Samsung Wave first hands-on: Bada-packed and super fast (video!)
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted February 14th 2010 2:04PM
posted February 14th 2010 2:04PM
A few more takeaways (with some input from senior editor Thomas Ricker):
- Overall the device feels like a glorified feature phone, and speaking to some other tech folks here, that feeling seemed to be common. There just doesn't seem to be a lot to it that we haven't seen in other Samsung devices, especially considering the TouchWiz integration.
- There was an issue with flipping the keyboard from portrait to landscape -- as we said the phone is early, so this may change, but we had to leave an app and reopen in the other orientation to get it working. We also noticed that there doesn't seem to be word prediction in place right now.
- The browser is redirecting to WAP pages, so it was hard to see what the results were. We also thought the buttons were in a very odd place, making it a bit hard to navigate.
- The display wasn't always responding to touches, and at least one unit completely froze on us.
- For those asking, from the looks of things (and the press release)
there is no multitouch on this device.Correction... we just tried pinching and zooming on the phone and while it did create some kind of zoom result, it also kept giving us an error! Furthermore, when we tried to load an image heavy site, it forced the phone into its task manager mode and made us close all applications before we could proceed with using the phone. Clearly there is work to be done.
that UI looks sorta familiar..................
@00shitz
troll....
@00shitz
lol, fanboyish tendencies aside, they totally ripped android, ripped iPhone os, and smashed them together in a slightly less polished UI..
They may as well have said:
With bada.. we couldn't be bothered creating something new..
I'm depressed
@00shitz
I agree. Very S60 5th edition.
http://conversations.nokia.com/wp-content/uploads/products-and-services-symbian-s60-5th-edition-rolls-out.jpg
@00shitz
I said that last time and got downranked into oblivion. Samsung's hardware is usually decent, but their software/UI's are pure crap and feel totally unrefined.
Hopefully the final product won't seem as half assed as what they have now.
@00shitz Wow, this really is just iPhone + Android - the polish and awesome.
Samsung, don't ever change.
@00shitz As far as I know the graphics libraries are created by The Enlightenment project ( http://www.enlightenment.org ). Bada's graphics engine is basically open-source Enlightenment E17 originally created by The Rasterman (Carsten Haitzler) and the others. E17 gfx libraries are super fast and have been under heavy development since 2001.
Looking at it the IM app icon (smiling speech bubble) it looks to be a blue version of the Android Messaging app icon!
http://www.chazclout.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/DSC00059.jpg
Lots of copying it seems....
@00shitz
It also has some Symbian features, just look at the font!
@00shitz
I'll just say it:
The App screen is a rip off of iPhone OS
The Homescreen is a rip off of Android.
I don't understand their need for their own OS. If it's a feature phone, ok. If it's a smartphone, well something's telling me your store won't match that of Android's.
@jussipussi I wouldn't consider a project which has been in beta state for almost a decade and a half as being under "heavy development."
@tterremmotto Ok, fair argument. You do have a point there. I must agree.
@00shitz
The speed on that device is just awesome, whether they ripped of or not, I think we can do some really nice things with the SDK and that performance.
Just look at how smooth the graphics are.
@theedude totally agree
@geekthree
That's why it's called "bada" not "ta da!"
@jussipussi
Could be, but it's not about the tech, but about the design and that does seem familiar in the unpleasing way Samsung knows to do so well.
boring
@00shitz
Looks like Bada to me.
@00shitz Yes, The software, whose name is based on the Korean for "ocean," is designed to be open and will compete directly against rivals like Android or LiMo. It will be based on universal standards and won't consider even core aspects of the OS off-limits: More: http://bit.ly/about-the-bada-origin
@00shitz
Very familiar. Grey bar with main apps, tight grid view of large color square icons, dots for pagination, keyboard looks identical, top left done buttons look similar...
@00shitz ' was just about to say the same thing...
@00shitz compared to what was shown of windows phone series 7, this is a chewed-up and regurgitated, outdated smart phone UI
Multitask, flash, hey someone listens to consumers. Next, support them after releasing the phone..
@juanvaldez The I8520 looks yummier with the extra .4" of real estate and the projection ability, plus rocking android, but I'm fairly pleased with what I've seen from Samsung thus far, but still have that whole after release fear.
The UI looks sooo much like the iPhone. Yea it has a few good features but nothing ground breaking
@Brent1700:
Since when are web browsing icons compasses? Only Apple did that, because of "Safari," but they've always been like, globes, or something of that nature (Opera has an O).
But having a compass icon?
Come on. :/
Of course, this has nothing to do with how good the phone is or not.
@Kirtay
That's a navigation app.
@BigJayDogg3
*facepalm*
Downrank, please.
@Kirtay The label below the compass reads "Navigation". The Browser Icon is in fact a globe.
@Henning:
Thus the facepalm :/
@Kirtay I'm just saying it kind of looks like the iPhone UI. I didn't say that it had an effect on the usability or functionality of the phone, I was just making an observation based on my opinion...
@Kirtay Dude, that says NAVIGATION.
A compass is a navigational instrument.
@Brent1700:
No, I understand, I do see the similarities (still waiting on the video).
I was just bugged by the icon.
Which OKAY I GET IT I MESSED UP.
Heh.
@RockNStuff
He realized that. That's why he keeps palming his face. But in any case, the icon itself looks almost identical to the Safari icon; save for the red and white pointers beings switched.
@Brent1700:
And now that the video is up, oh dear, _many_ iPhone similarities.
@Kirtay:
Examples, the day/month thing on top of the calendar is all around the iPhone UI, but blue not brown.
The four things on the bottom are very iPhone-esque.
The dock, of course, although the icons look more giant.
All in all, it's spec filled, but Bada seems ... iPhone-y.
@Kirtay:
wait no widgets.
More like iPhone 'inspirations.'
@Kirtay
Who cares, long as the phone is cool to use. Looks like some aspects have potential.
@Brent1700
Probably the thinnest smart phone out there.
New screen technology.
Loads of RAM
New ARM based Processor valued at 1GHZ.
But nothings new or groundbreaking right?
I think a lot of Bada's potential success depends on whether it gets licensed/used outside a few high-end Samsung devices. If they want to break into the crowded smartphone OS market, they need to have a lot going for them, and only have the OS available on a small number of expensive phones isn't the way to do it.
@Kira
Did you read the live blog?
The whole point of Bada is that it will be on dirt cheap phones.
@Kira
It's safer to just assume that Bada will never be successful and two years from now nobody will remember that it ever existed.
@jon A dirt cheap phone like one with a 1 GHz CPU, more than 512 MB RAM and a Super AMOLED screen? Hm... yeah, I'd take one.
I don't see the point of this. It looks and feels like a less polished, super fast version of Android. But the speed may be a result of the high end hardware this thing has... run it on a HTC Dream/Magic and we'll see if it is faster than Android (which is ultra slow on the Magic).
That screen is fucking gorgeous.
@ChazClout
...but small.
@Wakanapi
...and therefore popular with Europeans. Not everyone wants a slate.
The phone's nice but feels like a Jet update.
@ChazClout It's like a smaller N1 screen.
@ChazClout
Where's the "that's what she said" joke?
Wait editors- you forgot to mention multitouch in this topic! I call pod-people - there is no way this thread would have been published unless we mentioned multitouch - the single most important feature to the engadet folks.
Mind you, I'm not against multitouch but I find the recent webcast with the folks at google unpleasant to watch as engadget kept bludgeoning that poor dead horse when there were so many other topics that never got asked as all the time was wasted on multitouch.
@boe You're right, lack of multitouch is largely irrelevant. We have ten fingers -- why would you want to or need to use more than one on a screen at a time? Just silliness, really. It's like those people who claim the iPhone misses out because it doesn't have multitasking. We have one set of eyes -- who can do more than one thing at a time? Unbelievable.
/sarcasm