The Samsung Wave created a new wave last year for being the first bada-powered handset. It started soaring popular charts because of its S-AMOLED screen, impressive hardware specifications and affordable pricing. We were expecting Samsung to roll out OS updates for the Wave – the company had promised it, remember? Well, now here’s the latest.

There is news that the company will roll out the bada 1.2 update soon — first across Europe, and subsequently in other parts of the world before the first quarter of the year is over. Finally… looks like the promise will be kept. And Wave users can expect the update to be rolled this very month. There is buzz that the update will be a major one, with changes pertaining to performance and a lot of improvements, besides, of course, a few bug fixes. Improvements will include support for FLAC format (an improved media player), an improved battery life and better GPS performance.

There’s also been talk about pre-installed widgets and a new keyboard called ‘Trace’. What about Trace? We hear it will be similar to Swype where you need to simply ‘swipe’ your fingers through the letters to form the word you want.

To update the handset to bada 1.2, Wave owners in Europe will need to use the company’s KIES software.