Samsung has just gone official with the S8500 aka Wave and it expects to create waves across the smartphone industry with the new Bada OS powering the smartphone lineup. Samsung has done very well selling the Star and the Corby. In 2009 they perhaps sold more touchscreen phones than any other smartphone maker did. With the new Bada OS the first shot Samsung has taken is towards the high end market (where the iPhone & Android are battling it out pretty much alone). The Samsung Wave is a good handset with impressive features. The all new Bada OS certainly adds a lot more maturity to the intangible assets of the phone and if in one line I am supposed to give Samsung a mantra for super success – it would be: Please use the Bada OS on sub $200 smartphones like the Corby / Star!

So isn’t the Samsung Wave a iPhone Killer? lol, it certainly isn’t. Why? In one word: the Bada OS is good, but not good enough to beat out the Android or iPhone platform, that have established themselves pretty well now. The Bada OS infact compliments the media rich Samsung phones pretty well. IMO the target market that Samsung has always sought is the more media friendly and less of powerusers. Given this criteria, the Samsung Wave S8500 is a winner with a couple of firsts like USB 3.0 and Bluetooth 3.0.

iPhone 3GS vs Samsung Wave S8500 – Bada OS (Specs)

Feature iPhone 3GS Samsung Wave S8500  

Network 2G NetworkGSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 3G

HSDPA 850 / 1900 / 2100 HSDPA 

OS iPhone OS 3.0 Bada OS 

Display TFT capacitive touchscreen,

16M colors 320 x 480 pixels, 3.5 inches 3.3″ AMOLED touchscreen

800 X 480 res 

Camera 3.15 MP / Autofocus

30 fps Video recodring with audio 5MP camera

720p video recording 

Internet Speed HSDPA suppored 7.2 Mbps  

Internet Browser Mobile Safari Full HTML without Flash  

Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Emails SMS, MMS, Email 

FM No Yes + recording 

Processor 600 MHz CPU 1Ghz 

Battery Unknown 1500 mAh 

Colours White and Black  

Connectivity Bluetooth AD2P (headset support only)

Bluetooth P2P games

WiFi, AGPS Bluetooth 3.0

USB 3.0

WiFi 

Memory 256MB RAM

16 GB/ 32 GB internal storage 512MB+ ROM

2GB internal storage

MicroSDHC expansion 

eight 135 gms  

Others Water and Oil resistant oleophobic coatingDigital compassSpotlight SearchLandscape keyboard in all appsVoiceOver (Voice Controls)iTunes App StoreShake to change music3.5 mm audio jack Accelerometer sensor3.5mm audio connectorTouchWiz UI 

In the hardware section the Samsung S8500 wins hands down with the 1GHz snapdragon, 5MP camera, 720p video recording etc. However you wouldn’t have the 140k App Store like apps and games from EA on this anytime soon. Thats where the platform wars come in. The iPhone sells not just the hardware but the entire experience.

While Samsung steps up the war on the developer front, the Bada OS is certainly something that throws a much much bigger challenge at Nokia, LG and others for now.

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