Orange has officially announced the Samsung Wave 578 will be added to its line up - the second NFC-capable handset in its range after the re-badged Samsung Tocco Lite.
The news isn't that much of a surprise, given that the phone was added to the 'Coming Soon' section of Orange's website last week, but now we finally get a few more details.
Orange and Barclaycard, the network's partner in the QuickTap scheme for NFC payments using the phone, promised more handsets with NFC on board, and despite the Wave 578 being over six months old, at least it's a device that was designed with the contactless technology from the start.
The Wave 578 is a budget mobile device and runs on Samsung's Bada platform. It comes with a low-res WQVGA 3.2-inch screen, 3.2MP camera and Wi-Fi with Samsung's integrated social networking.
To entice customers in, Orange and Barclaycard are extending the offer to put £10 on your account when starting up the service, and 10 per cent cashback on all QuickTap purchases in the next 90 days.
A new vision
"Paying with a mobile phone means never being without the right change, and always having access to funds. That's why I believe contactless mobile is the future of payments, and I'm keen it's made available to as many of our customers as possible," said David Chan, CEO of Barclaycard Consumer Europe
"At the launch of our first contactless handset earlier this year we promised we would roll out greater choice in the 'Quick Tap' range and I'm pleased to be able to announce the first of these new handsets today."
Unsurprisingly, the Samsung Wave 578 will land on both PAYG and contract tariffs, and will be released in the coming weeks, according to Orange.
