MWC 2010: Samsung’s flagship S8500 Wave hands-on
Last night we were at the announcement of Samsung's Wave and it's about time for a hands-on with this new flagship by Samsung.
As is known the Wave runs on Samsung's Bada, based on the Linux operating system.
Vertrouwd
For those who have worked with a Samsung with touchscreen before, Bada will be very familiar. Actually, it's not Bada you will face as a user, but the new TouchWiz 3.0. This UI is simple and easy to use. Buttons have been left out and have been replaced by p.e. 'swipe' motions.
The new TouchWiz 3.0 supports as much as 10 different homescreens. The user can place any widgets here. There are 3 set icons below which can be changed. At one moment during the presentation we saw 4 icons, but according to Samsung it's a trial.
The user will be able to reorganize the homescreens, according to his wishes. Via the plus-buttons new homescreens can be created.
Widgets don't need to be drag-and-dropped from the side toolbar, but can be done from the widget-bar down on the screen. This move is part of keeping the screen as 'empty' and 'neet' as possible.
The menu is typically 'Samsung' and will be familiar to the users. Within this menu it's possible to scroll as we see in many userinterfaces.
The Wave is made of both plastic and aluminum. As a wholle it feels stable and solid. It feels as if you have something valuable in your hands.
Availibility
The Samsung is planned for the first half of 2010, but a Samsung employee named 'April' as a possible launchdate for the Netherlands. We are more than happy with that. During the official Dutch launch the Bada App store will open. Samsung is talking with developers to stock this shop as much as possible during the opening. How many apps the Store will have is not yet known. Anyway, Samsung is busy with Hyves to create an app for the Wave. We are waiting in with suspense.
