Samsung Monte vs Samsung Wave
You can be forgiven for thinking that quality touchscreen phones only come in three flavours, Apple, Microsoft and Google, but Samsung has positioned their own smartphone operating system, Bada, squarely at the top-end of the market when it comes to features and functionality, they also offer their respectable proprietary OS fronted by their TouchWiz UI, but which one represents the best of the rest? Well, we're here to find out as we pit Samsung's Wave, against its Monte.
Construction - It's always going to be tough separating two devices that come from the same stable, especially when that stable is as respected as Samsung. As expected both devices feel sturdy and well made, and there's nothing in it when it comes to build quality, where we can separate them is on exterior aesthetics though. The Monte features a love it or hate it colour scheme and quite frankly, it wasn't to our taste. We much preferred the muted tones of the Wave, but it has to be said it's a personal thing. If you're a vivacious sort of person it will likely be right up your alley!
Winner - Samsung Wave
Power - Samsung's Wave features a 1GHz ARM Cortex CPU, which is the same processor as you'll find in many Android devices. It's fast. We're talking very fast, making the Wave a really nippy device. Conversely the Monte comes with a standard 667MHz CPU that, in all honesty, just can't compete with the raw power of its sibling. Both come with support for MicroSD cards but again the Wave strides ahead with its 2GB on-board and support for cards up to 32GB in size, as opposed to the Monte's 16GB limit and piffling 200MB built-in.
Winner - Samsung Wave
Camera - The Samsung Monte comes with a pretty impressive 3.15 mega-pixel shooter with geo-tagging and face detection and in the right lighting conditions produces hugely respectable images for a budget device. The Wave, however, comes with a 5 mega-pixel camera with LED flash and autofocus, which is altogether more impressive across the board, it also captures 720P video at 30FPS as opposed to the Monte's 15FPS QVGA effort. That's not to say we're writing off the Monte, it just can't compete with the more advanced hardware of its big brother.
Winner - Samsung Wave
Operating System - Samsung's Wave comes bundled with their Bada OS, which is the company's very own contender, designed to take-on the might of Android, iOS and Microsoft's Windows Phone 7. Bada performs well, it comes with a host of apps including all the requisite social networking and media sharing ones that you'd expect from a top-end device. The Monte comes with Samsung's more straightforward proprietary OS which does everything you'd expect of it, but keeps things simpler. Both boast exceptionally capable web browsing with support for Flash and both have a lot to offer. If you're a fan of simpler devices the Monte is your best bet but if you want to get a little more tech-heavy you'd be best off opting for the Wave.
Winner - Draw
Unsurprisingly Samsung's Wave wins the day here. With its more advanced hardware it simply blows its little brother away but that's not to say with didn't like the Monte that, at its price point, represents great value. Overall you'd be hard pressed to find two better touchscreen devices which don't run on Google, Apple or Microsoft's software, which in itself is a highly impressive feat.