Flashback: Samsung S8500 Wave, the first phone with Super AMOLED and first with Bada OS
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- DevilHunterX
- Py$
- 31 Oct 2021
Loved mine.
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- SkullSamCandy
- f36
- 31 Oct 2021
My cousin had one, it was so advanced at the time, I remember it vividly.
- Kangal
- D$j
- 31 Oct 2021
I had both the Samsung Wave and the Samsung Galaxy S1.
The Samsung Wave had much better physical quality, especially those intuitive front buttons. I should also say, it felt and looked much better than all SGS1 variants, except maybe not the AT&T Captivate. The software on the Wave (Bada OS) was actually more optimised than Android 2.1 was on the original Galaxy S1. I know this, because Apps used to launch quicker and switching was quicker, and at the end of the day you had more battery left (same battery inside). I think the optimisations extended to the camera as well, but I never did test them side by side. And lastly, the display between the two were the same (2nd gen AMOLED, using PenTile, 800 x 480 resolution) however the Wave had a smaller 3.3in screen compared to the 4.0in SGS1. So the display looked much sharper/better on the Wave.
I personally ended up sticking the SGS1, simply because I liked the bigger screen, and I wanted all those third-party Apps, and lastly because they had the Epic 4G (qwerty) variant. That slide-out keyboard was a boon for texting, plus you could slap on a GameGripper and enjoy some neat gaming on the go with few Android titles but mainly emulation (like Atari, Sega, NES, GBA, DosBox, PS1). It did everything. So it was like the Sony-Ericsson Xperia Play, only better in all ways except the controls. At this time, the PSP v3000 was basically at it's end of life, the Nintendo DSi had very child-orientated games, and the PS Vita was several years away and the Nintendo New-3DS even longer.
Samsung was very pleased with the end result of the Wave and BadaOS. However, the sales figures were solid, but it still was out-done by its Android brethren. On top of that, Google was spending billions for it's platform, and developers were flocking to it. Then Samsung realised it's easier to buy Qualcomm processors and develop for Android... but that would be a great short-term strategy and not a good long-term strategy. The threat of a Nokia return, and Microsoft's Windows Phone was looming big at the time. So the SGS2 took priority in 2011, and the development of the Note1. So BadaOS and Wave platforms were effectively pushed away. Then 2012 Samsung was scrapping support for Windows Phone 7, and further doubling down on Android (TouchWiz 3 anyone?).
In an alternate universe, the Samsung Wave would've outsold the SGS1 and developers would've flocked to it. This would effectively kill the Windows Phone platform sooner. And Samsung would've released a luxury Exynos/BadaOS phone, alongside a Qualcomm/Android variant. And due to the disadvantages of early Qualcomm chipsets, and early Android code performance... the enthusiasts would've flocked to their Exynos/Bada platform. We may have seen Maemo/Mer/MeeGo/SailfishOS open-source community embracing Tizen (a possible Linux Renaissance?). Then we would eventually witness a direct competitor to Apple's iPhone (vertically integrated) through Samsung (chips, os, display, cameras).... whilst the Android Ecosystem would be it's own thing, with a slew of other OEMs relying on off-the-shelf parts to make their devices.
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- Anonymous
- xq5
- 31 Oct 2021
Samsung improved a lot. One UI is great. Mine is A52.
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- Anonymous
- iA4
- 31 Oct 2021
God, I remember my Wave 720 lol! Very decent phone for it's time, although Bada 1.0 was trash. The 2.0 update on the other hand, did polish the dead OS.
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- Anonymous
- U@x
- 31 Oct 2021
Dem feels, what a time it was...
- The Flip
- 63y
- 31 Oct 2021
I wish Motorola rebooted the Aura and brought it down to mainstream prices.
I remember Bada. It was bad-a like TouchWiz was for several years. One UI has been much better but still bloaty.
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- Olive
- uvg
- 31 Oct 2021
Omg ! That 5 mp camera was awesome !
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- Anonymous
- TL%
- 31 Oct 2021
Samsung will always develop an alternative to Android and their own Appstore as a precaution to a US ban. Like they do with everything else including SOC. Although if a ban hits, they'll probably move to something like Harmony OS rather than Tizen.
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- Boss573303
- vGZ
- 31 Oct 2021
I had a wave 2, amazingly well built phone
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- Simon
- 7AH
- 31 Oct 2021
This phone was amazing! Beautiful for its time, made of sturdy metal, the screen was amazing, and the performance was much snappier compared to its Galaxy S sibling due to the lighter OS. Bada was eventually let down by the lack of app support. But I wish the spiritual successors to the hardware lived on. It was such a great design line.
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- rizki1
- 6c6
- 31 Oct 2021
Experiment with something new in the non S series first. That's Samsung until today like punch hole display is on a8s first.
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- Illi
- x{6
- 31 Oct 2021
Teddy, 31 Oct 2021Had one. Awsome phone with great screen, and built like a t... moreYes! Was indeed built like a tank. Felt solid in your and and that OLED screen was unlike any other screen I had seen at that time.
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- Teddy
- p5E
- 31 Oct 2021
Had one. Awsome phone with great screen, and built like a tank. Did not need apps at that time, a few games was enough. Now they should do phones with the same compact size.