Event Coverage

MWC 2010 - Samsung Unpacked

By Seow Tein Hee & Terence Ang - 17 Feb 2010

Unpacking Samsung bada

Unpacking Samsung bada

Traditionally speaking, Mobile World Congress has always been the place to be when the most exciting mobile phone announcements take place. And that was proven true this year as well for Samsung as it hosted its annual Samsung Unpacked event to showcase its latest mobile line-up.

For 2010, all eyes are on Samsung's bada operating system (OS), which was announced in December 2009. While Samsung has made its stand to support its current OS partners, the fact of the matter is, bada (which means ocean) will be the first step for the Korean chaebol to woo developers over to work on its platform.

From the OS, to the developers, and now onto the final stage - the product. At the Samsung Unpacked event, the first bada phone, dubbed as the Samsung Wave GT-S8500, has just been unveiled. Cutting to the chase, we had some hands-on time with the Wave, and give you a quick video summary of the features found on this new bada-powered device.

Samsung Wave GT-S8500

Samsung Wave GT-S8500 - Key Specs

  • Samsung bada OS
  • 3.3-inch Super AMOLED display, 800 x 480 resolution
  • 1GHz processor
  • TouchWiz 3.0
  • Bluetooth 3.0
  • Wi-Fi802.11 b/g/n
  • 2GB/8GB internal storage with microSD expandability (up to 32GB)

With the Wave, the Korean chaebol is introducing their latest AMOLED technology on their inaugural bada phone. The 3.3-inch display with 800 x 480 pixels resolution uses Samsung's latest AMOLED OnCell technology, which they dubbed as Super AMOLED. In more technical terms, the new 0.001mm-thick capacitive touch sensors are deposited between the panel's substrate and the bottom polarizer film. This translates to the elimination of the glass display, thus giving way to less reflective displays, brighter and clearer images and most importantly, lighter devices.

Under direct sunlight, the Google Nexus One's (left) AMOLED display is totally washed out, whereas there is still a semblance of legibility with the Samsung Wave's Super AMOLED display.

The Samsung bada is not just the first Samsung device under the bada platform. It also represents Samsung's first foray into Bluetooth 3.0 and sports a 1GHz processor. Besides the usual hardware upgrades, software updates are also in order. In this case, we are looking at the new TouchWiz 3.0 user interface. On paper, the TouchWiz 3.0 UI seems to be having a strong focus on social networking. Besides the obvious aesthetic changes, you'll also get new widgets that give you instant access to your Facebook and Twitter news feeds.

Samsung's new TouchWiz 3.0 interface reshuffles its widget bar at the bottom, and adds more widgets for easy access to your social networking sites.

A 5-megapixel camera with LED flash resides at the back, and comes with advanced imaging features such as Blink Detection and Beauty Shot amongst others.

The microUSB port is protected by a sliding cover. At its side is the 3.5mm audio port, supporting 5.1 surround sound.

A side-by-side comparison of the Samsung Wave (left), Google Nexus One (center) and Apple iPhone 3GS (right).

In short, the Samsung Wave, as its name suggests, will be bringing a wave of change. Tied to its bada operating system, the Wave is going to be one of Samsung's key focus products in the months to come.

With the key focus covered, we give you a rundown of Samsung's Unpacked event in the next couple of pages.

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