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Cellphones Operating Systems

Samsung Enters Smartphone Wars With Bada OS 175

MojoKid writes "Samsung is betting there's room for more in the smartphone market and has unveiled its new bada OS. The name 'bada,' means 'ocean' in Korean and was chosen to convey the 'limitless variety of potential applications which can be created using the new platform.' Samsung claims the OS is extremely simple for developers, saying that bada was built to be extremely interactive with its users — including flash control, motion sensing, fine-tuned vibration control and face detection. Samsung is hoping developers will take this user interface and create a variety of applications focused around it, and thus provide different types of apps than exist for the iPhone and Android OS. The bada OS has a variety of sensors, including accelerometers, tilt, weather, proximity and activity. Samsung will be hosting a series of Developer Days in Seoul, London and San Francisco, among other cities, throughout 2010."
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Samsung Enters Smartphone Wars With Bada OS

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  • BadOS? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Spazztastic ( 814296 ) <spazztastic@gmai ... inus threevowels> on Thursday December 10, 2009 @07:58AM (#30387032)

    BadOS? Was Windows Mobile rebranded?

  • Oh goody! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by yelvington ( 8169 ) on Thursday December 10, 2009 @08:01AM (#30387046) Homepage

    To go with their new, incompatible OS, maybe they can introduce yet another new, incompatible power plug and a new, incompatible headphone jack!

    • by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Thursday December 10, 2009 @08:05AM (#30387084) Homepage Journal

      The entire user interface should be written in a custom natural language, or maybe Esperanto. Interlingua or Lojban. Forcing customer lock-in because once they learn to read and speak in a proprietary langauge they won't want to switch to a different device. This fits in nicely with using custom connectors for power and headphones. Custom memory cards are also an option here, although Sony invented that idea first.

    • Re:Oh goody! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Spazztastic ( 814296 ) <spazztastic@gmai ... inus threevowels> on Thursday December 10, 2009 @08:09AM (#30387104)

      To go with their new, incompatible OS, maybe they can introduce yet another new, incompatible power plug and a new, incompatible headphone jack!

      Oh, yeah. I had a Blackjack and I had all the things I would need. Car adapter, headphone adapter, extended battery. I get the Blackjack II, it has all new adapters. So I have to buy a new headphone adapter, car adapter, and they don't include an extended battery with it in the box! In fact, they don't even have one!

      Fuck Samsung's phones. They make great TVs, though.

    • seriously. i bought a delve because with us cellular at the time my only affordable options were the touchscreen delve or the blackberry curve 8830 or some such. the delve has a gps in it, i didnt travel enough to buy a stand alone, so i thought...nice. i cant use the gps when im roaming, at all, its completely useless. i wasnt told this when i purchased it. i dont need local gps...im from local. when i complained later the sales rep giggled. what a jackass.

      the delve is a worthless piece of garbage and ill

    • Hey, what’s wrong with healthy competition? Do you prefer a Windows-like monoculture? Even a Linux monoculture would not be good.
      Besides: If it’s a great OS, then I welcome it.
      If it is bad, it will fail anyway, because nobody will want to code for it.

      The average user couldn’t care less, what the OS on it is. :)

  • OS wars are over (Score:5, Interesting)

    by OrangeTide ( 124937 ) on Thursday December 10, 2009 @08:02AM (#30387058) Homepage Journal

    We figured out in the 1990s that writing your own OS every couple of years doesn't scale. You just end up isolating your developers from the rest of the industry.

    I've written a few worthless OSes myself. One of them actually gets used still. But I wrote it out of desperation, not as a business model.

    • by Spazztastic ( 814296 ) <spazztastic@gmai ... inus threevowels> on Thursday December 10, 2009 @08:10AM (#30387112)

      I've written a few worthless OSes myself. One of them actually gets used still. But I wrote it out of desperation, not as a business model.

      Hey guys, get your pitchforks and torches! I think I found the guy who wrote Windows!

    • Yup, indeed. One more Linux distribution for Smartphones.

      Look like the explosion of Linux Distros [futurist.se] that we saw slready is happening all over again on the smartphones.
      Well, if history has taught us anything, we already know how it will end :
      the majority of them will either collapse or get restricted into some special niche.
      only a few of the old timer will stay (probably Android among them ?)

      On the upside, that's one more Linux-kernel-based system being sold out there. Just showing that it's a perfectly viable

    • Re:OS wars are over (Score:4, Informative)

      by Aladrin ( 926209 ) on Thursday December 10, 2009 @09:03AM (#30387562)

      It's not truly an OS. It can run either on a Linux-based kernel or another, and which they choose depends on the hardware configuration for some reason. It's more of a series of layers on top of an OS.

      • Oh I totally didn't get that when I read the article. That's not so terrible then.

        I'm especially touchy on this issue because I'm dealing with a vendor who wrote a kernel/OS from scratch instead of using something off-the-shelf. And it's been 3 source drops in 2 months and each one has an incompatible API and update protocol. So I have to match the PC-side installer/flashing tool with the version I need to install, versions that are only weeks apart in age.

        • by Aladrin ( 926209 )

          I had to dig into the developers pages to find it. They definitely made it sound like it was custom from the ground up.

        • by Pieroxy ( 222434 )

          ...when I read the article...

          This must be your first day, so I join the crowd to welcome you to slashdot.

      • So it IS Windows! ^^

  • by fridaynightsmoke ( 1589903 ) on Thursday December 10, 2009 @08:04AM (#30387072) Homepage
    very likely to come with Bada Bing.
  • Wouldn't it be better to have a limitless variety of actual applications?
    • by rho ( 6063 )

      All they need is a dozen "flashlight" applications, some Tetris clones and a Winnie-the-Pooh theme and you've essentially duplicated the Blackberry App World.

      • by Tyr_7BE ( 461429 )

        Looking at app world now, it looks like there's at least a few thousand on there. I was able to download a network file manager, VNC client, and SSH client, all of which I use pretty much daily. Plus good old Shazam.

        I get it, you have so far installed a dozen flashlight applications, some tetris clones, and a winnie-the-pooh theme. But there's more out there. Just open up the application and take a look.

        • Out of interest, did you find a free VNC and SSH client?
          I've only found the paid ones, which after paying for the VNC client three times on three different handsets and never once getting a reply to a mail requesting that they transfer my license to a new PIN, I'm not paying for again.

  • that's a really badaos
  • Not an OS per se... (Score:5, Informative)

    by ThoughtMonster ( 1602047 ) on Thursday December 10, 2009 @08:14AM (#30387130) Homepage

    ...as it doesn't specify a single kernel. [source] [linuxfordevices.com] It's more of a unified platform for development on Samsung phones.

    It also probably uses EFL, as Samsung was recently shown to sponsor the development of Enlightenment and its supporting libraries [source] [phoronix.com]

    With Nokia moving to a unified development environment across most of their devices, it's really not a surprising move for the #2 mobile phone manufacturer in the world.

    • Moving to? They had S40 and S60 (SDKs) for nearly a decade! Now Maemo Linux got added to the top end. Probably to replace S80 and the old Meamo stuff.

      I don’t think they will put it on S40 phones any time soon though.

      • by sznupi ( 719324 )

        S40 and S60 aren't unified. S40 isn't Symbian! At most you can see many features previously reserved for S60 trickling down to S40 phones (they even have Webkit browser now...)

        What parent probably meant is that Nokia moves towards writing apps in Qt on both Symbian and Maemo (where he is wrong is in suggesting that constitutes "most of their devices")

        Unless you count j2me...

  • Sensors (Score:2, Interesting)

    by SeeSchloss ( 886510 )

    The bada OS has a variety of sensors, including accelerometers, tilt, weather, proximity and activity.

    Now, please explain how an OS can possess sensors?

  • slashdotOS (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10, 2009 @08:25AM (#30387208)

    Based on goatseOS, lets you get your dots on all your slashes. Coming to the trollphone and dogballs netbook in 2016.

  • It's Linux (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Kupfernigk ( 1190345 ) on Thursday December 10, 2009 @08:28AM (#30387236)
    Which makes 3: Android, Maemo, bada. 4 if you count Moblin. It will be interesting to see how the market share of the iPhone stacks up against the total for the 4 Linux flavors this time next year.

    I think some people are misunderstanding diversity. For a consumer device like a mobile phone, having multiple versions in the market is held to stimulate demand. It makes sense for manufacturers to optimise their kernels and support for the devices they want to use, then offer a consistent developer interface. It also makes sense for developers - large manufacturers like Samsung want to have a "community" of developers, not people who produce a product that works with the competition as well. It is then worth investing support effort in those developers, because they are not giving it away to the competition.

    As I say, we'll see in a year how this pans out. Meanwhile, 4 multitasking relatively open platforms versus a pretty and slick but less capable one. 2010 looks interesting.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by LWATCDR ( 28044 )

      Well of the Linux Smartphone systems they all have some failings when you compair them to the iPhone.
      Palm. I would say that the UI on the Palm is every bit as good as the the iPhone if not better. The Card interface really is easy to use and intuitive.
      The SDK sucks. It is extremely limited. I found several things that I just couldn't do with the offical SDK within just minutes.
      1. Can not detect if it is plugged in and charging.
      2. Can not control the camera flash.
      It also still lacks a few features. No Video

  • But does it run Linux!?

    http://www.bada.com/a-glimpse-at-samsung-bada/ [bada.com]

    "The kernel layer, which can be based on a real-time OS or Linux kernel, depending on hardware configuration"

    That's a definite 'maybe'.

    • A kernel based on a Linux kernel ... sounds like they might be heading towards either "nifty contribution to the Linux codebase for embedded devices" or "GPL violation" here.

  • Samsung is betting there's room for more in the smartphone market...

    I may not be a high priced marketing exec or whatnot but I would take that bet. In fact, I'd happily wager that the smartphone market reached its limit a while ago... But, hey, good luck there Samsung.

    • Really? I mean seriously? Take what is called a smartphone today. You don't think in 5, 10, 20 years pretty much everyone who's got a cell phone now will have a cell phone then that does everything that these devices do? We won't call them smartphones then, we'll just call them phones. Just like most (yes, not all, I know) people have a cell phone with a camera now, and nobody calls them camera phones.

      • I didn't say the market couldn't bear more smartphones - I said smartphone OSes. How many computer operating systems are there? How many are notable forces in the industry? A smartphone OS is little different and the reasons that the computer market can really only bear a small handful of serious contenders are the exact same reasons that the smartphone market can only bear a similarly small handful of smartphone OSes. Already we have a large handful of smartphone OSes as serious contenders in the marketpla
        • by sznupi ( 719324 )

          Samsung is one of the largest cellphone manufacturers, second only to Nokia and significantly ahead of rest of the pack.

          Whatever Samsung wants to be popular, will be popular.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10, 2009 @09:01AM (#30387540)

    In A.D. 2009
    Smartphone war was beginning.

    Steve Jobs: What happen?
    Steve's assistant: Somebody set up us the Samsung Bada.

    Apple technician: We get UMTS signal.
    Steve Jobs: What?

    (...)

    • by Hurricane78 ( 562437 ) <deleted&slashdot,org> on Thursday December 10, 2009 @03:13PM (#30393352)

      (...)
      Apple technician: Main bubble turn on!
      Steve Jobs: It's Tux !!
      Tux: How are you fanboys !!
      Tux: All your phone are belong to us.
      Tux: You are on the way to bailout.
      Steve Jobs: What you say !!
      Tux: You have no chance to form bubbly make your time.
      Tux: HA HA HA HA ....
      Steve Jobs: Take off every 'iPhone' !!
      Steve Jobs: You know what you selling.
      Steve Jobs: Move 'iPhone'.
      Steve Jobs: For great justice.

  • The potential of this didn't escape me though. Motion sensor, accelerometer,face detection, doubtless GPS so while we can use this as a personal theremin ,Big Brother or malware can now not only tell where we are, but what we're doing and recognize the face of the one we're doing it to.

    O.k. ,o.k. , it's pretty out there but I haven't had coffee and yours hasn't taken hold yet.

  • ..to implement their search functionality directly into the OS. (wait for it) It will be called -

    BadaBing.

    Thank you! I'll be here all week! Try the veal!

  • "The name 'bada,' means 'ocean' in Korean and was chosen to convey the 'limitless variety of potential applications which can be created using the new platform.'"

    That statement is almost as meaningless as this post. Personally, I prefer actual applications to 'potential applications'. Of course, would you release a new phone OS with a name that conveyed a limited variety of potential applications? To heck with actual applications.

    Deliver us from marketers. What drivel.

  • The BADa OS? Is this like when a Western company releases a product in the mysterious East or that there Southern Hemisphere place, and it turns out their made up product name translates to "rat feces" or "your mother is a whore" or something?
  • bada*s phone! :P
  • Samsung sucks (Score:5, Informative)

    by Zebedeu ( 739988 ) on Thursday December 10, 2009 @10:45AM (#30388626)

    I wish I'd known about this a few months ago.

    I bought an Android-based Samsung Galaxy which is great hardware-wise (standard connectors, 8GB flash built-in and still the best-looking Android phone out there, in my opinion), but looks to be basically abandoned software-wise.

    Just this week Samsung pushed another small update for the same Android 1.5 which came with the system at a time when Android 2.1 devices are already available from other vendors. There have been rumours that Samsung has no intentions of upgrading the system software to even 1.6, and they're not communicating anything to the community.

    This sucks since more and more apps are coming out requiring at least 1.6, such as the google maps navigation and google goggles.
    Hell, at least they could allow changes to the baseband so that the community could build their own system. It kind of defeats the whole purpose of having an open-source OS when you can't use the radio because it's locked down [twitter.com].

    In fact, unlike other Android phones, you need Samsung's crappy, bloated, windows-only software just to upgrade the system's firmware. The other get automatic over-the-air updates.

    My advice to anyone considering an Android phone is to go with HTC (they're still supporting the G1) or Motorola (they have their future riding on Android). Samsung isn't getting my money again.

    • by sznupi ( 719324 )

      Or this Android phone of yours is considered by Samsung to be a bad experience, so they have no hard feelings in abandoning it and concentrating on their own platform ;p

      They are big enough for it to quickly become popular; I wouldn't be surprised if a year from now it will have more marketshare than Android...

      • by Zebedeu ( 739988 )

        Well, if they don't like Android, why do they keep releasing new models?

        Actually, I don't care how they feel about the platform. Once you release a product you're responsible for supporting your customers, at least for a reasonable time frame (they are still selling this model).

        Worse case, open up the platform so that at least the community can take up their work. Actually that would improve Samsung's image a lot more than if they were to release an Android 2.x update.

  • Bada bing, bada boom!

    So use google, or else.

  • We can say "Bada bing, bada bang, bada *boom*"
  • by Tarlus ( 1000874 )

    I'm all for competition, but when so many competitors start to cross the line of market saturation it really just sets us back to where we started.

    I mean, I like the idea of having the iPhones and Androids and Palm Pre's duking it out for domination of the mobile phone market but when you have dozens of other types of phone OS's all trying to get in on the action then suddenly we're back to where we started. Hundreds of phones and no real consistency between them.

    And before Slashdotters inevitably decide th

  • This is only barely related to this article, but hey... this is Slashdot.

    Reading the word Ocean it struck me odd that it's two syllables. Generally, the older and more basic the concept, the shorter the word. But then I recalled that "sea" was another name for ocean, which is about as basic as sounds can be for something.

    Then something struck me about that word: the sounds kind of sound like it describes, wind and waves splashing. Could the word 'sea' actually be an onomatopoeia? The dictionary doesn't real

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