Samsung Wave S8500 is equipped with a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, which has a very similar spec to the chip found in the iPhone 4. Therefore, you can be assured you are getting a lot of processing power with the Samsung Wave S8500. But perhaps more exciting is the screen, because the Samsung Wave S8500 is one of the first phones to use the next generation of Super AMOLED screens, which are designed to be much more legible in direct sunlight. As such, when using the phone outside, the Samsung Wave S8500 beats pretty much any other phone on the market, in terms of daylight legibility.

However, more important than sheer processing power is what the user can do with their phone, and the LG Optimus GT540 definitely does not disappoint. With a 5 megapixel camera (with 720p HD video capture), the Samsung Wave S8500 is capable of taking great photos and videos, which look beautiful on the 3.3-inch Super AMOLED screen.

However, while the hardware is well designed and very powerful, the real draw of the Samsung Wave S8500 is the operating system, as this phone is the first in the world to use it. It is called Bada, and it is Samsung's answer to the likes of Android and iOS. It is also easily as intuitive as those two operating systems, making the Samsung Wave S8500 an absolute joy to use.

One of the key things that makes modern smartphones so exciting is the ability to add new apps to the phone, and this also applies to the Samsung Wave S8500. Although the Bada OS is brand new, it too has its own app store, allowing new apps to be downloaded, increasing the feature-set of the Samsung Wave S8500 beyond what it has straight out of the box. The number of apps in that app store is growing daily, as well, so in future, the Samsung Wave S8500 will get even more exciting.

The Samsung Wave S8500 may well be the first of its kind, but it most definitely won't be the last. The combination of superb hardware and that brand new Bada OS make the Samsung Wave S8500 one of the most exciting smartphones on the market.