14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung Wave S8500, the first handset to run under Samsung's new bada operating system, is now available for purchase in Germany. The company has made the new mobile phone available for pre-order in the country, and is expected to push it to more European markets in the near future. May 2010 was the initially promised launch time frame for the device, and it seems that Samsung kept its promise, making the Samsung Wave S8500 available in Germany for €429 (about $545).
In case there are some yet unfamiliar with what the new mobile phone from Samsung has to offer, we should mention that it comes with a 3.3-inch Super-AMOLED touchscreen display that can boast a WVGA (800 by 480 pixels) resolution, or that it is powered by a 1GHz processor. In addition, the handset sports a 5-megapixel photo snapper on the back, with HD video (720p) recording capabilities.
The specifications list of Samsung Wave S8500 also includes support for HSDPA/HSUPA connectivity, Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth 3.0 capabilities, along with mini-USB port, 3.5mm headphone jack and built-in aGPS receiver. The handset comes out of the box with DivX/Xvid support, packs FM radio, and a microSD memory card slot for additional storage space to be included in the equation.
Samsung's TouchWiz 3.0 user interface is also present on the new device, pre-loaded on top of the new bada OS, and capable of delivering a nice experience to users. In addition to announcing the release of Wave in Germany, Samsung unveiled plans to hold a live Summer Wave musical show (on May 30 from 2PM, at King Kamehameha Beach Club) to celebrate the event, with artists like Jennifer Braun, Fadi Maalouf or Spirit of Soul expected to perform there. As stated above, Germany is not the only European market where Wave will be launched. The handset was previously spotted on Vodafone UK's coming soon page, and reports on its upcoming availability in Italy emerged too.