Trust in yourself, son, the increase in smartphone news that you sense is not imagined, it's very very real. Mobile World Congress is about to kick off in Barcelona which means we're just hours away from being knee-deep in the stuff. One of the most anticipated devices is the Samsung Wave, first
spotted on billboards around Barcelona yesterday. The anticipation is warranted for 2 reasons. First, this 3.3-inch candybar slate is presumably sporting Samsung's new
Super AMOLED which should help with outdoor viewing. And b, it's the first phone to run Samsung's new Bada smartphone OS... yes, another one, developers. According to
Daily Mobile, the Wave S8500 brings a1GHz processor, 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash, 720p video recording to 2GB of internal memory or microSD expansion, 802.11b/g/n WiFi and HSDPA data, DivX video support, and a 3.5-mm audio jack in a device measuring 10.9-mm thick. Unfotunately, we can't confirm any of those specs yet (wait until Sunday's press event) -- the pics, however, certainly match up with what we've already seen. We've dropped in a few choice shots after the break, the rest are at
Daily Mobile in the link below.
[Thanks, Daniel]
posted February 13th 2010 8:50AM
The word is "spigot."
@FroshKiller don't you know that the bird is the word???!?!?!
@gargle
I wish I could up-vote you more than once.
@gargle
GARGLE NOO!!!
@FroshKiller
Bada bing Bada boom
Touchwiz = INSTAFAIL
@OsoOto i agree from the second i saw that it just turned me off about it.
@OsoOto But it's the Touchwiz! Nothing can beat it!
@OsoOto
Isn't it using the new Bada samsung os? I'll reserve judgement until i see a video demo.
@OsoOto yeah it's complete crap. slow, ugly and with zero support.
and judging from samsung's promo pics last year for the i8910, only the formfactor seems to be believable. the pictures last year showed a metallic body too, which didn't actually happen, among other things like hdmi out
@OsoOto
I tested out a touchwiz phone and almost threw up it was laggy and the interface is just rediculous. touch wiz was a INSTA-FAIL.
This might just push competition even more. But I still have more faith in Symbian^3+ and Android.
Hardware specs seem nice though. But I don't see anything particularly interesting.
who cares about this, has samsung ever had any quality smartphones?
@dkotoric1 Omnia HD, Omina II... Two very nice smartphones, isn't in enough or you want more? :)
@dkotoric1
Samsung Moment
@Consigliere11
The Omnia HD is an ok phone hardware-wise, but Samsung's software support is a disaster.
These hardware specs are awesome!!
But is Samsung Bada OS good enough for me?
I want Android.
I Like WebOS
There's also iPhone OS, Symbian OS, Windows Mobile, RIM Blackberry OS, Nokia Maemo
IS THERE A POINT THERE THERE IS TOO MANY OS'S. That the amount expands to too many and the smart phone market collapses?
Or the new OS's after iPhone, WebOS, Android, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry are the supreme heads for smartphones?
In short. I need to check out Bada before its worth it for me.
@Drybones5
I think issue #1 with so many OS's is apps.
iPhone
Android
Windows Mobile
WebOS
Blackberry
Maemo
All separate app stores. If Bada has an app store too. Starts off new just like WebOS and Android did. But at this point is it worth it?
But if you put in app compatibility into an OS to use other OS's apps too. Would that be bad to the apps market as developers wouldn't need to code for new apps as much and they just release it to 1 or 2 app markets?
@Drybones5
I don't really understand why they came up with this new OS..
I totally agree that there are way too many OS'es in the Market.
Sorry but I just don't see any real reason.. Except maybe the fact that they want to show off in a way like...
" We are Samsung and we ALSO can do an OS".
*Still no real reason.-
@Drybones5 I think the disturbing trend is how many of these OSes only run on specific manufacturers phones. Bada is goign to be Samsung only, just like iPhoneOS is Apple only, BBos is RIM only, and WebOS is Palm only. I am unsure, but I think Symbian and Maemo are really only Nokia, though I believe they could be used by someone else. It seems that Android, and Winmo are the only OSes that you will see on numerous vendors phones (and ironically enough, the bulk of those phones are from the same manufacturer HTC, but at least there are others).
So out of the OSes that are truly flexible and not all about locking you into an app store for the manufacturer, WinMo sucks (hopefully only for now), and Android is free, and thus very anti-competitive. Unless Microsoft really comes out with something special with Winmo7, or gives it away for free, or a combination of both, I think that Android is going to be the only OS that isn't proprietary.
@RandomGuy
Symbian phones are made by more than Nokia, i.e. Samsung Innov8 or the Sony Ericsson Satio
@RandomGuy
Symbian now belongs to the Symbian Foundation and is fully open-source (since 10 days ago): http://www.symbian.org/symbian-feature-set/symbian-is-open-source
I think it's going to be pretty nice, once they complete the transition to Qt. They'll have the openness of Android, a nice API and applications compiled to native code instead of Android's ultra-slow, interpreted Java.
@Drybones5
Unless developers can use 1 or 2 tools to develop apps that can be distributed to all these platforms (like Flash, AIR, etc.), there are already too many OSes. I have high hopes for Flash 10.1. Apple is the devil in these matters. Their refusal to embrace Flash and keep such a tight control over their platform.
@backingin
I'm using flash for a cool Tower defense game and my laptop has a nasty habit of overheating very easy. My cpu is at 98 degrees Celcius while running this flash game.
i thought it would be better but it looks like crap. They couldve not wasted time and money and stuck with android.
@Candywrappa
Not every phone can have Android. Samsung must feel good about this new Bada OS. I mean these specs compare to the Nexus one in a way.
@Drybones5 has 2 features Nexus1 could have implemented but didn't : WiFiN, and HDMI Out. Also, sounds as if 'Super' AMOLED has better outdoor viewing than what the Engadget Review said was unusable AMOLED in N1 - useful if Engadget revisited their early pre-CES review in case their view has deepened or altered.
Bada bing badaaaaaa BOOM!
the phone looks really nice though... :)
1GHz processor?
multitask = WIN
1 app at 1 time = just like iDevice (lame)
@Matt7
Funny you can't just type iPhone. It's less letters and you even capped the D in iDevice. You're so anti-hipster bro, right on.
@EM1
To be fair, the Mobile OSX extends beyond the iPhone, so iDevice isn't entirely inaccurate. You've got the iPhone, the iPod touch and now the iPad.
Well, apple has more then one non-multitasking out there now, so iDevice is a clever way to put it.
Looks ugly. And that screen is way too small. I don't care if it's "Super-Duper AMOLED" or whatever...
@Wakanapi
So you require the Dell Mini 5's 5" screen to be satisfied?
@Drybones5
Nah. Just something around 3.8". ;)
@Wakanapi
Anything over 3.3" would make this phone too big to be easily pocketable.
The only way to have a bigger screen then, is to make a phone like HD2, which has a very small bezel. But then you might also have to sacrifice the front facing camera.. the HD2 surprisingly doesn't have one.
Best of luck Samsung, but I'm not interested in another mobile OS.
After what you did to Galaxy i7500 customers by not releasing an update to Android 1.6, 2.0 or even 2.1 I hope you manage to update your own OS on your phones.
There is too much OS going on. Its like the late 80s all over again.
Hmm,
Nokia is using symbian or maemo
Apple is using iphone os
RIM is using blackberry os
(etc....)
So major mobile companies are using their own os.
Why should Samsung be exception, guys???
Competition is always good.
@emagic
Until you have a fragmented market. Then every phone will eventually be like today's phone with phone OS's specific to each phone or maker and its too much.
What if LG made a premium phone OS.
How about Pantech?
HTC?
You need market leaders in the tech world.
Windows, Mac OS X, Linux [Ubuntu], Google Chrome, Android [Some Smartbooks]
There's competition and there's choice.
We're getting to a point where tech is being inconvenient because services are fragmented. Compatibility is an issue. Things aren't integrated like we hoped they would be.
@Drybones5
In the mobile phone world, market leaders are Nokia, Samsung, and LG.
A point where tech is being inconvenient is few companies have a monopoly on the market.
@emagic
I understand that outside of the US, Nokia is king
But what I mean is that too many OS's or platforms is bad for convenience which is what people aim for in tech, isn't it?
@Drybones5
Too many OS or platforms might be bad, but you should consider outside of the US. Do you believe Android, iPhone OS, and Blackberry are major OSs outside of the US? No....
Samsung phones look gorgeous and on paper their specs are always at the very peak; shame that once you buy them they never stand up to expectations and that Samsung considers any form of support and firmware and/or new Rom release to fix the always aboundant bugs in their smartphones a total waste.
I fell in their trap with the Omnia i900 some years ago and after that I always avoided their smartphones even when they looked kind of tempting, and watched my friends getting screwed with their OmniaHD and Jet; I moved to HTC HD2 and a little Hero (to be substituted asap with a Bravo or equivalent Snapdragon/android combo) and I've never been happier.
Good looks are important but in a smartphone are not the most important thing and dozens of new buggy models a year are not substitute for a single good working and well supported device.
Methinks.
@Plexus, I had an uninspired experience with samsung aswell. Bought a LED DLP from them two years ago, six months ago it stopped turning on, and a phone call to cusomer service revealed just how little they do for customers, they wouldn't even tell me who could fix it, or give me a deal on a new tv. " sorry for your luck, that was a nice set, have u thought about getting another?" last words I will ever hear from samung I hope.
@Plexus
Agreed 100%. Samsung support and software dev team and the experience after you buy the product -- SUCKS. They never fix any bugs, they just linger until their next product comes along and they rope you into buying that one. Samsung will never live up to HTC, Nokia, or Apple in the smartphone business...Featurephones, that is a diff. story. They shold stick to what they know and do best; they should get out of the smartphone business and stick entirely to featurephones.
I will reserve judgment till I see this UI and OS in action.
Another great device......can't wait to see the UI and how this new OS works
WOW. I can feel the super Amoled from here. No kidding. SUPER CRISP.
wait, 5 mega pixel camera can do 720p??? since when? only problem would be the crappy sound quality.
@rlawlals
consider even higher res, full HD, 1280 x 720 = 921,600
count 'em, less than a million, i.e, 1Mega pixel!!
[if you want to divide by 3 then you'll need a paltry 3 Mp]
aaah, the great "HD" swindle.