History of the development of mobile operating systems: Samsung Bada. Mobile operating system bada
Bada is a relatively young platform developed by Samsung. Why relatively? Because it was officially introduced only in 2009, later iOS, Android, WP. But it's not that simple. This closed system began to be developed ten years ago, when leadership in the mobile OS market had not yet been determined. Read more about this young, but almost “dead” OS under the cut.
Beginning of Bada development
All ancient Samsung phones, which were distinguished by the presence of a touch screen, had (and now have) a certain software platform on which all the applications installed on the device ran, and also the Java games and programs we are familiar with were launched on it.Bada logo
Most likely, this platform (Samsung Handset Platform) was a test version of Bada OS, which, one can assume, Samsung had been developing for several years before the official announcement in November 2009. Samsung has allowed some developers to write programs that would run on the Korean manufacturer's new operating system, Bada (which means "ocean" in Korean). Of course, Samsung itself is quite capable of producing smartphones that can work on the old-new “ocean” system.
Samsung Wave S8500 running Bada 1.0
The first device on this OS (Bada 1.0) was the Samsung Wave S8500 smartphone. It was published in February 2010. Everyone really liked the breath of fresh air that the company’s new flagship running on Bada OS brought to the world of operating systems. It is noteworthy that “wave” is translated from Korean as “wave”, and this is very compatible with the concept of bada, “ocean”.
End of 2010. The second "wave" of the ocean
Following the release of the first version of Bada OS, in the summer of 2010 Samsung introduced a system update (Bada 1.1), which was a kind of simplification for budget devices. Naturally, smaller changes affected primarily graphics, animation and other interesting, but not very important functions. This helped reduce the cost of the system. The first devices running on Bada 1.1 OS were released in the second half of 2010 (Samsung Wave 525 S5250, Samsung Wave 533 S5330, Samsung Wave 575 S5750, Samsung Wave 723 S7230).
Samsung Wave 533 S5330, Samsung Wave 525 S5250,
Samsung Wave 575 S5750, Samsung Wave 723 S7230
In the new, simplified version, in addition to the reduced functionality, Samsung has corrected some errors made during the development of the first version. In the fall of 2010, when the whole world was already waiting for the release of the new “ocean,” Samsung introduced the “second wave,” which was called the Samsung S8530 Wave II.
Samsung S8530 Wave II
The new smartphone was pre-installed with Bada 1.2, which introduced significant bug fixes, many improvements, and most importantly (according to many) - the ability to use the smartphone even with a charge level below 15%!
Bada 2.0. The third "wave" on the second "ocean"
Many were waiting for the release of the latest version of the already famous and popular operating system Bada 2.0. In February 2011, as part of the Mobile World Congress exhibition, a new “ocean” (Bada 2.0 Beta) was presented to the public, which contained many improvements, a new design and, of course, new functions. Only users of Wave and Wave II smartphones could update to the new version, and then only after a year, namely in January-March 2012. But in August 2011, Samsung introduced the world to the third “wave” on the second “ocean”, i.e. the Samsung Wave 3 S8600 smartphone running on Bada 2.0.
Samsung Wave 3 S8600
In addition, the world was presented with two more budget models - the Wave M and Wave Y smartphones. The innovations that the second “ocean” brought with it turned out to be very interesting and useful.
Wave M and Wave Y
Among them, I note improved multitasking, running applications in the background, FlashLite4, HTML5, NFC technology, Web Access Control (WAC), Text-To-Speech (TTS), Wi-Fi Direct, Push notifications and speech recognition mode.
Tizen in exchange for Bada
January 2012 dispelled the seeds of doubt. The fact is that Samsung management announced its intention to combine Bada OS with the new Tizen OS, developed jointly by Intel, Asus, Acer and, of course, Samsung. After this statement, right up to the last, the developers began to claim the opposite, that they are betting on Bada and Tizen as two different OSs, which have their own pros and cons, that they are not going to merge these two OSs, that they will always support Bada.
Tizen OS
But on February 25, 2013, everything changed dramatically. Samsung announced the merger of Bada and Tizen, which was proposed to be considered not as some kind of unification of two different platforms, but as a transition from old to new. All the latest improvements to Bada will go towards creating a new, high-quality, modern mobile platform, Tizen OS. This was the end for Bada.
Conclusion
Samsung's Bada project was quite successful and perhaps one of the best solutions in terms of operating systems. In its early days, devices running Bada outsold those running Windows Phone. But even now Bada lives among the people, who has become dear to them over the course of many years of service.Thank you everyone for reading the article, point out my mistakes and shortcomings. All the best!
Thanks to the user sPAMer02 for the title picture!
Samsung Wave (S8500)
The first phone based on bada mobile OS - Samsung Wave (S8500) - became a real hit in its time due to its excellent design, excellent technical characteristics and low price. Wave II (S8530) was a minor update, differing from the first Wave only in the screen and slightly changed design. Wave 3 brought with it not only a new version of the bada operating system, but also an updated hardware platform. But is this enough to survive in a world of green robots and predatory fruits?
Specifications Samsung Wave 3 (S8600)
While the original Wave and Wave II were equipped with a Samsung Hummingbird processor, Wave 3 uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8225-T chip with a clock speed of 1.4 GHz. In a sense, this can be considered a step back, since the Adreno 205 video core used in this chipset is significantly inferior to the PowerVR SGX540 graphics in the S8500 and S8530. Otherwise, the technical characteristics of the new product are close to previous models.
- Ranges: GPRS/GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS/HSPA 900/2100.
- Form factor: keyboardless monoblock.
- Operating system: Samsung bada 2.0 with TouchWiz 4 interface.
- Display: 4 inches, Super AMOLED, 480x800 pixels, 16 million colors, touchscreen (capacitive matrix).
- Camera: 5 MP, autofocus, geotagging, LED backlight, video recording (1280x720/30p).
- CPU: Qualcomm MSM8225 based on ARM Cortex A8 core, clock frequency 1.4 GHz; integrated video accelerator Adreno 205.
- Memory: 3 GB + microSDHC cards.
- Multimedia capabilities: MP3 player, FM receiver, video player (supports MPEG-4, Divx, Xvid, H.264), video editor, integration with YouTube, Find Music service (analogous to Track ID in Sony Ericsson phones).
- Wireless technologies: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 HS.
- Interface connector: microUSB, 3.5 mm headphone output.
- GPS: yes, A-GPS support, Google Maps support, Samsung LBS navigation app (Route 66 based).
- Dimensions and weight: 126x64x10 mm, 122 grams.
Appearance and design features
In terms of design, Samsung Wave 3 is close to previous models in the Wave line. As before, its body is made of metal, the screen is covered with protective glass Gorilla Glass with an oleophobic coating that makes it easier to clean from fingerprints.
Thanks to the use of a 4-inch screen, the phone has noticeably increased in size compared to the first Wave. In general, in terms of dimensions, it is now close to the Galaxy S II, which is equipped with a larger diagonal screen (4.3 inches). From an ergonomic point of view, Wave 3 is a step back compared to Wave - the call and end call buttons have become touch-sensitive, the camera button has disappeared, and the headphone and data cable jacks have moved to the bottom edge of the case.
Interestingly, the device does not have a removable back cover. Instead, the chassis with all its contents slides out of a metal casing on a sled, revealing access to the battery and slots for a SIM card and microSD memory card. To access the slots, you need to remove the battery, so you can forget about hot-swapping memory cards.
Screen
Wave 3 uses a 4-inch Super AMOLED matrix with a resolution of 480x800 pixels. This screen belongs to the first generation of Super AMOLED and differs from the screen in the Galaxy S II in the arrangement of subpixels according to the PenTile scheme.
Subpixel arrangement: left - regular (RGB), right - PenTile (RGBG)
In practice, this means that the actual screen resolution is noticeably lower than stated. PenTile screens display text and other small image elements noticeably worse, as can be seen in the photographs below.
Galaxy S II
Wave 3
Galaxy S II
Wave 3
Please note that the Wave 3 screen looks positively green in the photos. Another problem with such displays is the very rough rendering of smooth gradients, which is clearly noticeable when viewing photos and videos.
Software
Samsung Wave 3 runs on the bada operating system version 2.0. We will prepare a separate material on this OS, but now we can confidently say that only very inexperienced people can call bada phones smartphones. In the year and a half that has passed since the release of the first Wave, neither Skype, nor WhatsApp, nor even the most popular casual games in the world - Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja - have appeared on the bada platform. The situation is further aggravated by the fact that applications written for bada 1.x are not compatible with bada 2.x and require at least recompilation, so the process of moving to a new version of the OS is unlikely to be painless, both for users and for developers
Bottom line
The phone in its current state does not allow us to draw definitive conclusions regarding its stability, battery life and camera quality. However, it can already be argued that bada as a platform for smartphones has failed. Phones with this OS occupy an intermediate position between “dumb” phones and full-fledged smartphones, significantly inferior to the latter. The first Wave was a hit because it allowed the buyer to get top-end hardware for the price of a mid-range smartphone. But the hardware of Wave 3 initially corresponds to today's mid-class Android smartphones, so, in our opinion, it can only become popular if its price corresponds to the budget category of smartphones.
bada(from the Korean word 바다 - ocean) is a mobile operating system and platform produced by Samsung Electronics. The bada operating system is planned to be equipped on both high- and low-end Samsung phones, while bada is intended to replace proprietary operating systems on the company's feature phones.
Story
Samsung announced the bada platform on November 10, 2009. The first phone based on the platform, Samsung Wave S8500, was presented in February 2010 at the 2010 Mobile World Congress. On May 15, the SDK for application developers was released. Sales of this phone around the world began on June 1, 2010. At the end of August 2010, version bada 1.0.2 was announced, which mainly contains bug fixes. Updates since August 2010 for some European countries, and since October for Ukraine. In September 2010, Samsung Wave 723 went on sale based on a simplified version of bada 1.1. On October 4, 2010, the Samsung S8530 Wave II smartphone was introduced running bada 1.2, the SDK for which was released later in December. December 29, 2010 SDK updated to version 1.2.1.
On November 28, 2011, Samsung Wave III went on sale, which is the first smartphone running bada 2.0. In Ukraine, sales of smartphones with Bada 2.0 began in December 2011.
In January 2012, Tae-Jin Kang, vice president of Samsung, in an interview with Forbes, confirmed information about the integration of the bada and Tizen mobile platforms, which is supported by Intel and the Linux Foundation. Once the integration process is complete, Tizen will support the execution of mobile applications built using the bada SDK, while maintaining full backward compatibility for already released applications. In the future, a single SDK and set of APIs will be provided for application developers for bada and Tizen. Later, Samsung noted that the issue of integrating the bada project into Tizen is still under consideration.
Architecture
The bada platform has a multi-tier architecture. The bada core can be Linux in powerful smartphones or a proprietary real-time operating system in budget options. The development platform API (C++ development tools are officially provided) gives access to all levels of the platform.
Peculiarities
Support for full multitasking between third-party programs appeared in the release of bada 2.0. Before this, limited multitasking was implemented, in which native bada programs were allowed to simultaneously launch several pre-installed ones on the phone and only one third-party program. The bada platform also has support for Java ME programs, and up to 4 Java programs can be launched simultaneously. Bada has support for its own implementation of push messages for third parties.
Third-party software developers do not have access to SMS and MMS.
What's the coolest phone in the world? The most interesting.
After the announcement of Samsung's Bada, many copies were broken in Internet battles over whether it was a full-fledged operating system or a closed platform with advanced capabilities. Moreover, some of these disputes have completely shifted into the discussion of the very concept of “smartphone”. The Samsung CIS Forum, held on March 18 in Moscow, provided answers to some of these questions.
First of all, you should understand, perhaps, not even what Bada is, but why it is needed at all. Indeed, smartphone OSes began to appear like mushrooms after rain, and why, in this situation, bring another one to the market? To this question, Samsung, represented by Dmitry Kuznetsov, vice president of the headquarters of Samsung Electronics in the CIS, gave a very clear and specific answer in Moscow. On the one hand, the need to create our own platform arose as a result of close cooperation with mobile operators. Those, being dissatisfied with the working conditions with Apple and Nokia, needed a flexible and customizable platform on which it would be convenient to provide their own services. After all, as you know, European operator phones are often very “tailored” for a specific operator, even down to a different interface and menu composition. And not every operating system can be customized in this way. On the other hand, despite the presence in Samsung's arsenal of devices on different platforms (Windows Mobile, Symbian 9.4, Android), in order to provide consumers with maximum opportunities, it is always more convenient to have its own operating system (platform). It was the symbiosis of the wishes of the company’s partners (operators) and consumers that caused the birth of Bada.
So what is it, a platform or an operating system? Both. It all depends on whose point of view you look at it from. From the perspective of Samsung itself, this is not an operating system in the full sense of the word. The company defines an OS as a system that has its own kernel, the so-called device layer and user interface. And, in their opinion, there are only two such systems at the moment: Symbian and Windows Mobile. The next category is systems that have a third-party kernel, for example Linux (or other real-time operating systems: Nucleus, REX, etc. - depending on the hardware platforms used), their own device layer and their own user interface. And it is precisely this type of OS that includes Android, Maemo and the newly-minted Bada. This structure has obvious advantages, since it allows the use of different hardware architectures with the same external result for the user. This will provide the ability to create products on different hardware platforms depending on the required result.
As for the user, for him the answer is more than clear. Multitasking, the ability to install third-party applications, an application store - it's all there. Moreover, third-party software will be able to access any functions of the device, including calls, SMS and other things. And this, theoretically, will make it possible to create applications that replace built-in OS tools and integrate them as deeply as desired into the structure of the operating system.
For developers, there is already an SDK, which is currently available only to a limited number of companies, but will soon be made available to everyone. Interestingly, the SDK is only available for Windows users; unlike Android, there are no versions for Mac OS or Linux. While it is known that the development environment will be based on Eclipse, debugging will be possible both on the emulator and directly on the device. Access to the store will be subject to pre-approval of applications - which is not surprising.
Great news for developers - Samsung does not plan to receive its share of profits from app sales. Unlike Apple, which, as you know, keeps 30% of profits for itself.
Billing in the store will be carried out in two ways. At first, only using credit and debit cards. In the future, the ability to pay using a mobile account (payment by SMS) will be added. By the way, it would not hurt to immediately implement the possibility of blocking such purchases. The store will be accessible both directly from a mobile phone and from a PC client. Interestingly, this store will distribute not only applications for Bada, but also for other platforms. It is possible that we will see this store paired with Android Market and Windows Marketplace, that is, two competing stores will be presented in one device. Will it actually come to this? Wait and see.
We will try to get acquainted with Bada in more detail and make a detailed review of it in the near future - as soon as we have a fully working prototype on hand. The timing of the product going on sale is still unclear; Samsung is doing everything possible to ensure that the appearance of the i8500 Wave on the market not only coincides with the launch of the application store, but also that the latter is already as full as possible by that time. For Russia they promise many local applications already at the start, we’ll see how it will be for us.
The bada operating system grew out of the closed platform that powered Samsung touchscreen mobile phones in 2008-2009. Initially, the company had very ambitious plans for this OS, but over time it faded into the background due to the popularity of Android smartphones, and the pace of development slowed down significantly. Despite this, at the end of 2011, a new version of bada was officially introduced, numbered 2.0. Let's see what it is.
The bada operating system grew out of the closed platform that powered Samsung touchscreen mobile phones in 2008-2009. Initially, the company had very ambitious plans for this OS, but over time it faded into the background due to the popularity of Android smartphones, and the pace of development slowed down significantly. Despite this, at the end of 2011, a new version of bada was officially introduced, numbered 2.0. Let's see what it is.
