Samsung Wave: 3.3-inch Super AMOLED, Bluetooth 3.0, and new Bada OS (updated)

How's about a little smartphone love on Valentine's Day? Samsung's press conference just got underway in Barcelona, and one of Mobile World Congress' first smartphones to debut this year is a real doozy. The Wave (S8500) that we've heard so much about lately is finally official, and it's the first handset to ship with Bluetooth 3.0. It's also packing 802.11n WiFi, TouchWiz 3.0 and the company's own Bada mobile platform. You'll also get a 3.3-inch "Super AMOLED" (saywha?) display, and while the 800 x 480 resolution is just dandy, the lack of multitouch is a real buzz kill. Digging into the internals, you'll find a 1GHz processor, 5 megapixel camera, aGPS, accelerometer, 2GB or 8GB of internal storage space, a microSD expansion slot, multi-codec support for DivX, XviD, MP3 and WMV, and support for virtual 5.1 surround sound and 720p recording / decoding. The company's also touting its mDNIe (mobile Digital Natural Image engine) technology, which is already used in its LCD and LED TV lineups; in other words, this phone is probably one of the better ones for multimedia viewing (so long as you don't venture under direct sunlight, of course). It'll be available worldwide starting in April, but unfortunately pricing remains a mystery. Full specifications and press release are after the break.

Update: Check out our hands-on with the device! The at-show prototypes do respond to multi-touch pinch and zoom... with an error. But at least they detect it.

Samsung Wave: Bada, Bluetooth 3.0, Super AMOLED

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Samsung Delivers Brilliant New Smart Phone Experience
with Launch of Samsung Wave

· Full touch Super AMOLED offers the best ever viewing quality on a mobile
· Social Hub brings all your social networks together in one, unified solution
· TouchWiz 3.0 expands Smartphone usability to the next level

February 14th, 2010, Barcelona, Spain – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today announced the launch of the Samsung Wave (Model: S8500). This is the first mobile handset to be released on Samsung's new, open mobile platform, Samsung bada, and the cornerstone of the company's commitment to provide a smartphone for every lifestyle.

The Samsung Wave offers a Super AMOLED 3.3" display that makes the screen truly come alive, a Social Hub to bring you closer to your contacts and connections, and TouchWiz 3.0 for an intuitive and hugely customizable user interface. The Wave's high-speed CPU ensures swift, smooth application experiences and multi-tasking, making the device an always-on mobile multimedia companion. The Samsung Wave has been built to offer users an unrivalled level of performance, customization and choice in how they connect with their world. The stunning full touch mobile will be available globally from April 2010.

"The Samsung Wave truly demonstrates our commitment to deliver rich, connected and innovative smartphone experiences to everyone," said JK Shin, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. "Samsung Wave sees our platform vision become a reality. For the first time, developers have the freedom to create applications across multiple platforms, for consumption on a huge range of devices. In the Wave, our developer partners can see the ocean of opportunity that is offered by the bada mobile platform and our device technology," he said.

Super AMOLED – Seeing is believing
With the Samsung Wave, seeing really is believing as it features the world's first Super AMOLED display; delivering an unrivalled screen experience on a smartphone. The Super AMOLED offers much brighter, clearer, and less reflective AMOLED OnCell display, featuring a high resolution WVGA (800x480 pixels) screen with mDNIe (mobile Digital Natural Image engine) technology. DNIe technology is proven display technology which incorporated to Samsung's LCD TV and LED TV lineups. With a free viewing angle and super fast response, the Samsung Wave display provides superb image quality for viewing both videos and photos.

Social Hub – my communities at my hand

Social Hub has been designed from the ground up to seamlessly integrate all major portal's email, IM and SNS services directly into the Samsung Wave. With its TouchWiz 3.0 UI, it provides users easy-flow integrated experience of messaging, managing contacts and viewing calendar events. Social Hub is powered by the amazing push technology to deliver email messages, calendar events and SNS updates in real-time.

TouchWiz 3.0 UI – new and improved

The Samsung Wave provides superior levels of choice to all users via its fully customizable menus and home-page. For those who demand access to their social networking sites at all times, the device allows users to change the layout of the home-page to allow instant access to Twitter, Facebook and a host of other social networking services. For those who love music, the device home-page can be turned into an intuitive media player; while for those who take and share a lot of photos, the home page can be customized to feature favourite images. Users will also benefit from Quick Panel, a way of prioritizing and aggregating applications into one screen for instant access.

With its eye-catchingly brilliant screen, Samsung's latest TouchWiz 3.0 user interface gives a tactile, intuitive user experience, and includes iconic new features such as motion UI, Smart Unlock and customizable widget screen.

Speed, performance and beauty

The Samsung Wave benefits from a superb 1GHz processor which offers users the best graphic performance available today. Its speed makes the touch screen user interface incredibly responsive and intuitive and, more importantly, means that the 3D and memory-intensive graphic and video performance is unsurpassed.

The Samsung Wave is also one of the most attractive devices with seamless, streamlined body that has no parting or harsh lines. A beautiful and strong tempered glass display perfectly complements and enhances the vividness of the Super AMOLED display. Furthermore, with anti-smudge technology, those greasy thumb prints are a thing of the past.

Multimedia features and connectivity

Multi-codec support for DivX Xvid, MP4 and WMV, and support for virtual 5.1 surround sound delivery transforms the device into a personal entertainment system and HD video (720p) decoding and recording capabilities make the Samsung Wave an outstanding device for capturing, sharing and viewing video.

For the first time in the world, Samsung Wave is incorporated Bluetooth® 3.0 and WiFi 802.11n standard.

Samsung Apps: unlimited expandability

Samsung's bada platform allows mobile users to simply and easily download an abundance of applications from Samsung Apps, an integrated application store accessible from the device and online. Featuring a wealth of games, navigation, social networking, e-book, health and lifestyle applications, Samsung Apps gives users instant access to a huge choice of mobile experiences.

Samsung established its mobile application ecosystem through the launch of Samsung Mobile Innovator in 2008 and the Samsung Application Seller Site followed by Samsung Application Store as another key element of this offering. Already launched in the UK, France, Italy, Singapore, Germany, Brazil and China, this will be expanded to more than 50 countries all over the world in 2010.

Samsung is exhibiting at Mobile World Congress 2010, at Hall 8, Stand 8b 169.
For more information, please visit http://samsungmwc2010.com
Follow us to get all our news on twitter at www.twitter.com/SamsungMWC

[Ahmedz Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:22PM]

Sexy...

[elamre Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:29PM]

@Ahmedz
smexy! :)
nice specs! :D but how many ram and rom?

[suncho Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:40PM]

@elamre Rom? Why would you care about the ammount of rom?

[juanvaldez Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:48PM]

@Ahmedz Bada supports flash, sexy, sexy on Super AMOLED

[Raska Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:40PM]

@juanvaldez Ah I thought 2100 was the T-Mobile 3G band. My mistake.

[serenaswaggers Posted Feb 16th 2010 1:22PM]

@Ahmedz Overall, I believe that the fast processor and the display are the two pillars of the Samsung Wave. At the moment, the proprietary OS and the current lack of apps are a bit of a turn off, but Samsung is trying really hard to ramp this up quickly. Time will tell.

Also, the super AMOLED live up to its name for providing a brighter luminance even under the sun. More: http://bit.ly/samsung-wave-s8500-opinions

[TheLionOfAzzalle Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:24PM]

Arguably Samsungs most prettiest phone to date....

Disappointed though at the lack of multitouch. And which network is this coming to?

[Raska Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:29PM]

@TheLionOfAzzalle From the bands it looks like AT&T at least.

[Raska Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:30PM]

@Raska Oops I meant T-Mobile.

[jon Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:32PM]

@Raska

Actually you meant neither. This list has no North American 3G bands.

[surethom Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:24PM]

I wander if they have bothered to put a notification light on this phone, Samsung seem to leave off this essential part on some of there phones

[DoctarPeppar Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:33PM]

@surethom
Samsung leaves alot of essentials off of their phones. Samsung phones look amazing on paper and in screen shots...They always have the best displays, cpus, ram, etc...and they make claims that no other devices have such as 720p video recording.

However, Just like the OmniaHD (which has A LOT of similar features to this Wave device that was released last year), I predict this device will ultimately have the same outcome for the end user...which is frustration, lack of support and updates, and bugs galore in the software that will _never_ be fixed, no matter how blatantly obvious they are. You see hardware is only a small portion of the smartphone experience for the end user. Sure, fast cpus and alot of ram are great, but if you don't have the software and support to back those things up, then it's not going to matter at all.

Now I can't say for absolute certainty that this will be another OmniaHD, but nothing Samsung has done since the release of the OmniaHD has told me otherwise. Their lack of support and unwillingness to fix bugs and even advertise features that are broken or just plain do not exist is plain old disgusting.

If this phone REALLY can do 720p video recording with decent sound quality and doesn't drop frames all over the place (like ALL of their other phones -- including the HD, and they know about this and responded that it cannot be fixed), I'll eat my hat.

Samsung should stick to featurephones; that's what they do best.
They do not have the necessary resources and plain old skill to compete with companies like HTC, Apple, and even Nokia when it comes to Smartphones. Their support after you buy the product is disgusting, across the board.

Oh and if one person who reads engadget has ever used touchwizz and actually LIKES that UI and thinks it's superior to HTC\Nokia\Apple\Whatever, I would really like to know. TouchWizz is the most useless, laggy, non-functional UI I have _ever_ seen.

[RioRyan Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:59PM]

@DoctarPeppar
The last Samsung phone I had would ring when it was on vibrate, distorted through the voice speaker instead of the ringer speaker. This was the replacement phone for the one I returned because it shut itself off randomly when I wasn't using it regardless of the battery level.

Their software is just bad all around and I'd never trust them again.

[simbadogg Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:19PM]

@DoctarPeppar
DoctarPeppar, i couldn't agree with you more. Samsung, though they have amazingly spec'd phones, well...they're OS/software plain stinks. This is why is i were ever to get a Omnia II or Omnia Pro, go to modaco, root it, loud sense 2.1 or touchflo3d...and be done with it. Touchwhiz is one of the worst interfaces i've ever seen.

[dansus Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:31PM]

@DoctarPeppar

Lets wait an see what Eldar says, he usually on the money and due to release a review today.

[jon Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:28PM]

Nice hardware, and I could care less about lack of multi-touch, but a grid of icons on a black background is just as ugly today as it was in 2007.

[OsoOto Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:02PM]

@jon Like the iPhone?

[Chefgon Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:28PM]

How is this a smartphone?

[Kira Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:36PM]

@Chefgon

How is it not?

[Chefgon Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:40PM]

@Kira

I guess that depends on what Bada is. It sounds like a touchscreen dumbphone with media features to me. I wouldn't consider it to be a smartphone unless it has a public SDK that anybody can use to extend its functionality.

[JONNNathannn Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:43PM]

@Chefgon It's running bada os. Which Samsung has partnership with tons of devs.

Smartphone =/= open source.

[Chefgon Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:19PM]

@JONNNathannn

Public SDK =/= open source, either.

I'm not talking about open source, I'm talking about the ability to write your own applications. Every dumbphone out there has downloadable applications from developer partners, only smartphones give you the power to write your own.

[Edobe Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:25PM]

@Chefgon
=/= ≠ ≠.
alt + 8800 = ≠

[unsubover Posted Feb 15th 2010 4:31AM]

@Chefgon Eldar says Bada is an SDK, not an OS.

[Jack Bauer Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:28PM]

Obviously this is just my personal opinion, and I don't know what it is about them, cause this is a very sleek device, but i just don't get that excited about Samsung's phones anymore. They just seem to be missing that "wow" factor.

[Jacob1 Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:41PM]

@Jack Bauer oh and SAMSUNG IS RUNNING OUT OF TIME!
..to release a killer phone.

[moeoz Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:28PM]

Hmm .. Bluetooth 3.0 Check, SUPER AMOLED ( suppose to act better in sun ?) Check .. but what else ?

[Evan Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:29PM]

Any screen wider than 16:9 is just ugly

[engadgetcomexcludeengadget Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:45PM]

@Evan This isn't wider than 16:9.

16/9= 1.777
800/480= 1.666

Therefore, this is under 16:9 and by your definition would be considered pretty.

[zxiixz Posted Feb 15th 2010 2:11AM]

@engadgetcomexcludeengadget


it would be considered, in his definition "not ugly", not pretty.

[ChazClout Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:30PM]

Yay! A new phone that we complain about because of the lack of multi touch.

[Midnitte Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:52PM]

@ChazClout

The irony being that your avatar is an apple logo.

[SParklingCYaNide Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:12PM]

@ChazClout I know THATS right CHAZ!!! PReach on fellow Android user!!! Ahahahaaa ALWAYS keep em' Guessing!! ; D

[ChazClout Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:45PM]

@ChazClout
Where'd my comment go explaining I'm and Android user? :(

[Nitesh Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:34PM]

A 1GHz what?

[DoctarPeppar Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:04PM]

@Nitesh
It's probably either a snapdragon, or more likely one of their own Hummingbird CorTex A9 CPUs.

[Wakanapi Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:04PM]

@Nitesh
Cortex A8

[Nitesh Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:13PM]

@DoctarPeppar Thanks. Just the 1GHz by itself is useless, its like saying I have a 500 horsepower vehicle. Uh, is that a Ferrari or a tow truck?

[sourav Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:35PM]

I am curious to know what exactly is 'Super' AMOLED.

[sourav Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:37PM]

@sourav Also what is the meaning of 'Beauty Shot' (found in the camera specs). Does that mean people who are not beautiful (like me) are not eligible to get their photos taken?

[RandomGuy Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:55PM]

@sourav It has an integrated capacitive touchscreen built into the OLED itself. This means it does not need a touchscreen layer on top of it to work, thus keeping the screen thinner, higher contrast and brighter.

[kenDOES Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:35PM]

Does Bada support Microsoft's search engine?

[reiththestud Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:12PM]

@kenDOES

Bada-Bing? Oh I said it out loud.

[Bankai123 Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:38PM]

So now MULTI TOUCH makes or breaks a phone? What is the world coming to.

[Mrtoocool Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:57PM]

@Bankai123

Seems like everybody expects every new smartphone to have multi-touch or in other words "pinch to zoom" which is not even a standard feature, its just personal preference.

[samisax Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:27PM]

@Mrtoocool Multitouch isn't important to everyone, but the option of having it would expand it's target consumer-base, wouldn't it?

Multi-touch-pinching-to-zoom is the new niche today, and if Samsung wanted to make this phone a hit, they would have introduced multitouch.

Unless they're pulling an "Apple" by introducing a phone lacking in feature to be able to sell them in future iterations of the same product.

Then again, no one is Apple but Apple.

[Edobe Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:31PM]

@Bankai123 Software keyboards are virtually unuseable without multitouch.

[lsills81 Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:55PM]

@Bankai123 You must not have a iPhone...other wise you would agree that anything that makes your life/phone operation, easier makes or breaks the product. If you do own one and still feel that way, then your no different then Pious Pilot...

[zap2 Posted Feb 14th 2010 1:39PM]

I'd be a little more excited if I knew what Bada was.

Samsung announced it, but then was like "well its not a smartphone OS, its like an extra layer"

What does that mean?

[DoctarPeppar Posted Feb 14th 2010 2:06PM]

@zap2
IMHO Bada is nothing more than a clone of Symbian. The UI looks almost exactly the same as S60v5. There IS a public SDK and there are developer forums and tools, etc. on Samsung's innovator website. Whether or not this OS will take off -- don't know, but my own instincts tell me that it will fail hard. BTW it is an OS; it's linux based. It's not a layer or anything like that; and it's supposedly owned and created by Samsung.