Jump to content
The Inquirer-Home

Samsung plans a Linux based smartphone OS

Bada for Android, gooda for open source
Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 12:11

SAMSUNG PLANS TO LAUNCH its own Linux-based smartphone operating system, dubbed "Bada".

Samsung must be hoping that its Bada smartphone OS will give Google's Android a run for its money.

Bada is derived from the Korean word for 'ocean' and will be a completely open platform. If a developer can write it, Bada will run it, if it doesn't defy the laws of physics of course.

The OS is in the same league as Nokia's Maemo and the Linux Mobile Foundation's Limo project.

It will ship some time in the first half of 2010 and then carriers will have the ability to customise the operating system. There will probably be a sneak preview for developers in late December.

The telcos will love the idea of the phone being open enough for them to customise, however there could be a few problems if one of them wants to lock it down too much.

Following the Apple model, there is almost certainly going to be a centralised application store which offers downloadable software for all versions of the OS.

Currently Samsung is using Nokia's Symbian platform and it is believed that Bada will not only replace that, but end the use of Windows Mobile at the South Korean phone maker. µ

Share this:

Comments
More chair throwing at Redmond

Is bada really Linux based? As an educated guess, I assume it would have to be, for Samsung to bring it to market so quickly.

Meanwhile, over at Vole headquarters, Steve Ballmer must be throwing chairs across the room. Another major partner, Samsung, to ditch Windows Mobile. Palm and Motorola recently deserted the sinking ship. Soon there won't be any manufacturers left in the WinMo camp. Somebody must be delivering a load of fresh chairs to Ballmer's office right now.

posted by : Ken, 10 November 2009 Complain about this comment
From someone who has been involved...

I've seen the Baba device - it wont be replacing iPhone or WinMo anytime soon...

posted by : Bob, 10 November 2009 Complain about this comment
Bing

Can I run Bing on Bada?

posted by : Ben, 10 November 2009 Complain about this comment
Dong

We already have Android, customize it as much as you want, they need to focus on it and make it better instead of making more unneeded competition. why reinvent the wheel ?

posted by : Maj, 10 November 2009 Complain about this comment
Competition is great!

I want one!

I have seen several iterations of Windows CE/Pocket PC/Mobile/what-do-you-call-it-today. You can't even run Java apps on them, not to mention any other in house stuff. Microsoft should stop burning money and concentrate on the desktop. Mobile is giving Windows a bad name!

I recently migrated to Linux on my desktop and I'm still learning, but I love it! And all the apps are legal, too!

posted by : Mobile User, 10 November 2009 Complain about this comment
Bah

I'm sure Bada is very similar to Android.

Here is the Kicker. Will Bada be open source? Cause Android isn't and that gooes against Linux. Sure Google has helped Linux a little bit but If Bada takes off this just might Push Linux even farther?

posted by : grndzro, 11 November 2009 Complain about this comment
Makes sense

This makes sense to me, one thing about open software is the lack of conformity. The endless branching can have its bad side, but eventually we all benefit from all the distros that branch out. Competition is good, even in the open source market. So dont complain about the branching.

posted by : missingxtension, 11 November 2009 Complain about this comment
Truly open platform?

It seems that til now we still have no one platform that is truly open to flip with, not even on "opensource" platform. We still cannot write app directly on them (like Motorola's linux phone, which have JAVA sitting ontop), and have no direct access to the hardware...

What's the fun that we cannot access the hardware?

posted by : aNewbie, 11 November 2009 Complain about this comment
Maemo

Surely Maemo is the best for liberty on the handheld - you can simply gain root and install any packages you want.

As far as I'm concerned N900 is in a class of its own

posted by : Piro, 11 November 2009 Complain about this comment
planning? Samsung is already delivering LiMo phone

The mobile phone from Samsung, GT-I8320, is already Linux based and opensourced, ref:

http://opensource.samsungmobile.com/download/OpenSource/GT-I8320_OpenSource.zip

posted by : mondoblu, 11 November 2009 Complain about this comment
Advertisement
Subscribe to the INQ Newsletter
Sign-up for the INQBot weekly newsletter
Click here to sign up Existing user
Advertisement
INQ Poll

Nvidia Fermi

Will graphics cards built with Nvidia's Fermi GPUs be a hit?