April 22nd, 2010 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Platforms: Bada, Smartphones & Tablets | No Comments »
Last Monday we visited an event where Samsung was mass-demonstrating the WAVE and with it, their brand new Bada platform. We took some time and played around with the device.
First off, the hardware. The device has an amoled+ screen which had absolutely brilliant colors. We only tested it indoors, but expect good performance outdoors as well. With the high pixel density, the graphics seemed better than those on our iPod Touch. The device is extremely light and the design gives the device a slightly glamorous look which lets it lean toward being a possible ladyphone. Still we wouldn’t be ashamed to walk around with it.
The OS developers seem to have taken a good look at both the iPhone and Android. Though the wave’s UI is still pushing their TouchWiz interface forward, it has a lot of other smart ways to interface with what is happening on the device. All in all, a well balanced user experience in our eyes.
We also checked out Samsung’s on-device app store. Sadly enough, it looks as dark as the Android Market, yet it gives the consumer much more information. It still needs some work however to make the experience as good as that on iTunes. Consumers can both order apps and widgets from their app store which will download in the background.
We also got a demonstration of the Flash rendering power of the Wave. We installed a football app from Chelsea that showed a lot of fast graphics zooming in after each other. Though same graphics did show pixels, the refresh rate seemed high enough for smooth animation. This demo also showed us the possibility of embedding Flash in Bada apps.
Finally we took a ride in Gameloft’s Asphalt 5. The game made extensive use of the built in accelerometer for steering actions. Even the slightest tilt was registered and effected the steering of the game. Very impressive, but also very annoying when there is too much action on the screen. Yet, this game also showed us a perfect refresh rate.
Samsung admits that Bada is a daring move, but they feel the market is ready for it and there is room enough for yet another OS in their portfolio. Let’s see what happens in the coming months.
