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The Bada-powered Samsung Wave 3 has gone on sale in France, though we suspect it could soon be arriving in the UK too.
From today the Wave 3 can be caught lining the pockets of French buyers, and will be available to buy in Germany, Italy, Russia and “other global markets” before 2012. That could very well include the big U of K.
Though it looks a lot like an Android smart phone, the Wave 3 is actually doing a sneaky impression of Android. It’s running on Bada 2.0, which is Samsung’s own operating system, though we noted in our hands-on preview that this Samsung-brand OS feels a lot like Android.
While it’s looking slick and colourful, the problem with Bada is that you won’t be able to access Android apps. You’ll get Samsung Apps instead, an app store built for Bada, but compared to Google’s robot-powered operating system, there aren’t very many downloadable treats on offer.
If more people start using Bada smart phones, more apps may start cropping up — here’s hoping the Wave 3 can make Bada more popular.
The operating system is a definite wildcard, but in the hardware stakes the Wave 3 is looking impressive. Expect a very crisp 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, a casing that’s a very slim 9.9mm, and a 1.4GHz processor that should keep things ticking along at a fair pace. A 5-megapixel camera that records 720p video is another welcome addition.
We’re waiting to hear whether the Wave 3 will be coming to the UK, and we’ll be interested to see whether it can prove a winner when it comes time for the full review, despite lacking Android. In the meantime let us know your predictions in the comments, or over on our Facebook wall.