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Bada to be retired, will see its best features absorbed by Tizen
It's been over a year since rumors and statements suggested Samsung's Bada OS was due to be terminated, but that some form of it would live on within the open-source Tizen OS. Now, Samsung exec Won-Pyo Hong has confirmed as such with Korean news agency Yonhap. Rather than a complete fusion of the two, Tizen will select only the best qualities of the featurephone-friendly Bada for assimilation. Samsung's Tizen 2.0-based handsets arriving in 2013 will put the final nail in Bada's coffin, but out of respect for its fallen comrade, Tizen will obligingly run apps designed for the retired OS. Like some kind of mobile software Highlander, Tizen is now drawing power from several perished peers, and has even set its sights on the mighty Android. There can be only one.
Samsung Wave 3 crashes onto French shores
Samsung's new Bada flagship has just docked into our illustrative French port. Announced back in the summer, the Wave 3 arrives on the refreshed Bada 2.0 OS, powered by a 1.4GHz processor and packing a four-inch 800 x 480 Super AMOLED display. Storage matches the watery iteration, with 3GB of memory baked-in, with expansion possible through microSD. Meanwhile, an auto-focus five megapixel shooter will do its best to fill all that space. Not content with France (where Bada-powered handsets have established a niche fanbase), the HSPA-connected smartphone is also penned to hit Germany, Russia and Italy before the end of the year.
Samsung announces three Wave handsets, dripping in Bada 2.0 and ChatON
It's shaping up to a be a busy IFA for Samsung. Barely 24 hours after announcing its new ChatON messaging client, the manufacturer is now gearing up to release a troika of new Bada 2.0-powered Wave handsets -- the Wave 3, Wave M and Wave Y -- set to make their debut this week in Berlin. Leading the pack is the Wave 3, which leaked earlier this week. Powered by a 1.4GHz processor, this little guy boasts a 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display, 3GB of memory (along with a 32GB microSD slot) and a five megapixel, auto-focus-enabled shooter. The Wave M, meanwhile, packs slightly less juice, with a 832MHz processor, a 3.65-inch WVGA screen and 150MB of onboard storage (with a 2GB inbox and 32GB microSD slot). Rounding out the collection is the Wave Y, with its 3.2-inch HVGA display, 832MHz engine and two megapixel camera. All three feature your usual smattering of WiFi / Bluetooth 3.0 capabilities and will ship with ChatON and Samsung's Social Hub baked into their DNA. No word yet on pricing or availability, but you can find out more in the full press release, after the break.
Samsung's ChatON messaging service brings free texting to Android, iOS and BlackBerry (video)
It looks like Samsung is about to dip its toes in the mobile messaging market, with a new service called ChatON. Slated to debut at this week's IFA, the app brings texting, group chat and image / video sharing to not only Samsung's Bada OS, but to iOS, Android and BlackBerry platforms, as well. According to the Korean manufacturer, the new client will be available in two versions: a basic one for feature phones and another, more complex variation that allows smartphone users to comment on other profiles, send animated messages and visualize their most frequently contacted friends, as displayed above. The company is also planning to release a web-based version that would bring similar functionality to PCs. ChatON is slated to go live next month (in more than 120 countries and 62 languages), but you can find more information in the demo video and translated PR, after the break.
Samsung's IFA app unveils Galaxy Tab 7.7, Wave 3 and Galaxy Note
We're about a week away from this year's IFA, but that's no reason for the tech teases to dry up. According to a report on This Is My Next, a bevy of product logos from Sammy's Android trade show app were unearthed by a tipster searching for clues in the APK. Among the soon-to-be unveiled products are the new Galaxy Tab 7.7, Wave 3 and Galaxy Note. While we've haven't heard much about the Note, we aren't really surprised to see a 7.7-inch (we assume) iteration of the OEM's popular Honeycomb tablet and an update to its Bada OS-running Wave smartphone line. Not to worry folks, you won't have to live with the suspense for long -- we'll be reporting live from Berlin before you know it.
Samsung Wave 723 flaunts Bada, little else at IFA
Samsung just grew its Bada line with a low-end foil to the original Wave, the so-called Wave 723 -- and we just happened to catch it hanging out tucked away in a distributor's booth at IFA this week. Though the leather-grain flip cover is a classy touch, make no mistake that this one is destined for the bottom bits of the full-touch featurephone market segment thanks to a middle-of-the-road TFT LCD that looks pretty washed out and low-res compared to the Wave's Super AMOLED (interestingly, the 723 is the first Bada phone to use version 1.1 of the platform, whose major addition is support for auto-scaling between multiple resolutions). We were also surprised at how poorly responsive the screen was to touches and swipes; we even thought for a moment that it might be resistive, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Then again, 802.11n support ain't bad, and Samsung certainly seems as committed to Bada as ever, so we imagine they'll sell a few. Hit up the gallery! %Gallery-101194%
Samsung Wave brings Bada to Europe today, everyone else told to wait
Samsung's Wave (otherwise known as the S8500) may not be coming to Vodafone UK until June 1st, but it's available somewhere in Europe starting today. According to a new release from the outfit (seen in full after the break), today marks the first day in which its first Bada-equipped smartphone is available in Europe, with Germany, France and the UK mentioned in particular. We're also told that the "complete Bada SDK 1.0.0 will be available for download shortly," and while pricing details weren't discussed, the Wave should ride to Southeast Asia, China, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America in short order. Don't everyone cheer at once, okay?
Samsung Bada handsets of the future revealed in presentation slide
Just in case you had any doubts about Samsung's commitment to the physical keyboard, here's a slide of the Korean giant's Bada OS roadmap, filled with rubbery QWERTY buttons aplenty. At top left you can see the Wave -- which Samsung places in its "premium image brand" together with the Galaxy S -- priced at 20,000 Rubles (just under $700), followed by its as yet nameless and spec-less Bada siblings. Our interest is piqued most by the QWERTY slider that's sat so perfectly atop the 10,000-Ruble line, we wouldn't mind seeing the Super AMOLED screen tech trickling down to such a price point. We wouldn't mind that at all. All About Phones has also spotted two Windows Mobile and one Android handset during the presentation, though Sammy has been predictably recalcitrant about specs on those as well. All we're told is to wait for the autumn. Guess that will have to do. [Thanks, Muhammad]
Samsung Bada S8200 and Galaxy2 may match Nexus One's specs
Well, we're hearing this morning -- from Eldar Mertazin -- that Samsung's upcoming Bada S8200 and Galaxy2 specs may well match the Nexus One. Nothing solid, of course, but it would seem they'll both be running the Snapdragon at 1GHz, feature 3.7-inch WVGA AMOLED touchscreens, WiFi, GPS, HSPA, and 5 megapixel cams. The Galaxy2 will purportedly ring in at €450 (roughly $650) and the S8200 in the €400 ($575) range. So with that -- admittedly slim -- bit of info out of the way, all we can do is just sit back, relax, and wait for Samsung's boasting to begin.
