Tizen development has come along pretty well. It was only a week ago when the Tizen SDK 2.0 was released to developers. The SDK showed us how Tizen is looking so far, and it’s looking pretty polished. Developers are now given access to more core aspects of the OS to work on.

Tizen SDK 2.1 should be available for developers around Q2 2013 enabling more features for developers to work upon. Tizen looks like it’s on the right track for a release this year. We already know that Samsung plans on releasing multiple devices running the Tizen OS this year in order for it to lessen its dependence upon Google.

With Samsung’s support, Tizen could be a big deal. Many people already associate the Android name with Samsung’s Galaxy line-up and it’s getting to the point where the average consumer is having a hard time differentiating the two. With Samsung’s marketing and their name behind the product, Tizen could definitely be a new, major competitor in the mobile OS crowd. We also can’t forget that Firefox will be launching it’s own mobile OS, Firefox OS, this year as well. We’ll see if the newbies stand a chance against the likes of iOS and Android.

[via The Verge]

“Windows Phone’s share weakened year-on-year as the Windows Phone 8 launch dampened demand of Windows Phone 7 devices” Gartner suggested, though the new version of the platform may not be the instant good news OEMs like Nokia are hoping for. In fact, Nokia’s new Lumia devices will only “help to halt the decline in share” in Q4, with no “significant improvement” predicted until 2013.

Nokia isn’t the only firm having a tough quarter. RIM and HTC dropped to third and fourth places in the manufacturers chart respectively, and there are fears that even retaining those positions may be untenable. “The challenges might prevent them from holding on to their current rankings in coming quarters” Gartner’s Anshul Gupta said of the firms.

On the up, meanwhile, are Samsung and Apple. Samsung has the Q3 2012 top spot, with 22.9-percent of the market, while Apple has 5.5-percent of the market; Android has 72.4-percent market share, according to Gartner’s figures, a sizable jump year-on-year from 52.5-percent. In contrast, iOS market share declined slightly, from 15-percent a year ago to 13.9-percent, though it’s RIM and Symbian which saw the biggest falls.

Apple’s Q4 2012 is likely to be a good one, Gartner concludes, with the new iPhone 5 and fledgling sales in various new locations meaning the holiday quarter should end positively. Many iPhone 4S/4 owners held off upgrading until the new handset was released, the analysts point out, something which Apple itself has suggested.

The holiday season overall, however, may not be the salvation many firms hope for. Gartner predicts smartphone sales will not get the traditional kick, as shoppers look to other devices such as tablets for potential gifts.

Last year, it was the Google/Motorola deal that prompted Samsung to reconsider its software “competitiveness” and look to greater investment into not only its chips and hardware but what runs on them. The possibility that Motorola could benefit from significantly closer involvement with Android’s core engineering team led to fears that Samsung might be left a step or more behind its rival.

“We must strengthen the competitiveness of its information technology, secure more human resources and also more actively seek mergers and acquisitions” Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee reportedly told his executives. “We must pay attention to the fact that IT power is moving away from hardware companies such as Samsung to software companies.”

The first real evidence of that evolving attention has been the Samsung Galaxy S III, the company’s latest smartphone flagship, and featuring a newly reworked version of TouchWiz complete with a fresh “nature” theme. As well as aesthetically reskinning the underlying Android OS, the Galaxy S III debuts several functional modifications, including using the front-facing camera to track the user’s eyes and keep the screen powered on when they’re believed to be using it, better social networking integration in the camera gallery, and a Siri alternative in the shape of S-Voice.

Samsung Galaxy S III software review:

Kwon Oh-hyun made no specific mention of how much Samsung would invest in its software engineering teams, but he did insist that the company must secure “an absolute lead” in consumer tech. Among the expected moves by the firm is a shift to integrate Samsung’s home-grown bada OS with open-source Tizen and make a more pronounced play for the entry-level smartphone market.

There’s more on the Galaxy S III – and where its software succeeds and falls short – in our full review.

The chart you see here shows both Symbian and Blackberry tumbling terrible compared to their share last year, with Symbian falling a massive 60.6% and Blackberry falling 29.7%. Blackberry’s change is topped by the amount of “other” smartphone operating systems recorded by the IDC with a 33.3%, then both Symbian and Blackberry’s changes were topped by iOS and Android’s increases which were both massive. Year over year change for iOS was a whopping 88.7% while Android grew 145% the world over.

These changes can be attributed to the popularity of both the iPhone and Android smartphone makers such as Samsung and HTC, but can also be tracked to the overall growth of smartphone use in general. According to the IDC, smartphone operating system use grew nearly 50% compared to this same quarter last year. According to Ramon Llamas, senior research analyst with IDC’s Mobile Phone Technology and Trends program, there’s more to it than that:

“The popularity of Android and iOS stems from a combination of factors that the competition has struggled to keep up with. Neither Android nor iOS were the first to market with some of these features, but the way they made the smartphone experience intuitive and seamless has quickly earned a massive following.” – Llamas

Another important point to note here is that both Linux and Windows Phone Q1 shipments grew compared to last year even though their total market share fell.

[via IDC]

The Samsung Wave Y S5380 runs on the Bada 2.0 platform, which is designed for low-end handsets. The S5380 is the lowest of those low-end devices, coming in at an unsubsidized price of just $165, at least in the Ukraine. That remains the only country where the LaFleur edition phone is available, at least for the time being.

Among the technical specs of the device are a 3.2-inch HVGA display, HSDPA compatibility, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, a 2-megapixel rear camera, 2 GB of pre-loaded memory, and an NFC chip. There is no word yet on whether this flower-filled gadget will come stateside, but nevertheless it is pretty to look at.

[via Unwired View, image via Rozetka]

“Samsung and other members of Tizen Association have not made a firm decision regarding the merge of bada and Tizen. We are carefully looking at it as an option to make the platforms serve better for customers. As Samsung’s essential part of multi-platform portfolio, bada will continue to play an important role in democratizing smartphone experience in all markets. Samsung will also support open source based development and continue to work together with other industry stakeholders” Samsung

Talk of Samsung pushing bada into Tizen began earlier this week, after Tae-Jin Kang, Senior Vice President of Samsung’s Contents Planning Team, suggested that the Korean company has “an effort that will merge bada and Tizen.” No timescale for the merger was given, but it was indicated that the move would be more about sharing developers than harmonizing what users see at the front-end.

Tizen and bada coders would each use the same SDK and API tools, Kang explained, and existing bada apps would be compatible with Tizen with no modifications required. However, bada would still be kept as the platform for low-cost, developing-markets devices, likely running cheaper single-core processors, while Tizen would challenge the higher-end.

Samsung’s involvement in Tizen had prompted questions from the start, with the open-source project – a collaboration between Intel, the remnants of Nokia’s MeeGo, Samsung and others – seemingly retreading the same ground that Samsung’s existing platforms of choice cover. The company already uses Android, Windows Phone and bada – as well as a proprietary dumbphone OS for its cheaper devices – in a multi-OS push that saw it crack the 300m shipments mark in 2011.

Although Samsung’s integration work is still underway, with no timescale expressed for its completion, when finished it should bring Tizen and bada developers and apps together. Tizen devices will be able to run software created using the bada SDK, Kang said, with existing apps requiring no modification; meanwhile both bada and Tizen developers will use the same SDK and APIs moving forward. The Linux core of the two platforms will also be harmonized.

However, while the two platforms will be drawn closely together, Samsung apparently intends to keep using them independently. bada will be used at the low-end, most likely single-core handsets, focusing on affordable smartphones and devices a step up from feature-phones, while Tizen will appear on more advanced devices. There’s also the possibility of non-phone devices running Tizen as well, though Kang is keen to point out that no explicit plans have been made.

Speculation that Samsung would open-source bada began last year, shortly before the company announced its support for the Tizen project. Tizen, a collaboration with Intel and others, sprung in part from the work Nokia had done on MeeGo before all but abandoning it in favor of Windows Phone. At launch, Tizen’s OS and SDK were each promised for release sometime before the end of March this year.

That timescale looks all the more achievable with the combined heft of bada and MeeGo developers involved; Samsung in particular has driven bada app development with cash prizes over the past 18 months. The Korean company has also discussed using bada on future smart TVs.

[via Liliputing]

It’s unclear if this latest number in fact refers to shipped phones or sold phones, a difference which has caused Samsung some embarrassment in the past. Back in January 2011, the company had to amend announcements of first-gen Galaxy Tab sales after accidentally classifying shipments to resellers and vendors as end-user sales.

Either way, it’s tough to argue that Samsung hasn’t had a good year for phones. The company is still riding high from the launch of the Galaxy Nexus, its second Googlephone collaboration with the Android-developing search giant, while the multiple variants of the Galaxy S II have made a splash across North America, Europe and Asia.

Samsung will announce its full financial results imminently, though it’s unlikely to break down the numbers to the point where we can see the comparative performance of Android, Windows Phone and bada devices.

Update: Samsung SA has deleted the original tweet, and replaced it with one saying the 27.8m figure actually refers to Q3 2011, not Q4. The figure itself comes from Strategy Analytics rather than being an internal number, too. Looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer to see Q4 figures, if Samsung decides to break down smartphone numbers at all.

This device is being called the Samsung GT-I9500 Universal, and its details are rather incredulous. While the renderings appear really quite crisp and certainly in line with what we’ve seen from Samsung lately, specifically with the Galaxy Note and the Galaxy Players, the magic inside might be too far-fetched to be realistic. Behind a 5-inch HD Super AMOLED 1280 x 720 pixel resolution display you’ll find a 9mm thick body and a 12 megapixel camera on the back with both LED flash AND Xenon flash. Weird stuff to be sure!

Then there’s a front-facing 2 megapixel camera, availability of 32 or 64 GB internal memory, and a microSDXC slot for memory expansion. This device is said to come with a stylus like the Galaxy Note, but doesn’t appear to have the same onboard slot for carrying said pen like its big cousin does, USB 3.0 capability, and 4G LTE connectivity in its first iteration. Also onboard is a quad-core Samsung Exynos 4412 1.5GHz processor, and the whole thing works with TouchWiz 5.0.

And it all works with both Android and Bada OS. That’s just too strange to be realistic – why on earth would anyone want such a thing? Also we’ve never seen a display like this outside of conceptual renderings as a bezel allows for the display to have some overlap around the edges – how this will work is outside my understanding. Finally, before you cut up the idea of this device because of the buttons at the bottom of the display running against what’s recommended for Ice Cream Sandwich, know that Android 4.0 does have the ability to easily run with these buttons still in-tact.

We’ll either find this device to be real relatively soon or the name Galaxy S III wont pop up again until early 2012. The possibility also exists that this device is close to what we’ll see in the USA release of the Galaxy Note. We’ll see! Thanks for the tip, Alex!

UPDATE: Per Concept Phones:

“Samsung Russia just contacted us and said this is not a real phone. Here’s what they said: “The mock-ups, published in the article on Concept-Phones.com, were posted in the “Imagined Phones” section of “Samsung Phones Owners’ Club” group on VKontakte.ru. This section contains unofficial artworks and designs, created by group members, and are products of pure imagination, sometime even a joke”.” – Concept Phones

To see the rest of the concepts, check out the gallery they speak of at VKONTAKTE.RU, and enjoy the conceptual fun!

[via Concept Phones]

This review is supplemented by the rest of the ChatON articles we’ve got here on SlashGear (in the timeline at the bottom of this post) as we use the app to show what a manufacturer is capable of when they put their minds to it. Where many apps created by manufacturers (OEMs that shall not be named) are not the most desirable for one to have on their mobile device unless they love aesthetic pain, Samsung has created this group chat app to both look nice and work simply.

The video here shows how a group chat works, complete with animated message – the coolest feature of the whole application when it comes down to it. What you’re able to do, and what this application does best, is create chats that contain just you and another person or you and several people, whatever you like. Inside your conversation you’ve got the ability to share any number of items from text to audio to anything you can capture with your camera, and sharing is more than just easy. Once you’ve shared your message, the media contained within shows up in the room with all your pals as well as in the room’s Trunk.

Inside the Trunk you’ll find all of the media shared inside the Chat, each of these units of fun able to be re-shared and downloaded by you at will. Inside the Chat where you’re sharing you’ve also got the ability to change how the Chat looks to you, this ability given to everyone else in the Chat as well, just affecting their view of the Chat. Change the color of the chat bubbles, their shape, the appearance of the background, and the text’s font. Quite simply fun and entertaining.

Download the app on the Android Market right this moment completely for free. You can also download this application for free from Samsung Apps and on other platforms (such as in your web browser through chaton.com) soon!

Samsung calls the Wave 3 smartphone its flagship offering and it has a 4-inch WVGA super AMOLED screen. The Wave 3 also runs a 1.4GHz processor and has a 5MP rear camera with autofocus and a LED flash along with a VGA resolution front camera. It operates on networks that will let it work in countries around the world.

The Wave 3 runs BADA 2.0 and as of today, it is available in Germany, Italy, Russia, as well as the French market it first launched in. Samsung notes the smartphone will come to other countries later this year. There is barely a month left in this year so those other locations will have to come soon. We also heard in September that Bada would go open source in 2012.

“Android benefited from more mass-market offerings, a weaker competitive environment and the lack of exciting new products on alternative operating systems such as Windows Phone 7 and RIM” Gartner

Symbian – classed as a smartphone OS in Gartner’s stats, though Nokia continues to marginalize the platform in favor of Windows Phone – remains in second place with 16.9-percent market share; however, that’s less than half what it was last year. Despite Microsoft’s push with Windows Phone, meanwhile, it has a mere 1.5-percent of the smartphone market, down from 2.7-percent a year before. That’s even counting Windows Mobile in among those figures, which is still loaded on some enterprise and vertical market devices.

In fact, Samsung’s bada is ahead of Microsoft, with 2.2-percent of the market, doubling share from 2010. RIM slumped more than 4-points to 11-percent market share; earlier this week it was reported that developers are now more interested in creating apps for Windows Phone than they are for BlackBerry devices.

Despite the shuffling stats, smartphone segment growth overall slowed according to Gartner, now accounting for 26-percent of all mobile device sales (and up a mere point from Q2 2011). Apple is expected to stage a renewed assault on Android in the run up to the holidays, however, given the new iPhone 4S and the reduced-price iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS hitting more affordable entry-points.

So you’ve got these Olympic games, right? And you’ve got a device that we must assume has a camera somewhere on it – and NFC for mobile payments. You know what that means? It means that these games are set to be the most socially shared and easily payed-for Olympics of all time! That is, if all goes according to plan. Pocket Lint’s Stuart Miles was at the VISA Europe presentation at the company’s first European security summit in Frankfurt, Germany – there it was Sandra Alzetta, Head of innovation and new product development at Visa Europe that confirmed the phone to be entirely on-track.

This device will be a brand new Samsung device, it’ll have “Special Olympic content”, and it’ll be commercially available globally before, during, and after the actual London events in 2012. In addition, VISA has mentioned the possibility that NFC-laden microSD cards might be in the works as well – though whether for this event or outside this event is still unclear. What is clear is that VISA has confirmed that this phone will be working with “almost 160,000 terminals in Europe, including the 70,000 shops, bars, and restaurants in the UK.”

Sounds like a widespread winner to me – now they just have to sell it! Note that the image above also comes from the initial announcement in which VISA and Samsung reps are holding up devices that very much appear to be “Galaxy” related, this leading us to believe that Android will be in the mix – or maybe it’s Bada?! That’d be a pretty good tactic to get that OS out there, boy howdy.

That could mean delays if you were hoping to pick up an Acer Iconia M500 tablet, which promised MeeGo on an Atom processor, but it’s unclear what will happen to the ASUS Eee PC X101. The MeeGo-based netbook is already up for sale, though it’s possible that it could be the last ASUS model to support the platform.

DigiTimes’ sources also claim that Samsung’s integration between bada and Tizen is pretty much a foregone conclusion, with the suggestion that the new OS’ app store will “merge the current resources of Intel’s MeeGo and Samsung’s Bada.” With Tizen tipped to show up not only on phones and tablets, but smart TVs, netbooks, in-car infotainment systems and other platforms, it would certainly be a more straightforward way for Samsung to follow through on its apparent ambitions to develop a more complex smart TV system.

Although the first Tizen release isn’t expected until February 2012, Intel apparently confirmed at its AppUpElements conference that the SDK is on track for distribution in November, according to The Handheld Blog.

Although Intel and Samsung are the big names, The Linux Foundation isn’t short on supporters either. Members include Fujitsu, Panasonic, NEC, Motorola, ARM and a host of others, though who exactly will be using Tizen and who will just be quietly observing from the sidelines remains to be seen.

“We believe the future belongs to HTML5-based applications, outside of a relatively small percentage of apps, and we are firmly convinced that our investment needs to shift toward HTML5. Shifting to HTML5 doesn’t just mean slapping a web runtime on an existing Linux, even one aimed at mobile, as MeeGo has been. Emphasizing HTML5 means that APIs not visible to HTML5 programmers need not be as rigid, and can evolve with platform technology and can vary by market segment” Imad Sousou, co-chair MeeGo Technical Steering group

MeeGo’s vision of future mobile platforms tallies well with Tizen’s, unsurprisingly. According to the project’s new site, the app programming interfaces are “based on HTML5 and other web standards” with APIs for the platform’s functionality including messaging, multimedia, camera, network, and social media.

“For those who use native code in their applications, the Tizen SDK will include a native development kit. We will open the entire Tizen software stack, from the core OS up through the core applications and polished user interfaces” Tizen

The decision to roll MeeGo into Tizen is already meeting push-back from existing developers, however, who are unclear on where the cross-platform Qt framework fits into the mixture. It’s also uncertain what buyers of the first Nokia MeeGo device, the N9 which began shipping this week, will get in terms of Tizen support. Nokia has said the smartphone will be supported “for years” with several updates already in the pipeline. Whether that includes a Tizen upgrade has not been confirmed.

It’s also unknown as to what Tizen means for Samsung’s bada platform, itself tipped to go open-source in 2012. Samsung is known to be considering its software “competitiveness” in the face of Android’s increasingly litigious circumstances and Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility, and bada itself is similarly HTML5 and web-runtime centric to how Tizen has been presented. Whether that means the Korean firm will fold bada into Tizen, just as MeeGo is being incorporated, remains to be seen.

Announced as a work in progress back in November 2009, bada has made several appearances on low- to mid-range Samsung smartphones since, though never to the same extent as the company has implemented Android. In its latest form, bada 2.0 as demonstrated on the new Wave 3 at IFA 2011 earlier this month, the OS has gained several Android-style features, as well as NFC support and boosted social networking integration.

Despite not being a household name, there are suggestions that bada has quietly been gobbling up marketshare and is, in fact, one of the fastest growing fledgling platforms. Samsung has invested heavily into third-party app development, and making bada open-source would likely be another attempt to boost interest.

Samsung Wave 3 hands-on:

As for smart TV, Samsung had already confirmed that it was looking at the possibility of a single platform serving both phone and TV hardware, though the project went quiet shortly after. Rumors then suggested that the company was testing ARM-based Google TV implementations, which would require the next-gen version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, among other improvements. Samsung has previously said that it sees 2012 as “the year of smart TV” though has not clarified exactly which OS – or OSes – it may be relying on.

A gradual distancing from Google, especially in the aftermath of the Motorola Mobility acquisition announcement, looks likely, however. Samsung execs have reportedly decided they need to increase their software “competitiveness” with both mergers and acquisitions potentially on the table; nonetheless, this new insider claims Samsung “has no plans to buy” another software company. That echoes comments from CEO Choi Gee Sung earlier in September, when he denied Samsung would buy webOS.

Samsung may well struggle to motivate interest in bada among developers, however, who are already forced in many cases to choose between coding for Android or iOS. Simply making a project open-source is no guarantee of success, either, as Nokia discovered with Symbian. In Samsung’s favor is its scale and the size of its corporate purse.

Samsung was seen as the company in the ultimate position for such a purchase because it had a flourishing hardware business with smartphones and tablets, but seemed alarmed by the Google-Motorola deal that could compromise its competitive position with the Android platform. Scooping up WebOS would give it a new software asset that had features that could differentiate enough from both Android and iOS.

However, that is certainly not the case, according to Choi, who in an interview during IFA 2011 in Berlin, insisted that Samsung would “never” pursue such a deal. Instead, Samsung is quite heavily invested in further developing its own homegrown Bada platform, which has just seen the release of a major update along with three new devices at IFA.

“It’s not right that acquiring an operating system is becoming a fashion,” Choi said. Samsung, which has its own mobile operating system called Bada, is working to boost its software capability “harder than people outside think.”

The future of WebOS continues to look hazy ever since HP made that fateful announcement. But HP Touchpad tablets have surprisingly been selling well despite the news thanks to $99 fire sales. In fact, so well that HP has confirmed its doing one last production run on the tablet. The planned 7-inch HP TouchPad Go probably won’t see the light of day and is said to have left HP suppliers with components for over 100,000 units of the tablet.

[via Bloomberg]

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7

Here’s where the real fire came into play, with Samsung revealing two outstanding Android devices that are sure to set the tablet world on fire – only the second and most superstar-classification-worthy of which Samsung doesn’t define as a tablet at all. We’ll get to that in a moment, but first there’s the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, the next in a line of successful Samsung Android tablets to feature Android 3.x Honeycomb with TouchWiz UX, a custom tablet interface for Android devices, working on top of it. What’s perhaps most impressive about this tablet (beyond the fact that it’s got a wholly metal chassis) is the fact that it’s got the largest (7.7-inch) Super AMOLED Plus display on an Android device thus far on Earth. Brightness! Check out our [original announcement thread] or head straight to our [Galaxy Tab 7.7 hands-on post] for a video exploration of the tablet in full brilliance.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 hands-on:

Also take a look at the already massively popular post by the name of [Will carriers kill the Galaxy Tab 7.7?] for all your discussion needs.

Samsung Galaxy Note

Samsung this week announced what they’re calling a whole new category in the mobile environment, that being what they’ve found to be the perfect blend of large screen size and small portability, all with a brand new “HD Super AMOLED” display for the brightest and sharpest look at Android yet. If there’s one device Samsung has chosen this week to be its hero device, this is it.

Check out our [original announcement post] or head straight to our [Galaxy Note hands-on] post complete with, again, brilliant video with hands-on pro Chris Davies.

Samsung Galaxy Note hands-on:

Cameras

Samsung has introduced several cameras this week, the first of which being the NX200, a single 20.3 megapixel camera with the ability to shoot continuous photos at 7 frames per second, an APS-C CMOS sensor, and 100ms Advanced auto focus. This device also has a gigantic amount of interchangeable lenses to go with it, looking like an explorer in the lens jungle in its first press shots. [announcement post]

Next there’s the Samsung WB750, a ultra-zoom capable Schneider Kreuznach device with 18x optical zoom and 24x Smart Zoom inside. This device is also capable of shooting 10 megapixel photos at the same time it’s recording 1080p video, and 12.5 megapixel resolution photos at 10 frames per second in high-speed continuous mode. [announcement post]

Finally there’s the Samsung MV800, a point-and-shoot camera with a giant flip-out and swivel LCD display so that you’ll be able to snap photos with preview in any way shape or form. This camera is rated at 16.2 megapixels, the LCD flip-out display is a 3-inch LCD, and a slew of special effects in-camera for all your odd editing needs. [announcement post]

Notebooks

There’s a single notebook to be had this week from Samsung as far as the IFA Unpacked event went, that being the Samsung Series 7 CHRONOS, a device which we spoke about earlier this week then were treated to a slight more formal look at later in the week.

Smart TV

As far as new announcements on the Samsung front this week, one news bit stood out from the rest: Samsung’s YouTube 3D partnership. How apt would you be to purchase a Samsung Smart TV with 3D capabilities if you had an infinite free library of content on your hands as opposed to the scant selection of 3D Blu-ray disks out there today? [original announcement post]

Wave Smartphones

Samsung brought some fire to their very own mobile operating system with three new bada 2.0-based devices, the first and most impressive of which was the Wave 3, a lovely 4-inch display having 1.4GHz toting smartphone with all your favorite bada amenities. The other two bada 2.0 devices announced this week were the Wave Y and the Wave M, all three of these devices set to be released soon. [original announcement post]

We were also given the opportunity land a hands-on with the Wave 3, this being an experience you can share with us in our Samsung Wave 3 hands-on post featuring Chris Davies on the handling, complete with video. Look like a winner compared to Samsung’s Android offerings?

Samsung Wave 3 hands-on:

Windows Tablets

If there’s one thing we did NOT expect to come out of the Samsung labs this week, it was the Samsung Series 7 Slate, a tablet PC running Windows 7. Luckily it won’t be stuck on the near-dead Windows 7 platform for long, as it comes ready to update to Windows 8 nearly right out of the gate. [original announcement post]

Amazing offering this week Samsung, keep it up!

The lineage between the original Wave S8500 and this third-gen model is clear: it has a neat unibody metal casing (with a cute slide-up battery compartment door that reminds us of spring-loaded Nokia handsets of old) and is fronted by a bright, color-rich Super AMOLED display. bada 2.0 could perhaps be mistaken for Android at first glance, though that’s more to do with Samsung’s own TouchWiz design language than a pure resemblance to Google’s OS.

Still, Samsung does seem to have played catch-up to Google in some respects, adding in voice control for search, commands and dictation, and an “enhanced” copy & paste system that does remind us of Android’s version. There are some neat points, however, like the audio multitasking that, rather than pausing music playback while navigation is announced, just dips the volume while the voice prompt gives you directions. There’s also “N screen” file sharing and WiFi Direct support.

Plenty of animation keeps the homescreen dynamic, like a row of folder icons that can be dragged straight down to preview their contents (lift your finger and it bounces back it) and then side-dragged to actually expand the folder itself. Live widgets and Samsung’s usual media, gaming and other hubs are also present, together with an image and video editor and ChatON messenger. It all works well, though we’re still not sure we’d pick either bada 2.0 or the Wave 3 over an Android device.

Samsung Wave 3 hands-on:

I’d like again to direct you back to the Samsung Unveils Wave 3, Wave M, and Wave Y post for a specifications rundown, all of the details you’ll need on the hardware before we set you up with hands-on explorations of the devices this week as well. What Samsung is pushing here, again, is their own “heritage in innovation,” Samsung’s mobile operating system bada 2.0 bringing you such excellent features as multi-tasking, Wi-fi Direct, voice recognition, and NFC (as an option.)

What Samsung has let us know this week is that they’re offering up these devices and this mobile OS to consumers who wish to do a whole slew of new and/or unique actions. The first action they’ve revealed is the ability these devices have to share photos and files without Internet networking. While other devices certainly do have similar capabilities to these new Wave devices and their non-internet sharing, Wave comes forward with a perfectly optimized and emphasized set of options for you to move files about in your own home network.

Next, these Wave devices are being shown to work with NFC for mobile payments. As all great futuristic devices should be able to do, NFC-enabled Wave devices are able to be waved in front of an NFC-enabled reader and do any number of different things, including most importantly transfer money. Similar to what we’ve been seeing with several different recent Samsung devices, these Wave devices will have the ability to access Samsung Apps, an area where you can download apps directly from Samsung so you know they’re approved to work best with your Samsung gear.

Then there’s ChatON, an app Samsung is now working to integrate in many different mobile devices, made to enable chat between all of them, regardless of what mobile operating system they are using. Micro-communites can be set up, you can chat with your significant other when you’re hanging out in Berlin, no problem, and essentially all Samsung devices in the near future will be ready to go with it right out of the box.

Finally there’s the lovely new hardware! Have a look in the gallery below if you’d like a quick refresher of what each phone will be working with OR head back to our original Samsung Unveils Wave 3, Wave M, and Wave Y post for a more personal touch on the specs from Rue, then stick with us here on SlashGear for the rest of the Samsung Unpacked event at IFA 2011. If you’re reading this post at or around 2AM PST, you can check out our LIVE FEED of the Samsung event! Join us and chat away!

The Wave 3 sports a 4-inch Super AMOLED display and packs in a 1.4GHz processor, a VGA front-facing camera, and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with auto-focus and LED flash into a 9.9mm thin full metal chassis constructed of anodized aluminum.

The Wave M will be the first to feature Samsung’s just announced ChatON messaging service and sports a 3.65-inch TFT LCD display with mid-range specs, but offers integrated NFC as an option. The Wave Y sports a 3.2-inch HVGA display and entry-level specs and will also work with ChatOn.

Bada version 2.0 was recently announced along with the release of an SDK in hopes of more developer support. New features introduced by Bada 2.0 include NFC, voice recognition, and direct WiFi sharing.

All three models will be on display at IFA 2011, which we’ll be covering live, so stay tuned on SlashGear. Also, here’s a preview of what to expect from this year’s event.

[via Samsung]

“[Samsung] must strengthen the competitiveness of its information technology, secure more human resources and also more actively seek mergers and acquisitions … We must pay attention to the fact that IT power is moving away from hardware companies such as Samsung to software companies” Lee Kun-hee, chairman, Samsung Electronics

Kun-hee’s fears appear to revolve around the idea that its key rivals – Motorola, Nokia, Apple and others – all have close ties to a high-profile player in the smartphone and tablet software ecosystem. Apple has obviously got iOS, while Nokia’s deal with Microsoft over Windows Phone gives it flexibility with the platform that licensee Samsung doesn’t share. Motorola dropping into Google’s pocket – despite the Andy Rubin’s claims that the new acquisition is not an automatic lock-in for producing future Nexus-branded devices – potentially leaves Samsung on the back foot when it comes to Android, too, which until now has been the linchpin of the Korean company’s mobile efforts.

The chairman’s comments regarding “actively” seeking potential mergers and acquisitions would imply that Samsung will open its purse and buy up software expertise, though company execs say that there are no immediate purchase plans. Of course, Samsung also has bada, its home-grown OS, which has been left somewhat under-leveraged with the focus on Android.

As for the Super AMOLED HD screens, OLED-Info claims that industry insiders – one of which is reportedly a Samsung supplier – have confirmed that 720p 1280 x 720 resolution 5- to 7-inch displays are indeed in the pipeline, and should be announced imminently. They say we can expect 5- to 6-inch smartphones using the tech this fall, likely starting with the GT-I9220 mentioned on the supposedly leaked roadmap (which Samsung later claimed was inaccurate), followed by 7-inch Super AMOLED HD tablets by the end of the year.

The relatively small-scale 720p displays are possible, the insiders say, thanks to new PenTile matrix technologies and a refinement in the production process that has also seen Super AMOLED HD become cheaper than previous versions. Now, a Super AMOLED HD panel apparently costs around 20-percent less than a comparative S-LCD screen. We could well see the first fruits of those display labors at IFA 2011 at the beginning of September.

Meanwhile, in phones, the GT-I9250 is probably the most exciting. It’s said to have a 4.65-inch 1280 x 720 resolution display and a 5-megapixel camera, and run Ice Cream Sandwich on an unspecified processor which, we’re guessing, will be a dual-core. Its sibling, the GT-I9220, is even bigger, with a MID-rivaling 5.29-inch 1280 x 720 Super AMOLED Plus panel, a dual-core 1.4GHz processor, 8-megapixel camera and Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The rumored 1.4GHz GT-I9200 upgrade to the Galaxy S II isn’t mentioned, but the I9210 gets a look-in, with a 4.5-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen, 4G connectivity and an 8-megapixel camera. There’s also supposedly WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, Full HD video recording support and a 1750 mAh battery, all in an Android-running 128g package.

The last of the particularly eye-catching devices is the GT-I8150, a 3.7-inch WVGA TFT LCD Android handset with 4GB of internal storage, HSPA+ connectivity and a 5-megapixel camera. It will have a VGA front-facing camera, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi b/g/n, GPS and an FM radio, and support 720p 30fps HD video recording, according to the leaks.

All the rest are various entry-level devices, including the Android-based B5510-W41 codenamed “Luisa” with an 800MHz processor, 2.8-inch touchscreen and QWERTY keyboard. Samsung also has some bada phones in the line-up, apparently, such as the S8600 Wave III with bada 2.0, a 5-megapixel camera, 4-inch Super AMOLED display and 3GB of internal storage. Finally, there’s a single Windows Phone 7 device, the Omnia W, said to have a 3.7-inch display, 5-megapixel camera and 1GHz processor.

[via Telefonio - thanks Antonio!]

Update: The source site has been pulled, and some details such as the suggested screen size of the I9220 were changed prior to that.

The lower end phone will have a 3.14-inch screen, support for HSDPA 7.2 and NFC.

The new models have yet to be named. We’ll keep you informed as we learn more.

[via Near Field Communications World]

RIM’s BlackBerry range takes third place for churn, with Symbian and webOS on the Palm Pre being the most likely to lose users shopping for a new device. Interestingly, in terms of smartphone satisfaction, Samsung’s relatively stealthy bada platform came in third behind iPhone and Android; however, it was also one of the highest in terms of churn, suggesting that while users liked the platform, they still intended to jump to a different OS with their next device.

That could fit in with Samsung’s positioning of bada as an entry-smartphone platform, or it could be a sign that strong initial sales won’t necessarily result in longer-term success for a platform. Zokem also makes no mention of app investment; that is, the likelihood that a user has built up a portfolio of apps on their current platform that won’t transfer to a different one, and so is locked into that OS unless they want to start again from scratch.

[via Android Community]

There’s also better support for multitasking, with the ability for apps to launch in the background and what Samsung is calling “multi-aspplication execution”. The visual appeal should get a boost from regular TouchWiz too, with new animations and personalization options.

It’s the services and revenue model aspects of bada 2.0 which will likely work most in its favor, however. The new version will add an ad gateway and operator billing support, which should make it more interesting to carriers and thus increase the availability, while functionality like speech recognition and push notifications will put it on a more level playing field with iOS and Android. No word on when we can expect bada 2.0 to launch, however, beyond sometime in 2011.

[via Samsung Hub]

Grand prize winner Mooncoder took $300,000 for his app “Little Sailor”, a 3D yacht racing game that scored highest in the creativity, commercial potential, functionality, and user-friendliness categories. Eight further entrants took $100,00 apiece. Samsung isn’t saying quite how many bada apps are out there, but it does expect to pass the 50m downloads mark sometime this month.

Meanwhile, sales of bada handsets are expected to pass 5m units by the end of the year, impressive given for much for the time only a single device, the Wave S8500, was available.

Press Release:

Samsung announces winners of bada Developer Challenge, demonstrating its commitment to the bada platform

(SEOUL=Korea Newswire) — Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile provider, today announced the winners of ‘bada Developer Challenge,’ an application development contest for the bada platform which took place between May and December in 2010. Entrants participated in the contest online through Samsung’s bada developer site.

The bada Developer Challenge attracted 2,077 teams from 54 countries. Samsung selected 34 winning applications, with the winners receiving US $2.7 million between them – as well as gaining marketing support to promote their applications on the Samsung Apps site.

“Samsung is excited to see such a great response from developers who entered applications to the bada Developer Challenge,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics, “We will roll out additional bada-based smart phones and continue to support bada developers in making and marketing high-quality applications.”-

The grand prize winner, who won US$300,000, was Mooncoder in Poland. The winner’s application “Little Sailor” is a 3D yacht racing game that allows users to experience a realistic sailing simulation – with the help of intricate controls and colorful graphics. The LittleSailor application scored highest in the creativity, commercial potential, functionality, and user-friendliness categories.

“We are extremely happy to receive the top prize in the contest organized by Samsung Electronics, a leading global company that is making inroads in software and applications,” said Maciej Komosinski and Szymon Ulatowski, of Mooncoder which developed Little Sailor. “We believe bada will evolve into a platform that offers great opportunities to developers through Samsung’s strength in the mobile arena. We will continue to join developer initiatives organized by Samsung in order to create more interesting and useful applications.”

Eight other winners also received US $100,000 apiece, including badaSports, Doogie, Bang, WAMO_Camera, TouchRetouch, Bling-Bling Reader and Parking.

The award ceremony was held at the bada Developer Day in Seoul on December 8, which marked bada’s first-year anniversary. At the bada Developer Day, Samsung provided a guide to developing applications for bada; including technical support regarding the platform as well as more information about the certification and registration process of Samsung Apps, the application marketplace for bada.

In addition to the Samsung Wave – the first bada smart phone- launched in June, Samsung has launched additional models such as the Wave II, Wave525, Wave533, Wave575 and Wave723. Sales of bada handsets are expected to reach 5 million units before the end of 2010.

Samsung Apps, Samsung’s application store, has grown with the success of the Wave series; the total number of application downloads worldwide is expected to surpass 50 million by December, demonstrating the rising popularity of bada apps among smart phone users. Launched in France, Italy and the UK in September 2009, Samsung Apps is now available in 118 countries.

Samsung has been supporting developers in a number of ways; mainly through its online bada Developer site and also through offline local Developer Day events held regularly around the world. To build a better mobile eco-system, Samsung plans to introduce additional developer support programs, which include online and offline education courses for bada programming, online Q&A’s via the bada Developer site and support for the publication of bada technical books.

In fact, Samsung managed to take 2-percent – or 1.3m users - of the market in Q3, a market that consists of roughly 80m users worldwide. That puts it a single percentage point behind Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, and means bada’s first four months of availability were more successful than those of Android.

That’s despite having no US carrier support for the platform, and – up until recently – just one handset representing Samsung’s play for the market. Of course, the company is still putting the majority of its weight behind Android, but it looks like we shouldn’t be too quick to count bada out.

[via GigaOm]

The new version of bada, meanwhile, is said to be “identical” to what you’ll find on the Wave S8500, which doesn’t exactly bode well.  Previous reports over a leaked version of 1.2 suggested there were speed performance improvements, which hopefully we’ll see on the original Wave since Samsung intend to roll the update OS out to the S8500 at some point.

New hardware and software aside, it doesn’t bypass the fact that we’re still not certain there’s actually a place for bada in the smartphone line-up.  Samsung’s persistence with Android, meanwhile, suggests that at least some people internally might feel the same way.

Beyond that, it’s pretty much a facsimile of the original specifications, with UMTS/HSPA, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0, along with a 5-megapixel camera and flash capable of 720p HD video recording.  Samsung’s own 1GHz Hummingbird CPU keeps things moving, and there’s a microSD card slot, TV output and access to Samsung’s bada app store.

The Samsung Wave II S8530 is expected to land in Germany in November, and be priced at €429 ($587).  If we were feeling cynical, we might wonder whether this incremental update is in fact a way for Samsung to work around much-rumored Super AMOLED panel shortages.

[via Unwired View]

Last week, Yoon Boo Keun – head of Samsung’s TV business – revealed that the company’s was evaluating Android for integration with future HDTVs.  However he also confirmed that Samsung was working on its own platform, which could be used for both phones and TVs; it wasn’t clear whether that internal platform was bada, but that would certainly seem one of the more likely options.

bada has always been Samsung’s attempt to take advantage of their strong featurephone sales, slotting into the affordable mid-point between regular devices and more expensive smartphones and coerce developers into adopting the SDK through the sheer scale of potential users.  With Yoon Boo Keun promising streaming movies, TV shows and gaming content in the near future, a common platform could prove even more of a lure for coders, together with a significant rival to Google TV.

Press Release:

‘‘Samsung Apps’ Celebrates its First Anniversary With Aggressive Market Expansion

Samsung application store now reaches 109 countries globally

SEOUL, Korea – September 13, 2010 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in mobile technology, today marked the first anniversary of Samsung Apps, its mobile & TV application store, by announcing the service has expanded to cover 109 countries.

Initially available from September 2009 in select European and Asian countries – including the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy – Samsung Apps has expanded its coverage at a rapid pace riding on the successful global launch of the Samsung Wave smartphone. Samsung Apps recently added nine more service countries – Costa Rica, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Iceland, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, and Sudan – to increase availability to 109 markets.

The Samsung Wave, the first smartphone based on Samsung’s own bada platform, hit the market in June 2010. Since its launch, more than 14 million bada applications have been downloaded from Samsung Apps, as the service’s user base continues to expand.

“The expansion of the Samsung Apps gives us the opportunity to reach more users than ever before with entertaining, compelling and enriching smartphone experiences. We are committed to introducing users to new applications and services, unique to Samsung,” said Hosoo Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of the Media Solutions Center, Samsung Electronics. “Samsung Apps rapid expansion also signals an incredible opportunity for developers and content providers to reach new customers all over the world.”

Already offering an array of applications, including games, social networks, e-books and health-related services, Samsung plans to drive the creation of more locally-customized applications. It will also integrate relevant local information, designed to reflect cultural characteristics and provide a more enriching, tailored service to users globally.

Samsung will continue to drive Samsung Apps by introducing further bada-powered devices. The Samsung Apps will expand to accommodate new smartphones and automatically display the relevant application catalog available for a user’s specific phone model.

This comes to light in an interview that Samsung Mobile marketing head, YH Lee, had with Reuters. According to Lee, Samsung is promising only one Windows Phone 7 device, and that’s only because there’s some “professional, specialized demand” for the device. As for Bada, Samsung is going to continue to make hardware with the new mobile software, but they’re still going to give the lion’s share to Android, as it is “open and flexible” to Samsung’s customizations. And, simply put, it’s far more popular.

It’s certainly an interesting development, especially considering that the manufacturer that brought the Samsung Galaxy S devices to market is slated as one of Microsoft’s premiere partners when it comes to the launch of Windows Phone 7. Apparently, Samsung doesn’t have any plans to be a “long-term” partner, so to speak. Of course, this does give Samsung a bit of maneuverability. We wouldn’t be surprised to see, if Windows Phone 7 does become a hit, Samsung pronounce that they’ve got a ton of other WP7 devices in the making, and that they’re going to give it a strong push in the market. Like we said above, manufacturers have options, and using the most popular option to sell your device makes perfect sense.

[via Android Community]

There’s also Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi b/g/n and A-GPS, together with 90MB of internal storage and a microSD card slot.  Unfortunately there isn’t the same high-end A/V codec support as we’ve seen on other recent Samsung handsets; the Wave 723 makes do with MPEG4, H.263 and H.264, eschewing DivX and Xvid.

Still, it’s a more entry-level step into bada ownership, if that’s something you really want, together with the fledgling bada application store.  No word on pricing, but Samsung says the Wave 723 will arrive in Germany next month, followed by broader European availability, Asia and Africa.

Press Release:

Samsung Takes Brilliant Next Step in Democratization of Smart Phone Market, with Launch of the Wave 723

SEOUL, Korea – August 30, 2010 – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today announced the launch of the Wave 723 (Model : GT-S7320E), the newest smart phone based on its open smart phone platform, Samsung bada. The device reinforces Samsung’s commitment to democratizing the smart phone market and enabling access for all. Through the launch of the Wave 723, Samsung will deliver a remarkable smart phone experience to a broader demographic of users.

The Wave 723 combines a crystal clear 3.2-inch TFT-LCD display with an application-centric interface that allows users to seamlessly and directly access applications that support their daily needs and lifestyles. The Social Hub feature helps you stay organized while staying connected with friends and family everywhere, anytime. These features are enhanced by the latest Wi-Fi technology that delivers faster download speeds and gives users access from greater distances.

The smart phone is ideal for people who are on the move and excited to share their lives using Samsung’s most efficient and intelligent mobile technology. It has been designed to deliver the highest performance and quality to so that users can take full advantage of all aspects of the online experience from their mobile phone. The Wave 723 will be available starting in September 2010 in Germany and will be gradually rolled out to other European markets including Southeast Asia, the Middle East Asia, and Africa.

“The Wave 723 reflects our relentless pursuit of the best in mobile technologies by optimizing the application and social media experience. In new and innovative ways, the Wave 723 delivers on Samsung’s goal to give a rich, connected smart phone experience to everyone,” said JK Shin, President and Head of the Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics.

The Wave 723 has been designed to open the door to an expanded and rich application environment giving users access to applications that will help them to enhance and organize their lives. The Wave 723 offers easy and direct access to the Samsung Apps store for browsing, purchasing and downloading of free and premium apps. Featuring a wealth of games, navigation, social networking, e-book, health and lifestyle applications, Samsung Apps allows the Samsung Wave 723 to be a true lifestyle assistant with localized services that specific and dedicated to individual lifestyles.

The bada platform is at the core of Samsung’s application-centric vision and allows for the open development of apps of all kinds. Wave 723 is developed based on the bada SDK 1.1. The SDK 1.1 has Auto-UI scaling feature where application developers can reproduce applications to work on Wave 723 from already developed bada Application on Wave with minimum effort. With this feature, more rich applications can be delivered to users in advance.

Equipped with the latest Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), the Wave 723 lets users take advantage of download speeds while reaching networks at greater distances. It has an easy and simplified downloading process so you can get apps to your phone faster than ever. This means users can take full advantage of the application-centric nature of the Wave 723 without having to wait for the applications to download.

The Wave 723 has also been designed to not just be powerful in performance but beautiful to look at. It measures a thin 11.8mm with a metallic back cover, making the Wave 723 sleek and modern, while at the same time reflecting the mobile’s technological prowess. Its new leather flip cover offers protection to the mobile as well as a sophisticated flair. Its natural-material is the perfect contrast to the mobile’s metal chassis showing that a handset can combine balance and beauty.

The Nokia E7 sounds a whole lot like the QWERTY-equipped Symbian^3 smartphone we’ve been seeing well-leaked in recent weeks, and that has been labeled the N9 or the N8-001/N8-002 by some.  Slotting into the Finnish company’s Eseries line-up would make far more sense, given Nokia’s move away from Symbian^3 in their Nseries devices; Omio say it has an alumium body, like the N8, together with a tilting AMOLED touchscreen.

As for HTC, their Windows Phone 7 device is tipped to be the HTC Gold, though no details as to specs at this stage, while the Vision we saw in the wild earlier this week.  No word on what the HTC Ace might be, though.  Finally, Samsung’s i8700 Cetus – presumably named either after a mythological Greek sea monster or a constellation of stars also known as the “Water” – is similarly mysterious, though the naming links might suggest it runs the company’s wave-themed bada OS.

Of course, this could all be hokum (Omio tell us they’re 100-percent sure of their source) but we’ll likely know if that’s the case pretty soon – after all, it’s July now so the first handsets on the roadmap should be appearing any day now.  More details – including the Nokia E5-00, Nokia X6 8GB, Samsung i5500, Sony Ericsson W20, BlackBerry Curve 9300, Nokia X2, Sony Ericsson Hazel and Yendo, and the Nokia N8 – at Omio’s blog.

Beyond the hardware QWERTY keyboard there’s no indication of exactly what sort of specs we could expect from the Galaxy Q; however we can probably make some pretty safe guesses based on what the Galaxy S brings to the table.  ”Advanced social media features” are tipped, which likely means Samsung’s Social Hub that pulls in MySpace, Twitter and Facebook messages.

According to the Korea Times report, Samsung has been negotiation over the Galaxy Q with both AT&T and Verizon, together with potentially other US carriers.  AT&T announced yesterday that they would be offering their own version of the Galaxy S, the Samsung Captivate.  Meanwhile Samsung is also planning a QWERTY-equipped bada phone for release in Korea “soon”.

Sprint Samsung Galaxy Pro pictured.

[via Android Community]

You still get WiFi b/g/n but the Bluetooth is 2.1+EDR rather than 3.0; meanwhile there’s no DivX or Xvid playback either.  A-GPS, an accelerometer, microUSB and a microSD card slot are all present, as is an FM radio and 3.5mm headphone socket.

The Samsung Wave 2 (S5250) and Wave 2 Pro (S5330) will be available from August in Russia and South East Asia. Customers can choose from the colors metallic black, pearl white and romantic pink; no word on pricing at this stage.

Press Release:

Samsung launches Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro smart phones – an extension of the Wave range based on Samsung’s bada platform

New Wave phones deliver a fully integrated experience for social media enthusiasts, keeping you effortlessly connected in style

Singapore – June 15, 2010 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today launched the Wave 2 (S5250) and Wave 2 Pro (S5330) – the newest smart phones to support bada, Samsung’s open mobile platform. The devices, on display at the CommunicAsia conference in Singapore, offer instant connectivity so that you can message your friends anytime, anywhere.

With Samsung’s Social Hub, all of your contact details, social networks, and email services are integrated into a single space, making connecting and sharing easier than ever before. Whether you’re looking for that always-on connection or key business features, the Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro are designed for you, whatever your lifestyle.

“The Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro are testament to Samsung’s continuing commitment to deliver a smartphone for every lifestyle,” said JK Shin, President and head of the Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “I expect significant growth of bada smartphones volume thanks to the launch of mass market targeting Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro. We will continue to invest in our open bada platform and offer a wide range of choices and experiences for consumers.”

Making Waves with Social Hub
Samsung’s Social Hub brings you closer to your contacts and connections by seamlessly integrating your email, IM and social networking sites on the device. You’ll love this “ultimate inbox” and the ease at which you can view all your messages and manage your accounts. The Wave devices also come with pre-installed Facebook and Twitter apps so you’ll never be out of touch with the latest updates and tweets, all from the convenience of your home screen. When you slide the ‘WAVE 2 pro’ open, you can quickly and easily send an important IM to a friend using a full QWERTY keyboard or leisurely browse e-mails on an easy-to-view screen in landscape mode.

Constant Connectivity
The Wave 2 and the Wave 2 Pro offer a constant connection with lightning-fast WiFi support. Google Latitude and geo-tagging features let you stay connected with your friends no matter where you or they are. With Google Latitude, you can update your status and easily find out where your friends are headed after school or work by glancing at a map. Geo-tagging lets you tag photos by location so that you can easily sort images based on whether they are from your summer vacation or a business trip. The feature also allows you to use GPS for other useful apps on your Wave smart phone.

Dive in for Entertainment
Samsung’s bada platform gives you access to an abundance of applications from Samsung Apps, an integrated application store accessible from the Wave phones or your PC. Featuring a wealth of gaming, navigation, social networking, e-book, health and lifestyle applications, Samsung Apps delivers instant access to a huge range of mobile experiences. You can easily download an app without having to install any software by accessing Samsung Apps right on your phone or synching the device to a PC. Samsung Kies allows you to browse Samsung Apps on your PC and comes in handy for downloading large files and content. Java Applications will also be offered on Samsung Apps for Wave 2 and Wave Pro to enhance your experience with an even wider range of content. The Wave devices can also serve as complete media centers, offering rich, entertainment experiences on-the-go with a 3.5mm ear jack and an intuitive menu for music and other content.

The Samsung Wave 2 (S5250) and Wave 2 Pro (S5330) will be available from August in Russia and South East Asia. Customers can choose from the colors metallic black, pearl white and romantic pink.

Note to Editors:

Building on the success of the Samsung Wave, the Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro are expected to significantly increase the total volume of bada smartphones on the market. With this volume and the growing popularity of Samsung Apps, Samsung’s bada platform will attract more and more developers.

To encourage developers to create content for bada, Samsung launched the ‘bada Developer Challenge’, the biggest application contest in 2010. Samsung has set aside a prize pot totaling $ 2,700,000 for this event. Three hundred developers made it to the first round will receive the Samsung Wave. The contest winner will receive $300,000. For more information, please visit http://developer.bada.com/challenge/index.do

In terms of hardware, there’s plenty to like about the Wave S8500. Measuring a slender 10.9mm thick, the fascia is taken up by a 3.3-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display, brighter than regular AMOLED, while there’s a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus, 720p HD video recording, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0. Otherwise it’s the usual mixture of dualband (900/2100MHz) HSPA, quadband GSM/EDGE, a microSD card slot (augmenting 2GB or 8GB of internal storage, SKU depending), A-GPS and a 3.5mm headphone socket. Keeping things running is Samsung’s own 1GHz Hummingbird processor, and the whole thing feels high-quality with a metallic chassis that’s certainly more smartphone than it is feature-phone.

There’s plenty to love about Samsung’s Super AMOLED technology: the display is brighter and crisper than regular AMOLED (and far more color saturated than LCD), and Samsung reckon outdoor visibility is improved too. You still won’t be using the Wave in direct sunlight, but it’s certainly an improvement over, say, the Nexus One’s display, which requires a cupped hand in order to be usable outdoors. It’s worth noting that the effect isn’t solely one of the “Super” technology, but thanks to a high-visibility color scheme Samsung use. Meanwhile there’s less gap between the glass front and the AMOLED layer itself, which gives the impression that the display is floating directly on the surface of the phone rather than inset slightly into it.

As for what that screen gets to display, it’s the semi-familiar look of Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 UI. bada may have different underpinnings from Samsung’s feature-phone range, but at first glance you could be forgiven for not noticing it. There’s a step toward widgets, like you’d find on an Android homescreen, but it feels a little half-hearted. A fixed row of icons runs along the bottom of the screen – for phone, contacts and messages by default – and then there’s some space for widgets in the remaining area. These vary in complexity from overdesigned shortcuts to email and social networking access, including an HTC Friend Stream style combined feed which shows you updates from Twitter and Facebook and allows you to retweet, reply and comment as applicable. When you first turn on the Wave you’re invited to log into your various networking accounts, together with internet mail and even Exchange, though actually connecting phone contacts to their Facebook and Twitter identities is more manual than we’d prefer. Samsung promise more widgets will be available in the bada store, but so far there’s only a limited number of options.

You can’t help but feel like Samsung have taken their inspiration from existing smartphone OSes, piecing together their favorite parts and then adding in a little of their own innovation. The drag-down notification bar is very similar to what you’d find on Android, though Samsung have added in useful WiFi/Bluetooth/Silent Mode toggles, while the unified search feels a little like what you’d find on the iPhone albeit with an unusual access mechanism: you physically double-tap the phone to call up the search page. Meanwhile the on-screen keyboard looks a lot like that of the iPhone, though it falls short of the Apple handset’s responsiveness. That’s in no small part down to the frustrating auto-connect software Samsung have implemented, which is obstinate about accepting words it doesn’t already know and laborious when trying to flick between alternate suggestions.

If anything, we wish Samsung had used a bigger display. The 3.3-inch screen is reasonably sized for landscape orientation typing, but feels cramped in portrait. It’s also less than accommodating when using Samsung’s mediocre web browser. That lacks Flash support – topical, but perhaps no great loss when you think of the smallish display being crowded by blinking ads – but more annoying is the absence of text reflowing (watch video below) that leaves you doing a lot more panning and zooming than you would on rival devices. It’s also slower than you’d expect, given the 1GHz processor; as far as we’re aware this Wave is running production firmware, and pauses, freezes and general sluggishness are less than impressive. WiFi b/g/n is a nice touch, but the software itself is the weak point in the chain.

Instability isn’t limited to the browser, either. The Wave S8500′s much-hyped 720p HD video recording is great, until the camera app locks up and demands the battery be pulled before you can use the phone again. It happened to us more than once, and the inability to simply close the camcorder and restart it meant we invariably missed what we’d wanted to film. What makes it doubly frustrating is the fact that, when it behaves, the Wave is capable of some great photography. Still shots are bright, crisp and have natural color balance, helped in no small part by the Wave’s automatic scene selection system. There’s a nifty panorama view, which takes advantage of the phone’s accelerometer to guide you, but best of all is the absence of lag between hitting the shutter button and the photo actually being taken.

As for 720p HD video, when it actually works the quality is similarly high. Settings include slow motion, together with the more regular brightness, color, contrast and exposure, and with a capacious microSD card we could see the Wave replacing a point-and-shoot camcorder; that is, as long as the software instabilities get ironed out.

Sample video (click through for 720 view)

Sample slow motion video:

If you’re more interested in media playback, Samsung’s list of supported codecs doesn’t disappoint; in fact, it puts most smartphones to shame. MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, WMV, DivX and Xvid can all be played using the Wave’s native media app, making it a simple matter to transfer files from your computer straight to the phone without having to convert them first. Samsung seem to recognize that owners will take that as an invitation to load up dozens of clips and then get frustrated trying to navigate them, so there’s a useful Mosaic Search which automatically creates a page of thumbnails detailing every few minutes through a clip. Most video played back smoothly – though we had some issues with higher bitrate footage – and audio quality is high. Samsung use the 5.1 SRS Surround Sound system, and it does actually make a noticeable difference to video soundtracks; we were less impressed by how it makes regular audio sound, though.

With all those codecs on offer, it’s frustrating not to have an HDMI output for hooking the Wave S8500 up to an HDTV. Instead Samsung load their AllShare media-sharing app, which basically allows you to stream content over WiFi to a PC or Samsung internet-connected TV. Alternatively, you can stream from your PC to the Wave. It’s one of a few little gems Samsung have preloaded – or presumably baked into bada – with another being a 3G mobile router app that allows you to share the Wave’s 3G connection with various WiFi clients. That’s something we’re seeing more often on smartphones, but not so much the feature-phone market.

Something else we’re not so used to seeing outside of smartphones is an app store for downloading new software to your handset, and of course this is where bada’s hybrid featurephone/smartphone positioning starts to show its colors. One day, if Samsung can coerce developers to jump on-board, the bada app store might be a real selling point, but in its fledgling stage it’s a poor experience. What apps are there range in quality, too, perhaps down to Samsung’s relative flexibility in how they’ll allow developers to code them. Not only are Java and Flash supported, but Web Runtime and C++, and developers are only now getting to grips with the bada SDK. In time we might see some gems – there were quite a few interesting looking games being demonstrated back at MWC in February – but for now it’s not the Wave’s biggest selling point.

If the bada app store was somewhere we were hoping to see the Wave err on the side of smartphones, battery life is something we wanted to fall more on the feature-phone side of the fence. Happily, while wireless longevity falls short in comparison to some feature-lite devices, the Wave S8500 puts in a stronger showing from its 1,500mAh Li-Ion pack than other handsets with similarly sized batteries. With WiFi turned on we managed a couple of days casual use.

The Wave S8500 is most definitely a phone of two halves. Its hardware is modern, tactile and brilliant in places; its software is in-distinctive, underwhelming and feels short-sighted in terms of where the rest of the industry – even where just Samsung themselves – is headed. Still, you could argue that Samsung have succeeded in their positioning of the handset simply by the fact we’re comparing it to smartphones rather than feature-phones. Our concern, nonetheless, is that bada is attempting to break into a market that’s already packed with capable alternatives, Android being perhaps the most obvious. Given that Samsung’s Galaxy S is due imminently, packing similar specifications – including a great Super AMOLED display – but eschewing bada for Android, our inclination would be to lean toward the more established OS.s

We described this as a double review, but in the end there’s only one question: would we recommend the Samsung Wave S8500? There’s no doubting that it’s a handsome, well made and attractive device, with a spec sheet that could overshadow some legitimately smartphone-segment rivals. Unfortunately, we’re left unconvinced that bada is the way forward. Those tired of their feature-phones will get a more significant step up in functionality by opting for a true smartphone platform, and existing smartphone users tempted by the Super AMOLED display will likely find bada frustratingly underbaked in comparison to what they’re used to. Samsung obviously hope to carve out an mobile device OS niche that they can control, rather than relying on the platforms of others, but they’re yet to explain exactly why that’s a better deal for consumers.

Hands-on / demo video

Samsung Wave Unboxing video:

In fact the press release fails to detail pricing, too, and from a quick glance around at the usual suspects online it’s proving tough to find anyone with Wave stock at the moment.  Expansys say the 2GB model will drop in a week, priced at £379.99 ($550) while Amazon UK have it for £339.99 ($492) but not expected for 1-3 months.

Meanwhile Vodafone UK announced they’d be offering the Wave from June 1st, so it might be easier waiting for them to get it in stock.  Elsewhere Samsung have promised to release the bada SDK 1.0.0 “shortly”, handy if you actually want to code something for the new OS.  For more on the Wave, check out our hands-on.

Press Release:

SAMSUNG WAVE, FIRST BADA SMARTPHONE HITS THE MARKET

Launch of Samsung Wave accelerates build-up of total eco-system for bada platform

May 24, 2010, Seoul, Korea –Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today announced the commercial availability of the Samsung Wave (Model: S8500) in European countries, including Germany, France and the UK. Unveiled at Mobile World Congress 2010, the Wave is the first smartphone based on Samsung’s new, open smartphone platform, bada, and is the cornerstone of the company’s commitment to ‘smartphone democratization.’

With the launch of the Wave, Samsung is actively constructing a total eco-system around bada platform including Samsung Apps. Samsung Apps will be available in 80 countries when the Wave launches, and will increase the premium content and applications pool through collaboration with partner companies and developers.

The availability of the Samsung bada SDK (Software Development Kit) will ensure that consumers can experience a steady stream of new applications that support bada platfrom. The beta version of the SDK was recently made available to applications developers, and the complete bada SDK 1.0.0 will be available for download shortly.

“The Samsung Wave represents our strategy to deliver rich, exciting smartphone experiences to everyone,” said JK Shin, President and head of the Mobile Communications Business at Samsung Electronics. “This launch will make our platform vision a reality and consumers, developers and operators will experience the freedom of choice that bada enables.”

The Samsung Wave will expand its availability from European countries to Southeast Asia, China, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America.

Samsung Apps: Discover, Experience, Enhance

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

Already launched in the UK, France, Italy, Singapore, Germany, Brazil and China for Windows Mobile or Symbian based phones, Samsung Apps will accelerate market expansion driven by bada platform to more than 100 carriers in 80 countries all over the world. Participating application providers include The Associated Press, Electronic Arts, Facebook, Gameloft, Layar, Myspace, Namco Bandai, Twitter, Universal Pictures International, WeatherBug, ZAGAT and many others.Including well-known applications such as Need for Speed Shift (EA), Tower Bloxx(Digital Chocolate), Weather Bug(WeatherBug), and ZAGAT TO GO(Handmark),
a multitude of useful, productive and entertaining applications will be offered at Samsung Apps.

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.(Gameloft), which is famous console game based on Tom Clancy’s novels, is futuristic, innovative and great use of device features. It will enhance users’ experience with 13 diverse missions, 26 licensed plane models and full 3D environment.
An award-winning multimedia news portal, AP Mobile (The Associated Press), provides anytime access to international, national, and local news to users. AP’s own worldwide coverage of breaking news, sports, entertainment, politics and business as well as local news from more than 1,000 AP members and third-party sources will benefit Samsung Apps users.

bada Platform – the Smart Choice

Samsung’s bada platform will drive the democratization of the smartphone era and deliver a smartphone for every lifestyle. The bada is the secret behind the Samsung Wave and enables applications to fully utilize the powerful hardware by providing various APIs for interactivity including UI elements, 3D Graphics, Flash, multipoint-touch, sensors and motion support. In addition, service-oriented features such as social network integration, LBS (location-based service) and in-application-purchase, allow users to experience a variety of applications and content.

Developers can write applications with the bada SDK (Software Development Kit). The bada SDK provides a complete set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) as well as IDE (Integrated Development Environment), simulator, UI builder, and other useful tools and helpful sample applications and documents. This content will facilitate the development of applications for not just the Samsung Wave, but all other mobile phones that adopt bada as their platform of choice. Applications developed with the bada SDK can be sold through ‘Samsung Apps’, Samsung’s application store.

To motivate developers, ‘bada Developer Challenge’, the biggest application contest in 2010, started to global developers. Samsung has set aside a prize pot totaling $ 2,700,000 for this event. 300 developers survived at the first round will receive Samsung Wave and the contest winner will receive $300,000.

Samsung also plans to hold a series of bada Developer Days in more than 20 countries to encourage bada application development and assist relevant developers and their communities. bada Developers Day is open to any developers and the registration is free. Samsung will demonstrate programming samples that will showcase a variety of bada platform functions configured for specific technologies and applications.

“Samsung is fully committed to the success of the bada platform. Samsung bada will significantly expand the smartphone market, which will create an ocean of opportunity for developers,” added by Dr. Hosoo Lee, executive vice president and head of the Media Solution Center.

The SDK can be downloaded for free from the “bada Developers” site (http://developer.bada.com). Further details on the ‘bada Developer Challenge’ and ‘bada Developer Day’ are also available here.

Social Hub and TouchWiz 3.0

Social Hub allows you to efficiently manage your communication needs by providing intuitive and unified access to emails, IMs and Social Networking Sites (SNS). It is powered by ‘Push’ technology, ensuring a real time delivery of emails, IMs, calendar events and SNS updates. The benefits of Social Hub are further enhanced by the Wave’s TouchWiz 3.0 UI, delivering superb user experience. Availability of Social Hub can be decided by market demands.

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 page can be customized to feature favorite images. Users will also benefit from Quick Panel, a way of prioritizing and aggregating apps into one screen for instant access.

With its eye-catching 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 a customizable widget screen.

Screen, Speed, Performance and Beauty

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 a much brighter, clearer, and less reflective viewing experience. With a free viewing angle and super fast response enabled by this proven technology, the Samsung Wave display provides superb image quality for viewing both videos and photos.

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 a 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.

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. HD video (720p) decoding and recording capabilities make the Samsung Wave an outstanding device for capturing, sharing and viewing video.

The Samsung Wave is the first handset in the world that incorporates the Bluetooth® 3.0 and WiFi 802.11n standards.

Samsung are pushing bada as their new “smartphone for the common man” platform, which means you get an app store together with all the expected social networking integration from a smartphone, but a more affordable price.  We grabbed some hands-on time with the Wave S8500 back at MWC 2010 and, despite our initial skepticism about bada’s positioning, came away impressed by the handset itself.

The Wave S8500 will be free on new Vodafone contracts priced £25 per month or above, assuming you’re willing to sign up for two years.

Samsung Wave S8500 hands-on:

Press Release:

Vodafone UK Opens Pre-Order for Samsung Wave

New bada platform set to land on the UK’s best network

Vodafone UK customers can now pre-order the stunning Samsung Wave, the first handset to run on the new bada software platform, and Samsung’s next generation, ultra responsive touchscreen smartphone.

The Samsung Wave will be available for free on a £25, 24 month price plan, including 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of mobile data. The new device is the latest addition to a great range of smartphones available to Vodafone customers, including the Google Nexus One, HTC Desire, Apple iPhone and the Sony Ericsson X10.

The Samsung Wave features an incredible stunning 3.3” Super AMOLED screen, and uses Samsung’s HD TV technology to deliver crisp, rich images in the palm of your hand. And all of this functionality is delivered by a speedy 1GHz processor to give you a seamless experience.

Through bada, the Samsung Wave offers great customisable features to allow you to adapt the phone to suit your requirements. Using the TouchWiz feature, for example, you can personalise multiple home screens with your favourite shortcuts and menus to get quicker access to the things you need most. You can also access Samsung Apps, the dedicated bada app store, giving you even more opportunities to customise your handset.

Use the Social Hub to integrate SMS, IM and your favourite social networks into on place, bringing you and your friends even closer. In addition, bada supports a huge variety of features, such as Flash and in-app purchasing, to make the Samsung Wave both versatile and great fun to use.

Customers purchasing the Samsung Wave on Vodafone will also receive a voucher for a free Vodafone McLaren Mercedes rucksack, which they can redeem online.

For more information and to order the device ahead of its launch on 1 June, click here: http://shop.vodafone.co.uk/shop/mobile-phone/samsung-wave

While trying to break into the mobile OS space is always going to be tricky, Samsung reckon bada has a few tricks up its sleeve.  They include Adobe Flash support, a web browser control, motion sensing, fine-tuned vibration control and face detection, as well as social networking, content management, location-based services and commerce services all handled automatically by Samsung’s back-end bada servers.

The first bada handset will be the Samsung Wave S8500, a Super AMOLED touchscreen smartphone with 3G, Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, Bluetooth 3.0 and more.  We grabbed some time with the Wave back at MWC in February and found it to be surprisingly good; whether, though, that’s enough to make the OS a success remains to be seen.

Samsung Wave running bada hands-on: