sis a Nokia 500. It has better apps support, easy to use Symbian Anna Os (Belle Update is on its way), faster 1 Ghz Processor & a crisp High Resolution display :)
 
OP
Cool Buddy

Cool Buddy

Wise Old Owl
Nokia 500 really looks nice (specs wise). Thanks Empirial for the suggestion. I'll definitely consider that.

However, I would like o hear some feedback on BADA before making a decision
 

AndroidFan

Peak Oil is real!
BADA is a pathetic piece of ****. None of the apps you have mentioned above are available for it.

Android is very powerful and easy to use. Just buy a Samsung Galaxy Y for your sister. Its in the budget.

Look up videos on Youtube and decide for yourself.
 

Empirial

Youngling
@Cool Buddy : According to me the only USP of Bada Os is Smooth UI, Audio/Video Codec Support & Battery Life. My point is that if you're getting a better phone by paying 2k more then there is no need of buying Wave Y. Also, I believe Android phone will be an overkill for your sister & I'm sure she wouldn't like to have a phone that needs to be charged everday!
 

AndroidFan

Peak Oil is real!
I believe Android is superior OS compared to Symbian or BADA.

Nokia 500 is a good phone. Its a bit thick has no memory card slot. Has 2 GB builtin.

Good camera. Decent selection of apps.

OP should think about the long term. Android is the future. Nokia has already Abandoned Symbian for WP7. Android is very easy to use. A lot more flexible than Symbian.

Think about it...
 
OP
Cool Buddy

Cool Buddy

Wise Old Owl
I was considering Galaxy Y too. But I do not like the fact that the screen res in 240x320. It's too low
 
S

siddhipatel

Guest
If you want to go for Bada only then Samsung Wave Y is the best choice while considering other mobiles. Just go and grab the one for your sister.
 

Empirial

Youngling
I believe Android is superior OS compared to Symbian or BADA.

Nokia 500 is a good phone. Its a bit thick has no memory card slot. Has 2 GB builtin.

Good camera. Decent selection of apps.

OP should think about the long term. Android is the future. Nokia has already Abandoned Symbian for WP7. Android is very easy to use. A lot more flexible than Symbian.

Think about it...

Nokia 500 does have a MicroSD Card Slot Expandable upto 32GB. I know that Android is far Superior OS but spec-wise Nokia 500 is far better then most "Budget" & "Entry Level" Android phones.
 
Last edited:

AndroidFan

Peak Oil is real!
Nokia 500 does have a MicroSD Card Slot Expandable upto 32GB. I know that Android is far Superior OS but spec-wise Nokia 500 is far better then most "Budget" & "Entry Level" Android phones.

I agree, it is a good phone @10k. Very good hardware for the price...

Check out this user review of Nokia 500 on Flipkart.

The actual selling point of this mobile i.e 1Ghz processor is the most useless feature on this device. Why ? Read ahead.

1) Buggy OS :
Its got Symbian Anna but a different flavor of it(different than the one running on a C7 or a N8). But this is so bad, the phone frequently restarts and sometimes the screen goes blank.

Before some shouts "your particular phone might be bad", i can point to a list of Nokia discussion forums with countless people facing the same problem.And this cannot be solved by going to the Nokia care center. Even after the latest update (11.333) this happens but the frequency has reduced.

2) Low Memory :
You open just the camera, or the default browser (with no apps running in the background), you are greeted with the most annoying message "Please close apps, memory full".
Again this is a common issue faced by lots of users.

3)No 3D GPU
What does this mean, and how will this affect you ?
In a sense No Angry Birds. Yes, or no Ninja Fruit, or any other good games. We all know that there are very few good games and apps on the Nokia store. And this phone cannot run the only decent apps present there. And because it does not have a 3D gpu, the UI is slow and choppy.

So people planning to spend your bored afternoons by playing Angry birds please stay away. No software fix or update can fix this, as this is a hardware deficiency.

The only games that run on this phone are so bad, it makes the games that run on my old NGage look as if they are from the future.

Compare the UI of 500 to a C7 next to you and see how smooth the UI is in the C7. BTW the C7 has 600-odd Mhz processor,512MB ram while Nokia 500 has 1Ghz processor, 256 MB ram.

4)Bad battery backup and build quality.
Battery lasts for 1.5 days with medium usage, and just a day with heavy usage. The battery door/interchangable panels are very hard to open. The volume rocker and lock button wiggle and squeak.

I have not included the fact that the camera is very average and doesn't have a flash, or it doesn't have a front facing camera as these were known facts, even before you buy this phone.

So to summarize, the UI/UX is very bad, phone restarts frequently, has memory issues and it does not support 3d games, and the battery is less than perfect. So here is the main question. What is the point of having a 1Ghz processor on a phone that can't utilize it ?

So the good points

1)The phone looks lovely(not sexy, as it is a bit flabby)
The design is classic Nokia and is a bit European.It just looks good.

2) Very good resolution:

The screen is brilliant(bad in sunlight though). Mind you this is plain LCD display. The colours just popout and are vibrant. reading text is very easy and good.

3) The best news : This phone WILL get the Belle update.

Yes that's right, the 500 will get the Belle update(confirmed by Nokia website and their twitter account). When ? Probably in Feb 12, but should be out sooner.

So will the above problems be solved by this update ?
Probably not, but will definitely increase the user-experience. The memory issue might be solved and finally phone will be usable. Though you still can't play some games and install some apps(no 3D GPU).

So should you buy the phone ?

I assume that you are not interested in Android/more inclined towards Symbian if are reading this review.

If you want to taste Belle, please buy the other expensive handsets(701,603 etc), as they are bug free and are loaded with more features as they are worth the extra money.

If you want to still buy this phone, as it is the cheapest phone to get the Belle update and you like this phone, go ahead. But bear in mind the above flaws it has. Also the Belle update might not solve all these problems.

So there it is, my review of this little device with whom i currently have a love-hate relationship. Even though it is flawed, and as mentioned earlier in this review, I LOVE MY NOKIA 500.
 
OP
Cool Buddy

Cool Buddy

Wise Old Owl
I also want to avoid Symbian coz I own a Symbian device myself and don't like it much. I'll try to get a hands-on with Bada at the samsung stores. Guess that will help me make a better choice
 

AndroidFan

Peak Oil is real!
I also want to avoid Symbian coz I own a Symbian device myself and don't like it much. I'll try to get a hands-on with Bada at the samsung stores. Guess that will help me make a better choice

Get a hands on with a BADA device as well as an Android device. Trust me, Android is a lot better and easy to use. The real difference between the two OSes is astounding...

A friend of mine had a Samsung Wave 2, an excellent phone hardware wise, but came with BADA OS. It had a good camera, good screen and good built quality. But when it came to software and app support, it sucked.

After using my cheap Optimus One, he was shocked. He had no decent games or apps. No Google Maps. No native Gmail. No native Youtube Player. No Viber, No Skype, No Whatsapp. No Google Talk...

Finally, he is getting himself a new Sony Xperia Arc. A good decision.. ;)
 

coderunknown

Retired Forum Mod
I was looking for a smartphone for my sister in the range of 7-8k. I have heard that Android is a bit difficult to use for the not so geeky type and in any case, my sister would not be needing so many features of android. Not taking Symbian into consideration, Bada OS is the only other choice in this price range. Samsung Wave Y is available at this price and I liked the features.

What you told is true. but it depends. Android gets complicated when you start digging. it got many settings but for a non-geek (like your sister) who just wanted a smartphone thats easy to use and ofcourse is smart.

A few key points of android (FOR NON-GEEKS) are these:
1) can be customized with ease (widgets, launchers). this can be done by anyone. drag & drop or let apps do it for you.
2) ton of apps. some comes with there own widget.
3) you can replace almost all stock apps with a different one (system apps will be there but new one will be default).
4) everything can be managed from mobile. no need to use some crappy PC suite, etc.

However, I have never seen what Bada looks like. So wanted feedback on the following:

1. Is it easy to use (wrt to contacts, messaging, gallery, settings etc.)

NO. This is how touchwiz looks like. BADA's (& any other Samsung java, android) interface. Even if touchwiz looks bad, it adds some nice features & makes Android really easy to use. but remember touchwiz enhances the functionality, doesn't add anything revolutionary. so android + touchwiz = great. but java/BADA + touchwiz = crap.
 
OP
Cool Buddy

Cool Buddy

Wise Old Owl
Thanks Sam, I was looking for something like this.
I will try to visit a Samsung store and see if they let us try Galaxy Y. After all the suggestions above, I think Android is a better choice, though I would have loved it if Galaxy Y had a higher screen resolution.
 

AcceleratorX

Youngling
I actually recommend an Android device in this scenario because the hardware in the Bada and Symbian devices at this price range is not upto scratch.

The Nokia 500 has issues, I can personally confirm it. It has no GPU, but Symbian Anna is optimized to work on the GPU. Anna uses the CPU mainly only for Wi-Fi/EDGE/GSM/Bluetooth connectivity and signal searching. All UI elements as well as audio/video playback are optimized to be accelerated by a multimedia processor from Broadcom (GPU+DSP for sound). The Nokia 603 and above have this Broadcom chip in addition to the CPU.

The Nokia 500 is the only Symbian Anna device that doesn't have this Broadcom chip. As a result the UI is terribly laggy as it is not hardware accelerated and the OS is not optimized for this.

Bada has an apps issue and updating the phone software is a major pain in the ass (try doing it using Samsung Kies PC Sync software). With a phone like Galaxy Y, at least you can use your mobile phone internet to download the update if KIES fails. Kies has too many issues in general, and that is why I personally try to avoid Samsung phones.

What I would recommend for your sister is the LG Optimus NET P690 (available at 9999 at flipkart with 300 cashback) or the LG Optimus Me P350 (available at 6945 + cashback of rs. 100 at flipkart).

The main reason why I recommend LG is that they really have the simplest modification of the android UI, which is highly suited for non-advanced users (HTC aside because it costs too much). Samsung's Android phones are definitely a step down on the ease of use factor compared to LG.

LG Optimus Me:

- 3MP camera vs. 2MP for Galaxy Y
- Has a GPU and can play 3D games, Galaxy Y has no GPU
- CPU is slower than Galaxy Y, however, this is compensated by GPU
- The Video player plays DivX/Xvid upto 480p resolution

LG Optimus Net:

- 3MP camera
- 800MHz ARM11 CPU
- Can play 3D games
- Plays 720p DivX/XviD and even MKVs
 
OP
Cool Buddy

Cool Buddy

Wise Old Owl
KIES is sooooo useless, I have used it with friend's corby, it's actually funny how difficult to use they can make a PC suite :D

LG Optimus Me is a good option, but it has android 2.2, can it be upgraded?

There's some time before I buy it, around a month I suppose. Maybe I should wait a bit
 
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