If you happen to purchase any of the latest set of bada powered devices, aside from the original Samsung Wave, you’ll be happy to know that you’re entitled to check out some free games and apps.

Although some owners of the original Wave smartphone are probably saddened that they were left out, those sporting the Wave 525, 533, 575, and 723 are eligible to download  FIFA 10, Tetris Refresh, Spore Creatures, Assassin’s Creed II, DioDict French/English dictionary, Princess Magic Therapy e-book and SSkin theme – all of which are for free.

However, it’s worth noting that the first 250,000 downloads of FIFA 10, Tetris Refresh and Spore Creatures are the ones that are going for free – after that, you’ll have to buy them. Additionally, the first 300,000 downloads of Assassin’s Creed will be made available for free.

This nice promotion is surely warranted as it prominently places some light on the platform which is still trying to win over users. Still, it’s a nice gesture for any new bada powered Wave owners out there since they’ll most likely be spending some quality time with their new handsets thanks to these free games and apps.
via SamsungHub

Samsung announced the low-range phones to carry its own bada OS back in June, naming them the Samsung Wave 2, and Wave 2 Pro. The company took care of the mid-range with the Samsung 723, which we reviewed recently. Afterwards it announced a successor to the first Samsung Wave, calling it the Samsung Wave II.

To avoid duplication, the low-end members of the bada family are now ready to enter the markets, but with names consisting strictly of numbers. The Samsung Wave 2 is now the Samsung Wave525 and the Samsung Wave 2 Pro, which adds a QWERTY keyboard, is Samsung Wave533. The new addition to the bada OS line seems to be the Samsung Wave575, which actually has 3G connectivity, whereas on the other two you can only browse with EDGE speeds.

The other specs are shared among the three phones – 3.2″ WQVGA screen with 240×400 pixels of resolution, 3MP camera with video recording, 100MB of memory, 1200mAh battery, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth 3.0 and… that’s about it. The handsets will be available in three colors – black, white and pink. The usual goodies coming with Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 UI can be found on all three – Samsung Hub, Dolphin 2.0 browser, and image editing capabilities.

The Samsung Wave525 is already available in Russia, and its keyboarded brethren the Samsung Wave533 will be arriving there by the end of the month. These two will be available later on in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Middle East and Africa. The 3G Samsung Wave575 will be coming to Sweden soon, and will be gradually rolled out in Europe, Southeast Asia and China. No word on pricing yet, but we’d imagine you won’t have to start a second job for one of these.
source: Samsung

Samsung Wave533

Samsung Wave525 and Samsung Wave575

Looks like Samsung Wave owners will soon be graced with an official firmware update to bada 1.2, supposed to make the mobile OS more responsive, and including Swype. The leaked software showed up on SamsungFirmwareWorld, but you have to register to retrieve it. It is clearly for GT-S8500, i.e. the original Samsung Wave.

The process requires an additional tool, thus don’t rush to update your Samsung Wave yet. Moreover, it looks slated for the European market versions of the handset. It won’t be long before it pops into your Samsung Kies software, so stay put for the official news.
via SlashPhone

Now we know the overarching question when you read the title of this news bit – why would Samsung dispose of its competitive advantage in smartphone land for the Wave II? The first Samsung Wave introduced the best the company can offer – 1GHz Hummingbird chipset, and a 3.3″ Super AMOLED screen.

The chipset was so snappy, and the screen so vibrant, that we were willing to overlook the nascent operating system with hardly any applications yet written for it. After that, the company announced some low-end additions to the Wave portfolio – Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro – which are yet to see the daylight. Then it launched the Wave 723, a mid-range bada phone, which we reviewed not long ago.

Now, out of the blue, Samsung is announcing the high-end successor of the original Wave, but this time with a 3.7″ WVGA Super Clear LCD screen, where the touch coating is applied directly on the screen, with no air gap in-between. A similar technology Samsung uses for its Super AMOLED displays. The Wave II is running the same 1GHz Hummingbird chipset, as its predecessor, and features 5MP camera with LED flash, capable of HD video recording. It also sports Bluetooth 3.0 and Trace, a novel text input method, similar to Swype, but tailored for bada.

We have no doubts in the merits of the Super Clear LCD screen. After all, the iPhone 4 proved you can have a thin handset with a power-sipping screen, even if it is not Super AMOLED. The question is why would Samsung dispose of its main advantage in the cut-throat smartphone business for a high-end handset?

We know that the Koreans, like the rest of the world, are running low on production capacity for AMOLED screens, and everything goes towards the Galaxy S and its entourage. With the announcement of the Wave II sporting a 3.7″ SLCD, we are more inclined to believe it. Moreover, the plant that will increase the AMOLED capacity of the company tenfold, is not going to be operational until next summer, so Samsung does what it can. Moreover, it holds a controlling stake in the joint venture with Sony that makes the Super LCDs, which go into the 3.7″ HTC Desire and Droid Incredible, after supply issues held them from receiving the intended 3.7″ AMOLEDs. Still, that doesn’t prevent the company from charging 428 EUR (~$585), for the Wave II, when it appears in Germany come November.
source: Samsung (translated)

In an attempt to provide its bada some exposure, the Samsung Wave 723 (GT-S7230) is looking to make a splash in the world’s largest mobile phone market – China. The fourth device announced by Samsung to be running their home cooked bada platform, the Samsung Wave 723 should prove itself to be one interesting handset for Chinese consumers since it packs a decent mix of features.

The handset is going to be sold through China Unicom and will support bada SDK 1.1 – while retaining most of the specs found with the international version. These include the 3.2” TFT touchscreen, 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, Bluetooth, microSD card slot, and Samsung Apps support.

Although it’s confirmed that it’ll be making its presence in China, there is still no word on when it’ll official become available – same goes to its pricing.
via Samsung Hub

Samsung of late has been announcing some pretty monumental achievements regarding some of their devices, but the latest one to be praised heavily from the Korean manufacturer is the Samsung Wave. The bada powered device that brought Super AMOLED into the limelight has just reached a milestone as it hit the mark of selling one million units over in Europe. That’s definitely no small feat, but its paramount trip to the 1 million figure was aided  by strong sales in France, German, and Austria – where it was regarded as the top seller in those countries.

As we’ve already heard, bada will continue to branch out onto other Wave branded devices – thus providing additional visibility to the platform on a larger scale. Still, this moment in the Wave’s history is surely a good thing in showing the kind of adoption rates we’re seeing with bada in general.
via Mobileburn

It was only yesterday when we all got our first glimpse of the Samsung Wave 723 through its rendered shots, however, we’re now getting a first clear look at actual images of the bada powered phone in action. Sharing the stage alongside the first bada powered device, the Samsung Wave, we’re introduced to the upcoming handset as we can gauge its overall design and size versus the original. As you can tell from the photos, the Wave 723 has a somewhat more boxy appearance throughout its design versus the angular and curved looks of the original Wave. Though, the premium choice of materials employed on the Wave 723 should still make it one tough handset that will have enough appeal to garner some quick glances from afar. Regardless, we’ll all get situated with this handset soon since it’ll be making some waves over in Germany first this coming September when it launches.
source: Hdblog (translated)

Samsung just announced that Wave 723 – the fourth phone that will carry its own open mobile OS bada – will be available first in Germany starting next month. After the pilot Samsung Wave, the company did two low-end handsets with the bada OS – the Wave 2, and the Wave 2 Pro with a QWERTY keyboard. Both phones carried a 3.2″ LCD screen, and a 3MP camera.

The new Wave 723 steps things up from those with an LCD screen of the same 3.2″ size, but a back cover made of metal, Wi-Fi, and a 5MP camera with LED flash. An interesting design take is the screen cover which is made of leather, and is attached to the bottom of the phone. We’ll leave you to decide how comfortable this one will be, but the phone is fairly thin – just 0.46 ” (11.8mm) – and we guess that’s without the flap.

On the software side, the Wave 723 will be sporting Samsung’s Social Hub SNS integration with Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc. Apart from that, the phone will be able to access Samsung Apps, featuring “a wealth of games, navigation, social networking, e-book, health and lifestyle applications”. The Wave 723 is developed on the bada SDK 1.1, which supports the Auto-UI scaling feature – in other words, applications for the original Wave can be easily ported to the Wave 723 as well.

After the German launch, the Samsung Wave 723 (aka GT-S7230E) is heading to the rest of Europe, as well as Southeast Asia, Middle East and Africa. According to the WSJ, the phone is not coming to the US, as the carriers are not willing to deal with another smartphone OS, and will sell for around 240 EUR ($306).
source: Samsung & WSJ

Samsung announced 83% net profit rise year-on-year in the second quarter to $3.6bln. Demand was strong across the board, with a whopping sevenfold sales increase in its core semiconductors business. TV and panels sales also rose significantly, and the company announced it should be able to keep up with the demand for LCD and LED panels in Q3.

It didn’t mention anything about the Super AMOLED demand, though, maybe because it hopes to sell 10mln units of both the Galaxy S and the Samsung Wave phones in this current quarter. Nothing wrong with wanting to keep your major advantage to yourself, especially considering that the average selling price of Samsung’s handsets fell in Q2 because of the competition, despite the nearly 64mln handsets being pushed out.

The company is the world’s second largest cell phone producer, but, similarly to the largest one, Nokia, most of the business comes from basic handsets – only 30% of the company’s phones sold in Q2 were touchscreen, for example.
source: SamsungHub

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s rumor Samsung is to unveil the Wave successors at CommunicAsia 2010, the company issued a press release detailing the handsets. Samsung will be targeting the open bada OS expansion with the two devices, as they are tailored to the mass market. It’s a bit confusing the low-range phones are being labeled as Wave 2, almost as if they are an upgrade to the original Wave, but mysterious are the ways of the marketing departments.

And they have specs to back the mass market claim – with no 3G, 3MP camera and only 80MB of internal memory you shouldn’t have to touch your savings for those two. The Super AMOLED screen of the first Wave gives way to a ho-hum 3.2” WQVGA display. Samsung states that their application store Samsung Apps can be accessed from the handsets to download what’s in the catalog, though we are wondering if all current applications that are made for the Wave WVGA resolution will be available on the WQVGA handsets. The “Pro” moniker means only one thing these days – a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and that’s what the Wave 2 Pro is offering.

Hey, you still have the “Social Hub” and “Ultimate Inbox” features we wrote about in our Samsung Wave review – for all your social networking and messaging needs. You also have Google Latitude and geotagging, but that’s about it for the A-GPS chip.

We can’t pass any judgement before we get down and dirty with the Wave 2 and the Wave 2 Pro, but we are fairly positive they have to be priced very competitively to make a splash in the bada OS ocean. Both handsets will be available starting August in Russia and Southeast Asia in black, white, and pink. We are assuming a wider availability soon after.

source: Samsung