02/28, 12:00am
Navigon to launch for Bada, Cisco Cius tablet
Shortly after adding social networking, Wikipedia and check-in features to its iOS Streetpilot onDemand app, today Garmin announced the addition of Google Street View in the Navigon app for iOS, and an Active Lane Assistant feature in the Android version. In addition, the company announced that it will soon make the Navigon app available for Samsung's Bada OS for the Samsung Wave 3, and also for Cisco's Cius business tablet.
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02/03, 4:30pm
Canalys Q4 and year-end 2011 shows change of guard
A Canalys wrap-up of 2011 smartphone share painted an overall picture that kept Apple and Google in front, but also provided clearer pictures of Windows Phone. Android was just short of an absolute majority at 48.8 percent, while the iPhone held 19.1 percent. Nokia's Symbian and RIM's BlackBerry still held on to the double digits at 16.4 percent and 10.5 percent each.
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01/17, 6:55pm
Samsung leaves door open to Bada keeping Tizen out
Samsung has partly reversed course on claims that it would merge Bada with Tizen. A follow-up statement to AllThingsD said that neither Samsung nor other companies in the Tizen Association ahd "made a firm decision" on whether the two open platforms would unite. The company was "carefully looking at it," but Samsung still considered Bada a core part of a strategy that included Android and Windows Phone.
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01/14, 4:35pm
Bada and Tizen to merge platforms I
Samsung's Senior VP of Contents Planning Tae-jin Kang in a discussion Friday gave surprise word that his company's Bada and Intel's Tizen would merge. The strategy mapped out for Forbes would let Tizen run any apps written for Bada. Ultimately, the two would end up sharing the same developer interfaces and effectively share the same roots.
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01/06, 2:25pm
Samsung ChatON leaves Android for first time
Samsung has spread its ChatON messaging app beyond its own platforms for the first time with the iOS version. The port (App Store) shares much the same interface as its previously Android- and Bada-based version. The app is Samsung's answer to BlackBerry Messenger, iMessage, and Kik, and brings in its own extras such as on-screen drawing, emoticons, and even a rank system.
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12/30, 9:30am
StatCounter shows odd uptick in Symbian share
December StatCounter data has shown an unusual resurgence in Symbian on the web at the very end of 2011. Having dipped under 30 percent in October, Nokia's platform not only bounced back but nearly matched its high for the year at just over 33.5 percent in December. Most of the drop appeared to come at the expense of iOS, which shed a point and a half to reach 22.6 percent.
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11/15, 9:15am
Gartner shows Android now majority of smartphones
Android now represents the clear majority of smartphones worldwide, Gartner found Tuesday. It had more than doubled its share in the summer versus last year to hit 52.5 percent, leaving all other platforms combined in the minority. Both Nokia's Symbian and Apple's iPhone had declined in share over the summer to 16.9 percent and 15 percent each, although Nokia's rapid collapse in shipments and the known slingshot effect as customers waited for the iPhone 4S meant that Apple would likely take second place in the fall.
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11/04, 2:20pm
Bada to account for 17 percent of all Samsungs
Samsung aims to have its proprietary Bada operating system on 17 percent of its handsets in 2012, an executive told The Inquirer. Keith O'Brien, Samsung Mobile head of content in the UK, said 2012 will see Android on 66 percent of all Samsung handsets, while Windows Phone and Bada will get 17 percent each. He said that, currently, at the end of the 40th week of the year, Samsung reportedly has 33 percent of the mobile phone market in the UK and 25 percent of the smartphone market.
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10/14, 3:55pm
Samsung ChatON app arrives for Android, Bada
Samsung's cross-platform messaging service, ChatON, has now gone live and is available for Android (free, Android Market) and Bada smartphones. First introduced at the end of August, the service is promised to come soon to the iOS and BlackBerry platforms. The service lets users share images, videos, music and locations as well as group chat.
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09/28, 8:15am
Tizen rises from ashes of MeeGo
Intel and Samsung partly confirmed rumors by unveiling Tizen. The effective successor to MeeGo still uses Linux as an open-source foundation for a mobile OS but is focused on a much broader coalition of LiMo supporters that includes Japanese phone makers NEC Casio and Panasonic Mobile, OS developer Access, and carriers NTT DoCoMo, SK Telecom, Telefonica (O2), and Vodafone. The group will focus more on HTML5- and Wholesale Applications Community-based apps that can run on MeeGo and can share much of their code for other platforms and devices.
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09/20, 8:35am
Samsung open-source of Bada may spark sales
Samsung is hoping to open-source its in-house Bada OS to avoid leaning too heavily on Android for its success, sources alleged early Tuesday. The OS behind the Wave 3 and its peers would be accessible to everyone in 2012 to encourage more support and make it a stronger platform. The company would also be hoping to see Bada used for Internet-aware TVs and end up competing with Google TV, WSJ's insider said.
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09/05, 1:45pm
Samsung may buy MeeGo according to leak
More uncertainty about MeeGo's fate has emerged at the start of the week as three separate sources maintained that Samsung was looking to take control of MeeGo. Intel had supposedly shifted much of its attention away, with Samsung looking to take the reins. The contacts for Netbook News didn't elaborate on when Samsung might make the leap.
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09/03, 3:45pm
NetApplications August 2011 desktop, mobile share
Apple broke through a symbolic barrier at the start of September as a study of desktop market share from NetApplications revealed that it had broken through the six percent mark in desktop usage share for the first time. The Mac hit 6.03 percent in August and had gained nearly a full point over the course of one year. Although it had yet to dislodge Microsoft from its dominant spot, almost all the gain was at Windows' expense, as the OS dipped from nearly 94 percent last August to 92.9 percent.
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09/02, 7:50am
Samsung rules out webOS over Bada
Samsung will "never" license or buy webOS from HP, CEO Choi Gee Sung explained at IFA on Friday. Shooting down rumors of a buyout, he told the media that the company instead preferred to pour effort into its Bada smartphones and was working to improve the OS "harder than outside people think." He told Pocket-lint and others in attendance that he saw phone builders moving too quickly get access to another OS, likely alluding to Nokia's licensing Windows Phone.
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08/30, 12:05am
Samsung Wave 3, M, Y unveil early
Samsung confirmed part of its IFA launch plans early Tuesday with the launch of three Bada 2.0-running smartphones. The Wave 3 headlines the group with a four-inch Super AMOLED screen like the Galaxy S, a 1.4GHz processor, 14.4Mbps HSPA for 3G, and a five-megapixel camera. Although it has an aluminum body, it weighs a light 0.27 pounds, and it ships with the new ChatON messaging along with Wi-Fi Direct support.
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08/29, 9:35am
Samsung plans cross-platform ChatON service
Samsung in an unusual step for the run-up to the IFA show this week chose to unveil its own cross-platform messaging service. ChatON will supply group chat but also some distinctive features, such as a "trunk" of photos and videos shared in a chat that can all have comments, the option of commenting on friend profiles, and special messages with images, music, and handwritten parts. Users will even have a form of analytics with ranks for those they talk to the most frequently.
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08/29, 8:20am
Samsung may get webOS as next in-house mobile OS
Samsung couldn't escape industry talk Monday as a new rumor made it a candidate to buy webOS after HP's spinoff plans. The company would reportedly be looking for another self-run OS to challenge not just the iPhone but Android, Samsung's current platform of choice. HP's former VP of marketing for the Personal Systems Group, Raymond Wah, has already supposedly been poached away to manage Samsung's PC business, Digitimes said.
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08/25, 5:05pm
Samsung Bada 2 SDK out with HTML 5, more
Samsung has just announced the release of bada 2.0 SDK (Software Development Kit) for developers. The software can be used to create apps for devices like the just-leaked Wave 3 smartphone. It includes multitasking, HTML5 and a new advertising engine that includes in-app ads.
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08/25, 11:55am
Samsung slips IFA device plans in own app
Samsung unintentionally spoiled its own plans for the IFA show in Berlin with graphics hidden inside its official Samsung Unpacked app (Android Market). References confirmed a new-generation seven-inch Galaxy Tab, the Galaxy Tab 7.7, as well as a Wave 3 running the latest version of Bada. A mysterious Galaxy Note has also been spotted, although whether it's a tablet, a phone, or even a smartbook isn't evident.
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08/11, 12:40pm
Samsung i9250 may get 4.7in 720p screen, Android 4
An uncommon Lithuanian leak of a Samsung roadmap for the latter part of 2011 may have given out plans for a handful of future, very advanced phones. The i9250 seen by Mobili Linija would be Samsung's first-ever phone using Ice Cream Sandwich (possibly Android 4.0) and would have a larger screen to match, carrying a 4.65-inch display with an unprecedented 1280x720 (720p) resolution.
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08/11, 10:30am
Gartner shows iPhone up to 4th in all cellphones
Apple is now the fourth-largest cellphone maker in the world, Gartner said in its own roundup of mobile market share figures. The iPhone's market share of real, end-user sales shot up almost 92 percent from year to year to give it 4.6 percent, moving it ahead of not just RIM but Motorola and Sony Ericsson, all three of which lost share. Apple's rise also widened its leads over ZTE, HTC, and Huawei, who despite their gains weren't growing as quickly.
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08/04, 6:50pm
IDC puts Apple over Samsung in spring 2011 share
New research from IDC has backed up earlier assertions that Apple is the top smartphone maker worldwide. The iPhone creator in its data claimed 19.1 percent of teh smartphone market, or enough to keep out of Galaxy S II maker Samsung's 16.2 percent. Nokia's drop wasn't as steep as in Strategy Analytics' research, but it still saw the one-time leader lose more than half its share and sink to third place, with 15.7 percent.
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07/27, 7:40am
Samsung Galaxy S II cracks 5m 40 days earlier
(Update: 10 million coming, not yet) Samsung on Wednesday said it had pushed past five million sales of the Galaxy S II. Its milestone came 85 days after launch and just a month after the three million mark. Cracking five million for the Android range leader also came 40 days earlier than for the original Galaxy S.
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07/25, 4:30pm
SamsungDive stolen phone service in UK, Germany
Samsung is following in the footsteps of RIM by introducing a rival to Apple's Find My iPhone app that will help users find their smartphones or tablets when lost or stolen. According to PocketNow, SamsungDive will allow users to remotely control the functions of the device in question. It is currently available for the Android-powered Galaxy S II, Galaxy S and Wave smartphones along with the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and 8.9 tablets.
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07/11, 3:45pm
Phone may hit market in September
In April, news leaked from a Samsung conference in France about two new smartphones running Bada 2.0, the mobile operating system being pushed by the company. Today, the Russian blog bada World has identified the first of these as the Wave 725. The phone has preliminary availability slated for September.
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06/29, 2:55pm
HP in talks with Samsung, others to license webOS
HP is involved in negotiations to license its webOS software for mobile devices, CEO Leo Apotheker said in an interview. While a number of companies are interested, Samsung is one of them, three unnamed sources close to the discussions maintain, according to a Bloomberg report. The HP CEO and a Samsung spokesperson, Jason Kim, didn't comment on these rumors.
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05/05, 3:35pm
Canalys believes Bada outsold WP7 by 2.5m
Canalys late Wednesday provided one of the few estimates of Windows Phone 7 shipments for early 2011. The analyst team believed that Microsoft's combined partners shipped under 2.5 million phones between January and March. Each of the top five Android phone makers sold more than this number by themselves, and Samsung's in-house Bada OS also saw more shipments at 3.5 million.
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04/11, 8:40am
New Bada 2.0 handsets also to include NFC
A leak from a recent Samsung France conference shows to unannounced Samsung Bada handsets running the revamped Bada 2.0 OS, as well as incorporating NFC technology. The mobile handsets are expected to be unveiled in that latter part of the year, as will their names. The same slide also shows a new Bada handset, the Wave 578 due this June, but it will only be running Bada 1.1 at this stage.
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03/31, 3:35pm
ABI sees Android and iPhone still tops in 2016
ABI Research in a long-term prediction gave Android the top spot in market share in the future but came to very different conclusions about other platforms than a rival IDC study. Google would get 45 percent share by 2016, but Microsoft would have to get "incredible success" with its Nokia deal to get more than seven percent share for Windows Phone 7, ABI said. The platform's growth would be slow enough that it would be overtaken by Samsung Bada, an essentially Samsung-only OS intended for low- to mid-range phones, with 10 percent.
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03/09, 11:35pm
Move aimed at frustration following Microsoft deal
Samsung is reportedly attempting to woo frustrated Symbian developers, inviting them to build applications for the Bada platform. A number of Indian developers allegedly received an e-mail from Samsung representatives who offer solace for the developers, many of whom may have felt snubbed when Nokia announced its partnership with Microsoft.
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02/14, 5:50am
Launch follows high-profile Galaxy S II event
Following Samsung's massive event focusing on the Galaxy S II smartphone, the company has followed up with a new handset, the Wave 578, based on the Bada OS. The midrange device features Near Field Communication (NFC) connectivity for quick payments, or communication with transportation services and other supported systems.
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01/18, 4:20pm
Zokem says iPhone still most loyal brand
iPhone users are still the most loyal to the platform by a wide margin, Zokem found in a study on Tuesday. Apple's platform was unique in commanding not only high loyalty from existing users, 85 percent of which planned to buy again, but being the most frequently sought after by those jumping over from competitors. Android had a higher loyalty, at 89 percent of existing owners likely to buy again, but there was higher overall turnover and fewer using another mobile OS likely to choose it as their next platform.
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12/20, 2:30pm
Samsung Bada 2.0 coming next year with NFC, more
At the developer day held recently in South Korea, Samsung highlighted some of the features of its upcoming Bada 2.0 OS for smartphones. The operating system is currently in version 1.2 and was first introduced in the Wave. The update is coming next year and will bring with it Near Field Communication (NFC) support for payments, a new multitasking ability and support for Macs and Linux in the SDK.
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10/28, 11:15pm
Samsung Q3 up on own phones but also iPad sales
Samsung today reported a significant increase in profit that was driven as much by Apple as by its own business. The company's revenue surged 12 percent year-to-year to $35.78 billion with a 17 percent hike in profit to $3.97 billion, but most of this profit came from its semiconductor business and its success with flash memory. The group's revenue spiked 60 percent to $6.66 billion and was credited "especially to smartphones and tablet PCs," the Korean company said.
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10/25, 4:15pm
Symbian Foundation may close outright
A potentially impactful rumor today has suggested the Symbian Foundation may close down. A tipster reportedly close to Symbian mentioned that its executive director's abrupt departure and its instituting its CFO Tim Holbrow as a replacement was really a pretext to wind down the company's operations. The Register source blamed a lack of funding and mentioned that staff were being given severance packages.
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10/25, 11:30am
SK Telecom wants own mobile platform
SK Telecom today signaled its plans to get into the mobile platform business. Company chief Jung Man-Won directly billed it as a strategy to "eventually compete against Google, Apple and Nokia" and set aside one trillion Won (about $897 million) over three years to develop the project. Aside from a platform to support third-party apps, it would expand existing services like T Map and T Store into services others could build on. The platform would be available in the US along with China and southeast Asia.
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10/20, 6:05pm
Samsung hints Bada may reach TVs as well
Samsung's Visual Display VP Kyungsik Kevin Lee today said in an interview that the company is developing a unified platform for both TVs and smartphones. The executive didn't have a timetable as it was still early, but he noted to Reuters that Internet-capable TVs were growing quickly. Shipments would be just five million this year but should double in 2011.
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10/04, 11:00am
Samsung Wave B8530 drops AMOLED for LCD
Samsung today fueled rumors of Apple using AMOLEDs by unveiling a new version of the Wave with an LCD. The Wave II B8530 is virtually identical on the inside with a 1GHz processor, a five-megapixel camera and Bluetooth 3.0 but uses a 3.7-inch Super Clear LCD in place of the original's 3.3-inch Super AMOLED screen. The Bada OS-based phone ships to Europe in November for 429 euros ($587).
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09/03, 1:10pm
Samsung sees 10pc share of phones
Samsung hopes to break through the 10 percent mark in smartphone share by the end of 2010, the company' mobile group head JK Shin said at the IFA show today [sub. required]. He was optimistic about Samsung's success in light of the Galaxy S and explained that Samsung now expects to ship 25 million smartphones this year, up from an earlier prediction of 18 million. It may ship as many as 50 million smartphones in 2011.
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09/02, 11:40am
Samsung says Windows Phone 7 too niche
Samsung will downplay its Windows Phone 7 devices in favor of Android and its in-house Bada platform, its mobile marking head YH Lee said in an interview Thursday. He promised Reuters just one device using Microsoft's OS as there was some "professional, specialized demand" for it but stressed that Android was more important. Google's platform is not only friendly to Samsung's customization, as it's "open and flexible," but is more popular as well, the executive said.
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08/30, 4:10pm
Samsung intros Wave 723 with Bada
Samsung grew its fledgling Bada-based phone line today by launching the Wave 723. Although a step below the original Wave with a 3.2-inch LCD instead of the more exotic Super AMOLED, it stands out through a unique leather flip cover built into the body itself to protect the phone's screen. Many other features have ported over, including the still-rare 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 as well as the five-megapixel camera with flash.
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08/25, 1:05pm
Samsung Bada SKD out of Beta, brings remote tests
Samsung's software developer kit (SDK) for its Bada mobile operating system has now exited its beta test phase and is in version 1.0. Registered developers can get more information on and download the latest SDK from the developer site. The new build brings with it the ability to remotely test the software on other devices.
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08/14, 6:40pm
We test Samsung's first Bada phone
Samsung has lately taken to "owning" its smartphone experience, but it's best known for putting a layer on someone else's work. The Wave is something new: it's the first device ever to run Samsung's completely in-house Bada OS. We'll learn in our full Samsung Wave review if the mix of high-end hardware and new software gives Apple and Google reason to be worried.
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07/08, 3:40pm
Samsung Wave now at Bell and Rogers in Canada
The Samsung Wave smartphone, complete with its Super AMOLED display and Bada operating system, is now shipping at Canadian providers Bell and Rogers. At Bell, it costs
$30CAD ($29) on a three-year contract, or $300CAD ($288) contract free. At Rogers, it's significantly more expensive, at $100CAD ($96) on a three-year term or $475CAD ($456) contract-free. The
expected July 8 release at Bell was confirmed with this announcement.
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06/24, 10:00am
Bell to get Bada-powered Samsung Wave on July 8
A leak from Canadian wireless provider Bell reveals that the Samsung Wave will arrive there on July 8. Originating from BGR, the leak also reveals that retail pricing will be confirmed on June 28, as for now it reads $300 CAD ($287) for any length of contract. The phone will be the first to sport Samsung's new Bada operating system.
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06/15, 11:35am
Samsung adds two lower cost Bada phones
Samsung took advantage of the CommunicAsia event today to add two new phones using its in-house Bada OS. The Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro (S5250 and S5330) are lower-cost alternatives to the Wave flagship that use smaller 3.2-inch LCDs instead of a 4-inch Super AMOLED, three-megapixel cameras, and drop 3G. They still have 802.11n Wi-Fi for faster wireless and carry GPS, Bluetooth and microSDHC slots; the Pro adds a sliding QWERTY keyboard.
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06/11, 2:15pm
Imagination shows possible next-gen iPhone GPU
Imagination on the heels of the iPhone 4 launch has unveiled what should be the graphics for future smartphones, possibly including Apple's. The SGX544 is intended as the most powerful graphics possible for very low-power devices and is fast enough to handle non-mobile video: it can hardware-accelerate all DirectX 9 and OpenGL 2.1 features on the desktop, such as high dynamic range, in addition to OpenGL ES 2.0 for mobile.
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06/01, 3:30pm
Bundled Samsung Wave card contains virus
Samsung's new Bada-powered S8500 Wave smartphone is shipping with a bundled 1GB microSD card that contains a malware virus, some early reports have discovered. Called slmvsrv.exe, the malware will automatically run when inserted into a Windows PC. MobileBurn found that at least a test unit made for the German market was infected with the virus.
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05/24, 1:20pm
Singapore, China, Brazil next in line
Samsung today began shipping the Wave S8500 in several European countries, including Germany, France and the UK. The company expects to begin shipping the Wave to Singapore, China, and Brazil in the coming months. The Wave is the first smartphone based on Samsung’s open platform, Bada.
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05/20, 9:50am
Free for contracts $36/month and up
Vodafone UK began taking preorders for the Samsung Wave smartphone, with shipment beginning June 1st. The handset is the first to use Samsung's Bada platform, which it positions as its own alternative to Android-based phones. Vodafone is offering the Samsung Wave free for new 2-year contracts priced £25 ($36) per month or above.
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