That first Bada-running handset by Samsung is certainly impatient to go public. After we saw it advertised on billboards yesterday, it now made a live appearance and revealed a large part of its specs sheet.

Apparently the Samasung S8500 Wave would be a pretty well spec’d handset with its 1 GHz CPU. Its 5 megapixel autofocus camera may not sound like much but the 720p video recording certainly is something. A tempered glass will protect the 3.3” AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display.

Samsung S8500 Wave

The list of noteworthy features of the Samsung S8500 Wave continues with 2GB of internal memory, microSD card slot, Wi-Fi connectivity supporting the latest n standard and 3G with HSDPA. And all this goodness will be packed in an aluminium body only 10.9mm thick.

Samsung S8500 Wave

We are now only one day away from the Samsung S8500 Wave official announcement, which should take place tomorrow in Barcelona.

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Introduction

Now that we have the B7610 OmniaPRO running on the much-awaited Windows Mobile 6.5, we’re finally up to speed. Omnia smartphones have a pretty wide reach already and they are known for their WinMo customizations and feature-rich specs sheets. The B7610 OmniaPRO however was the first family member to sport a full hardware keyboard and by the looks of it, Samsung have done a great job.

Side-sliding or not, the B7610 OmniaPRO is definitely a capable device in both hardware and software equipment. The QWERTY keyboard however is a convenience tool usually reserved for the competition’s high-end offerings, so you can bet the OmniaPRO will have to tackle some really capable contenders. But you can easily tell, it a tough nut to crack as well.

Samsung B7610 Omnia Pro official photos

Key features:

• Quad-band GSM support and 3G with HSDPA
• 3.5″ 16M-color (65K effective) AMOLED display of 800 x 480 pixel resolution
• Work & Life mode switch key
• Full side sliding QWERTY keyboard
• 800 MHz processor with dedicated graphics accelerator
• 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with dual-LED flash and D1 video recording at 30 fps
• Windows Mobile 6.5 fully skinned with TouchWiz UI
• Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP, standard microUSB port
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• 2GB built-in storage, 256 MB RAM, microSD (up to 32GB), 8GB card included
• Wi-Fi with DLNA
• GPS receiver with A-GPS
• Built-in accelerometer for UI auto-rotate and turn-to-mute
• TV out functionality
• Nice audio output quality
• Large capacity Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery

Main disadvantages:

• Bulky and heavy
• 65K color limitation of display has color gradients banding
• Poor sunlight legibility
• Comes with OmniaLITE-grade HSDPA speed, and no HSUPA support
• microSD card slot under the battery cover
• The display and back pannel are finger print magnets
• Performance under WinMo 6.5 not a good as it was under 6.1
• No preinstalled SatNav software
• No voice dialing
• No web Flash support
• No stereo speakers

Samung B7610 OmniaPRO at ours

Who is the OmniaPRO is a multiple choice question. And there is more than one correct answer. The original Omnia has produced such an offspring choosing names became a problem. They even had to name one of the kids after the uncle. If you’ve been keeping track, you’d know the OmniaPRO has an Armani-branded alter-ego – the B7620. But well, Giorgio was lucky. The B7610 OmniaPRO less so.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with the name except that there are another couple of Pros in the family. And perhaps too many of them in other houses.

We’ve never had a doubt about the quality of the Omnia genes but such a strong and versatile lineup perhaps exceeds the most optimistic scenarios. Samsung are obviously not only trying to update their portfolio but confront their key market rivals by matching competing devices spec for spec.

The B7610 OmniaPRO will be engaging the enemy on the high end of the performance and pricing scale. And that’s where even the smallest details count. The B7610 doesn’t have a unique defining feature like the Omnia HD to give it an edge against some unforgiving rivals. So, it will have to squeeze every bit of performance out of its system. It can count though on Samsung’s solid record in multimedia and interface customization.

Speaking of which, the custom-made TouchWiz looks and feels better than ever. So much that it’s worth the spoiler. And the mode switch for toggling Work and Leisure is keen to make a point that this here Pro knows good fun too.

So, the B7610 OmniaPRO will be trying to make its mark. And so will be Windows Mobile yet again. Because the OmniaPRO is certainly not running against PocketPCs only – the competition’s finest will stand on its way. That’s Symbian, and Android, and Maemo.

Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica, or Galaxy Lite, if you prefer, is official as it gets. Not only is the I5700 the fastest gun in the Android crowd with its 800MHz CPU, but it’s also cheaper than the original Samsung Galaxy. But let’s start from the basics – the Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica has been sitting in our rumor mill section for a while now and it seemed to be the baby brother of I7500 Galaxy, which we reviewed just recently. The “Galaxy Lite” certainly seemed to suggest it. The CPU is interesting because the original Galaxy ran the 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A processor. But with 800MHz the Spica beats even the Acer Liquid, which until now held the crown for speediest CPU in the Android world – a 768MHz Snapdragon. Liquid still has a lead in RAM – 256MB – versus the 128 of both Galaxy phones. Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica (aka Galaxy Lite) is official The rest of the features are very close to those of I7500 Galaxy, save for the lack of internal memory and the camera. Galaxy Spica comes with a 3.2MP camera and support for microSD cards up to 32GB instead. The display is the same size at 3.2″ (though the press release is mum about whether it’s AMOLED and capacitive or not) as is the battery of 1,500mAh. The I5700 is a “Google experience” phone, so it’s connected to Google’s services. The Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica will be available in Russia in November for 1,4000 rubles (320 euro or 480 dollars). There’s no word on availability in other locations but it shouldn’t be long now. Source (press release is in Russian)

We just came upon another leaked photos of what seems to be the successor of the Samsung Pixon12. This time however it’s the Korean version of the monster cameraphone dubbed Samsung SCH-W880. The information about the specs list is still pretty scarce but the camera alone to make us drool.

Four months ago the first evidence of the existence of a Pixon12 successor with optical zoom popped up in the net. It was a picture of the Samsung M8920, which sported 3x optical zoom and HD video recording.

Samsung SCH-W880

We now have some good news for our Korean buddies who will also be getting a piece of the action. It appears that Samsung is planning to launch a Korean version of the 12MP handset that should go by the name SCH-W880. The visual differences to the European model are almost non-existent or at least as far as the back panel is concerned. The camera zoomlens the xenon and LED flashes and the grip are all there. We do notice however that there are no Wi-Fi/GPS marks on W880, suggesting that those features might missing in this version.

The first photo of Samsung M8920

We haven’t got confirmation of any of the other specs of the device, but those leaked shots should help make the waiting for the official announcement more easily bearable.

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