MWC 2010: Samsung introduces Wave smartphone

The Samsung Wave is due in the UK in April

Samsung has opened the floodgates at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona with the launch of the Wave, the first phone based on its Bada operating system.

Bada, which means 'ocean' in Korean, was unveiled in December, and is based on a new version of Samsung's Touchwiz interface.

The slim, touch-screen Wave uses a 3.3in Amoled display with an 800x480 resolution powered by Samsung's mobile Digital Natural Image engine, a variation on the technology that drives many of its TVs.

The device packs in a 1GHz processor, Bluetooth 3.0 and 802.11n Wi-Fi, along with a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, 3.5mm headphone jack, GPS and a microSD card slot for expandable memory with a 2GB card thrown in.

The Wave can handle 720p video decoding and recording, and offers multi-codec support for DivX and Xvid, as well as 5.1 surround sound.

Mark Mitchinson, vice president of mobile at Samsung UK and Ireland, said that the Wave is the company's first phone to feature an Amoled display, as well as being able to access its new app store and the Bada Social Hub.

The Touchwiz 3.0 interface provides customisable home screens and menus, while the Social Hub mashes together email, instant messaging and social networking services.

There is also the now obligatory app store, which Samsung is trying to seed through the launch of Samsung Mobile Innovator in 2008 and the Samsung Application Seller Site followed by Samsung Application Store. The service is currently available in the UK, France, Italy, Singapore, Germany, Brazil and China, and is expected in another 43 countries by the end of the year.

The Wave will be available in the UK from April. Details about pricing or operator agreements are not yet available.