Samsung Intros "Life Changing" Wave to Rival iPhone

[Michael Essany]

We hear an awful lot about Apple introducing game changing devices, but now Samsung is aiming at their rival iPhone with a new mobile phone that some (but mostly those at Samsung) are calling a "life changer." Yes, it's a mighty bold claim, but one that Samsung thinks the "Wave" can live up to.

The Samsung Wave was introduced with much fanfare in Barcelona just before the start of the Mobile World Congress, pretty much the biggest mobile phone trade show in the history of humanity. While Samsung rolled out its ambitious new smartphone, it's pretty obvious what else Samsung is rolling out - a plan to capture a big chunk of the market share controlled by the iPhone.

While much will be said and written about the Wave in coming days, here's the rundown Samsung hopes will be the device's first impression to the masses. All told, the Wave comes with an organic LED screen (AMOLED); it's the first smartphone to run Samsung's new open source operating system called Bada; it supports full multi-tasking capability' it's powered by a 1GHz processor; it serves up Bluetooth 3.0 and 802.11n wireless technologies; and it will be available this April.

There will be no shortage of comparisons between the iPhone and the Wave this year. But now that Samsung has introduced the device that many believe could be the first to truly give the iPhone a run for its money, all eyes turn to Cupertino to see what the 4th gen iPhone will deliver and if it can best the Wave on arrival later this summer.

[carlbgc]

What's a 'Samsung'?

[defmute]

Gonna stick with an iphone or nexus.

[battlecrushr]

Lol carlbgc

[TranceField]

Wat? Samsung is still in the cellphone business?

[Happy Noodle Boy]

Hell of a hardware on the device but the OS will make or break it.

[mixer911]

Blah. Here comes another iPhone killer....

[battlecrushr]

Ya what happened to all of them iPhone killers
G1
droid
nexus one
palm pre
Now nobody even talks about them

[rhekt]

a wave will allways collapse. time after time after time......

[n00neimp0rtant]

Make the screen bigger.

[Teoyaomqui]

MM apple better make a good 4G or am moving out.

It is ridicules how I have to be charging my freaken iPhone every time.
How it does not display the correct charge(not even with the new update)

It has an iPhone feel to it. and yes so what if they copied the iphone on some features. Who cares.

[k.nitsua]

I don't think you guys really understand that implications the arrival of this phone brings.

Yes, there have been other "iPhone-killers", but a majority of them only knock off one or two of iPhone's shortcomings, but fail in another category. For instance, Palm Pre has multi-tasking, decimating the iPhone in that category; but the WebOS and it's following had a really sluggish upstart and the operative system proved to be difficult to provide for (app-wise). The Droid has a nice OS and great screen; but the store has also been slow, not to mention it lacked OS multi-touch capabilities (for whatever reason).

This phone, if placed side-by-side against the iPhone, kills it. For those who don't want to read paragraphs, let me do bullet points:

- Sports Samsung's SUPER AMOLED technology
- Due to new type of screen, phone is thinner and lighter; the touch sensors are imbedded INTO the screen (iPhone uses a panel over the screen)
- Brand new OS that borrows elements from both the iPhone and Android OS's
- 1Ghz processor... for those who want a comparison, thats the same speed as the iPAD (which has been described as REALLY fast)
- LED flash
- 5 megapixel camera (which the iPhone 4G is RUMORED to have)
- Each homescreen can have it's own widget (we can only have ONE homescreen page with widgets on a JAILBROKEN iPhone, not stock)
- Multi-tasking (and with that 1Ghz processor, it's gonna be awesome)
- A faster reactive screen to the lightest touch (again, thanks to its processor)
- Seemless integration to social networks (seems to borrow inspiration from MotoBLUR)
- The apps and app store will have to wait to be judged

In order for the iPhone 4G to successfully compete with this phone, it will need the following:

- Apple's A4 chip (not a watered down version like its rumored to be for the iPhone 4G, the ACTUAL chip)
- 5 megapixel camera (which rumors have said it would have)
- LED flash (no rumors of this thus far)
- AT LEAST an OLED screen with a resolution to support some form of 720p
- Did I mention... THE A4 CHIP?!
- Multi-tasking (which should be MORE than possible with the A4 chip)
- In case I forgot, THE A4 CHIP!!!

Now, let's be real here though, the Wave won't beat the iPhone; it won't even beat the iPhone 3Gs, but it does pose a threat - especially among the market that actual KNOWS how to pick a good piece of technology. In order for the Wave to beat the iPhone, it would need only TWO missing attributes:

- The AppStore
- The "Apple" brand (Don't get me wrong, "Samsung" is a quality name and have always made great products; but let's face it, it's not Apple - it hasn't made the niche in the market yet).

And if it wants to SMASH the iPhone:

- A Tegra chip

Since it will never have these things, it can't win. But damn, the iPhone can't keep dodging these bullets for long.

[Nehal3m]

GO SAMSUNG! (Hey, I'm a Korean and that is a Korean company)

The phone seems very good and Samsung is pretty good with technology. Can't wait to see if this can actually "kill" the iPhone.

[shadowtrainer02]

HAHAHAHA, Samsung... I recently got Samsung's latest iPhone knock-off (before this one of course :P) and let me say, it BLOWS. The touch screen is unresponsive and the "OS" is awefully slow, heck, even the qwerty keypad laggs when I text, to think /Samsung/ could take on the iPhone, pffft... Yeah, not going to happen, all iPhone knock-offs fail hardcore compared to the real deal, so happy I got an iPod Touch and saved up for a 4th gen iPhone :P

[rhekt]

@k.nitsua

i like your review style. it keeps me interested.

[cpkirkley]

Until a true rival to the app store comes along, it doesnt matter what the phone's physical traits are. In my opinion, the only company with enough clout to pull that is Microsoft. And They already have the Zune store - so technically the infrastructure already exists. But until some company actually starts developing for the OS, even that is a mute point.

[k.nitsua]

Until a true rival to the app store comes along, it doesnt matter what the phone's physical traits are. In my opinion, the only company with enough clout to pull that is Microsoft. And They already have the Zune store - so technically the infrastructure already exists. But until some company actually starts developing for the OS, even that is a mute point.

Totally agree.

[Armored]

@k.nitsua

i like your review style. it keeps me interested.

i agree

[sziklassy]

I can say that Samsungs AMOLED technology is simply gorgeous. IMO the best display we as consumers can currently get our hands on today.

[MyStur]

Iphone is better and the 4g will be 1 more better