The Samsung Wave was unveiled in Barcelona ahead of Mobile World Congress - the world's largest mobile phone trade show.
The Korean manufacturer is currently the world's second largest producer of mobile phones - behind Nokia - but wants a larger share of the rapidly expanding smartphone market, which is dominated by Apple's iPhone.
When Apple launched its 3G iPhone in 2008, the American computer giant redefined the mobile phone. No longer simply a device for sending texts and making calls - the smartphone incorporated media players, the internet and sparked a trend creating hundreds of thousands of software applications - or apps - written by third party programmers.
Samsung's latest smartphone is packed with a specification to impress. Featuring a hi-tech organic LED screen (AMOLED) which is thinner, less reflective and more energy efficient than traditional LED displays which require back-lighting.
The Wave is also the first handset to run Samsung's new open source operating system (OS) Bada and features an iTunes-style apps store for downloading games, mapping, eBooks and lifestyle applications.
Bada, which means ocean in Korean, is the latest mobile phone OS to be launched in an increasingly congested market - joining Apple's iPhone OS, Google's Android, Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Blackberry's RIM and the class leading open-source Symbian OS.
Because the Wave is expected to undercut the iPhone's retail price, industry experts believe it could be a realistic rival to Apple.
Ernest Doku, mobile phone expert at Omio.com, said: ''Samsung's Bada OS brings smartphone technology to the masses, enabling entry level handsets to offer apps, multimedia and a touchscreen experience comparable to high end devices.''
News Source:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk
<< Back to news...