The well-known leading mobile phone maker, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has announced its latest high-end handset called the Samsung Wave (S8500) at the Mobile World Congress 2010 (MWC 2010) in Barcelona, Spain.

Google stepped up with Android, Nokia are making a new start in touchscreen with the Maemo, HTC have gone a step backwards with the Brew Mobile (is this an OS at all?). Therefore, it was about time Samsung announced its OS as well. The Samsung Wave (S8500) is the first mobile phone that runs the Bada OS, which is a new open mobile platform that completely developed by Samsung.

By the look of it, the Wave (S8500) looks pretty promising. The handset is powered by 1-Ghz CPU and it is the first mobile phone that supports Bluetooth 3.0 and 802.11n connectivity. The handset’s UI is very much advanced and feature packed as compared to the smartphones these days. It comes with Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 powered interface. Moreover, the Wave (S8500) also features the world’s first Super AMOLED display.

The AMOLED display technology has a wonderful edge over LCD as far as contrast in concerned and that is no news. However, the Wave (S8500) has the deepest blacks we have seen yet on a mobile phone. The Wave (S8500)’s display technology (Super AMOLED) is using a technology that offers much brighter, clearer, and less reflective AMOLED OnCell display, which is featuring a high-resolution WVGA (800×480 pixels) screen with mDNIe (mobile Digital Natural Image engine) technology. For information, DNIe technology is proven display technology which incorporated to Samsung’s LCD TV and LED TV lineups.

The Wave (S8500) got a metal casing, and a glass display cover. Plenty of bundled memory, plus a memory card slot. The Wave has been armed with an outstanding feature pack, a decent browser and Social Hub that brings together all your social activities together. Even considering the fact that there are no third-party apps for Bada, the Wave still looks like a mobile powerhouse. As far as its segment is concerned, it is one of the best offerings for the first half of 2010.

Samsung has done a great job here and the Wave (S8500) has everything it needs to succeed in the smartphone business. The Wave (S8500) will be available starting in April, but unfortunately, we have no pricing details and availability dates at this point. We guess that in Europe, its price tag will be in the neighborhood of 450 Euro, which is more than adequate for Samsung’s flagship with this much punch under the hood. In our humble opinion, the Wave (S8500) will definitely become one of the milestones not only for Samsung, but also the whole industry, raising the bar for price/quality ratio.

Samsung Wave S8500’s specifications:

• GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 1900/2100 MHz, EDGE class 10, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps & HSUPA 2 Mbps
• CPU: 1 GHz processor (to offer users the best possible graphic performance)
• Platform: Bada OS
• Camera: 5MP auto-focus camera, 720p video recording
• Memory: 2GB internal memory, microSD card slot
• Display: Large 3.3″ 16M-color Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen (16:9 aspect ratio) & 800×480-pixels resolution, scratch-resistant glass surface
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack
• Integrated Social Hub brings all major portal’s email, IM and SNS services directly into 1 unified solution
• Intuitive, fully customizable TouchWiz 3.0 user interface includes motion UI, Smart Unlock and customizable widget screen
• Access to Samsung Apps that includes a wealth of games, navigation, social networking, e-book, health & lifestyle applications
• Support for virtual 5.1 surround sound
• Others: Accelerometer for screen auto rotate, ambient light sensor, proximity sensor for screen auto-turn-off, FM radio with RDS, Multi-codec support (DivX/Xvid, MP4 and WMV), multi-touch input and pinch-zooming gestures
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar
• Dimensions: 118 x 56 x 10.9 mm
• Casing: Metal (Aluminum)
• Battery: 1500 mAh battery

For camparison, read also:

• Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Android-phone
• Nokia N900 Smartphone Review

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