14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung has just confirmed that its first bada smartphone to feature Near Field Communication (NFC) capabilities, Samsung Wave 578 will be released in Singapore tomorrow.
Samsung Wave 578 is a mid-range smartphone that will be delivered with bada 1.1 on board and TouchWiz UI 3.0, but fans of Samsung's proprietary mobile platform hope that the handset will receive an upgrade to bada 1.2 or bada 2.0 sometime this year.
Customer who wish to purchase the Samsung Wave 578 will have to pay $338 SGD (about $280) to get the smartphone off-contract.
The handset comes with a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen with 262K colors support and 240 x 400 pixels resolution, as well as accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate and proximity sensor for auto turn-off.
Equipped with a low-performance processor clocked at 455MHz, Samsung Wave 578 supports quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G.
“With the Samsung Wave 578 handset, we will provide the latest innovation in mobile industry running on bada platform,” said JK Shin, president and head of Samsung's Mobile Communications Business.
Furthermore, the smartphone sports a 3.2-megapixel photo snapper with video recording capabilities and a secondary VGA front-facing camera for video calls.
Although the phone only packs 100 MB of internal memory users will be able to add more storage space via microSD card, up to 16GB.
“The enhanced connectivity, design and social experiences enabled by this handset, represent Samsung's commitment to democratizing the smart phone market and providing users around the world with access to rich experiences and content,” concluded Shin.
Other highlights of the phone include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity, QuickType by t9 Trace, Social Hub, GPS with A-GPS support, as well as Samsung Apps support.
The phone's standard 1200 mAh Li-Ion battery should provide up to 700 hours (500 hours for 3G) of standby time or up to 12 hours (7 hours for 3G) of talk time.