Samsung just unveiled the latest version of its bada mobile platform generally used on more affordable handsets. The new version of bada adds some significant features like multitasking, voice-recognition and HTML5 support. Such a big update brings plenty of possibilities for Samsung to release more affordable handsets, which mimic most of the functionalities of operating systems like Android. Handsets running Sammy’s OS will be able to support NFC chips for near-field payments as well.

In addition, the company has updated the familiar bada interface by improving home screen personalisation options. The update brings more flexibility for the arrangement of items on the home screen. The latest bada has support for 3D sound as well.

Sammy released the Samsung Wave, its first bada handset, last year with what was seen as a revolutionary Super AMOLED screen.

source: Samsung Ukraine

It’s not only glitz and glamor today at the MWC Samsung pre-event, which saw the announcement of the dual-core packing Samsung Galaxy S II and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

Attention was paid to the humble working horses in Samsung’s Wave stable as well – the low-range phones with Sammy’s own mobile OS bada. What sets the just announced Samsung Wave 578 apart from the other phones in the Wave line is not the specs. It has the same 3.2″ WQVGA screen with 240×400 pixels of resolution, 3MP camera with video recording, 100MB of memory, 1200mAh battery, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth 3.0 as the rest of the lowly bada brethren. The usual goodies coming with Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 UI on bada can be found here too – Samsung Hub, Dolphin 2.0 browser, and image editing capabilities.

The news is that the Samsung Wave 578 will come with a built-in NFC chip, like what we have on the Nexus S. You can read all about the possibilities this opens on a handset in our comprehensive article about mobile payment here. There is a catch though – the press release marks with an asterisk after the NFC listing the comment “adoption is according to the market situation“, meaning that the goodies that come with NFC will only be let in the open in markets where it makes sense to do so.

The design of the Samsung Wave 578 is also different than the rest of the Wave pack. It has a metallic back, and a round glass cover over the lens opening of the 3MP camera on the back.

The Samsung Wave 578 will be available in May of 2011 in France and will be gradually rolled out to European countries, CIS, South East Asia, India, Middle East, and China. No mention about North American availability as of now.

source: Samsung
Click here for the whole MWC 2011 coverage.

2011 is the year of the all-European census, but if you’re in the UK, you can join with something more than just your personal data and get your most important personal moment counted as well. Samsung launches the Social Census initiative, in which people can submit photos of moments representing their present on Facebook.

What makes this initiative slightly different than your regular Facebook group/page is that the top 100 photos from the initiative called the “Now Project” will be displayed in the London Design Museum for one night only on Thursday March 24th.

Samsung claims that the idea was inspired by the photographic capabilities of the Samsung Wave II, which also allows quick editing and uploading of photos. And some celebrities will participate as well, such as TV presenter Tim Lovejoy with a photo of him snowboarding in Whistler, Canada.

source: Samsung