There are certain perks when using a Samsung Wave handset, aside from being among the first persons to experience Bada OS. For example, you get free 10EUR to spend on Samsung Apps and NFS: Shift for free. The title is available for download for the first 1.2 million Wave or bada OS users.
EA’s game allows the users to race in Dubai, Italy, London or Chicago in 24 different racing events. Street and Pro-racing events are available and you can earn points and trophies for Precision, Style and Aggressiveness. Upgrades for your car are also available: top speed, handling, acceleration and nitrous.
Samsung’s Bada OS is now having its SDK released to the public, well, to the developers at least. Samsung’s partners have been able to work with the SDK for a while now, but regular devs are also going access it now, by registering for free on the Bada developer site.
Bada is getting a lot of support from major players like Twitter, Electronic Arts, Gameloft and other software makers, who promised to contribute apps to the platform. We remind you that Samsung also started a developer competition, with a total prize value of $2.7 million, so developers will be more than glad to work with them.
After a brief look at the very first leaked shot of the debut Bada OS phone, Samsung Wave, we’re treated to much more: detailed images and the full specs list of the device, now known as the Samsung S8500 handset.
Samsung Wave comes with a 3.3 inch AMOLED display, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash and support for 720p video capture, 2GB of internal memory, a microSD card slot and HSDPA connectivity. WiFi b/g/n is also supported and there’s a 1 GHz CPU on board of the phone that runs Bada OS.
TouchWiz 3.0 is also among the specifications, as well as a 3.5mm audio jack, a 1500 mAh battery, all hidden in an aluminum body. The phone also packs a tempered glass display, a Divx player and the full package is a mere 10.8mm thick. Looking forward to the Mobile World Congress 2010 unveiling!
Samsung’s Corby line is getting new members every day, or so it seems, since we get to check out another model from this line, the M3710 Beat, pictured below. The device will feature a “Game Store” app, specific to the Bada operating system, created by Samsung.
The Game Store includes only Java apps and if you remember, Samsung announced the Bada OS about a month ago, also showcasing its features. This would make Corby Beat M3710 the very first Bada handset, although its looks remind us of the Lindy M5650 model.
Beat’s specs are also similar to the ones on Lindy: a 2.8 inch QVGA touch display, music keys, the TouchWiz UI, WiFi, Bluetooth and a 3.5mm headset jack. Social networking is also supported and on board there’s also a 3 megapixel camera, 50MB of internal memory and a microSD card slot. Supposedly, the phone should come in February, with a $300 price tag.
A couple of weeks after announcing that it’ll develop an in-house called Bada, Samsung launched the platform in London. The event took place yesterday and the features of the OS get showcased in the video below. Notice a couple of feats borrowed from iPhone OS and overall, the OS looks like nothing new, if you ask me.
Bada OS is all about touch devices, since it’s based around Samsung’s TouchWiz interface. The mockups shown at the event looked very much like the Pixon12 models and back to the new platform, it’s meant to “increase the market share of smartphones up to 50%” and it’ll allow developers to mess with all sorts of handset features and sensors.
Flash UI, motion sensing, proximity and face detection, plus all sorts of interactivity options will make it to the future apps. Social networking will also be approached, as well as location-based services, sync, content management and more, once the devs start using the SDK and creating apps for Bada.
The SDK is available right now and Samsung seems more keen on reaching developers at this point, rather than consumers. There’s even a “Bada Challenge” set up by the company, allowing devs to win part of the $2,700,000 prize by submitting apps for the new operating system. Expect further events to promote the OS internationally and app store for it as soon as software is developed.
Just days after announcing its very own mobile OS, Bada, Samsung seems to be quitting Symbian, as one of its platform choices. Also, the company intends to release fewer Windows Mobile smartphones in the following years.
If you’re looking for certainty, they’ll stop making Symbian phones from 2011, while the number of WM handsets will be reduced to 20% in 2012. Also, the Android count is set to increase, with Samsung readying 10 such devices for 2010 and several based on Bada. It is estimated that in 2012, 50% of Samsung’s smartphone will run its own OS.
It’s interesting to note that Samsung is a founding member of the Symbian Foundation, so it’s pretty odd to see them backing out of it.
