Samsung's S8200, the first Bada phone, will reportedly launch in March

Indian gadget blog Techtree is reporting that Samsung's first device to make use of the Bada platform will be introduced at MWC and released in March.

Samsung first released details of its platform in December of last year, but there was no word on when we would first see devices based on the OS.

According to the report, the Samsung S8200 will be the first device to utilize Bada, and rumored specs include a 3.7 AMOLED screen, HSPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, Snapdragon processor and a 5-megapixel camera with autofocus.

There is one aspect of the report that gives us pause, however. The S8200 is rumored to launch with an unsubsidized price tag of $575. Considering the phone will run Samsung's TouchWiz feature phone OS, the pricing seems a bit high. After all, the sole purpose of the Bada platform, according to Samsung, is to bring smartphone-like functionality to its feature phones, thus bringing smartphone features to a much less expensive range of handsets.

On the other hand, the S8200 does pack quite a spec list according to the report, so this handset may be intended to display Bada's full potential. A phone like this would give developers a substantial starting point with which to showcase their apps.

Techtree states that the phone will be unveiled in just over a week at Mobile World Congress, so theoretically, we don't have long to wait until Samsung sets the record straight.