Samsung Z, the first Tizen Smartphone to launch in Q3 2014 – Details

Samsung is slowly and steadily experimenting with the Tizen OS in their products, and after the cameras and smart watches, the company has now unveiled its first smartphone powered by the Tizen OS, the Samsung Z. This phone is going to be launched by the Korean electronics giant in Russia in the third quarter of the year. The open source software from Samsung was recently used in the Samsung Gear 2 and Gear 2 neo smart watches and then Samsung sent it via a software update to the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, which was earlier running the Android OS.

According to Samsung, the use of Tizen OS allows for a faster start-up and saving time, immediate multitasking capabilities and a fast web browsing. The home screen has a layout similar to the Android OS, and it gives the access to the favorite features and apps. Apart from that, the Samsung Z has a dynamic box in the interface along with the color themes settings for the users to change it the way they want.

“Samsung is committed to enhancing the mobile experience of consumers with innovation that is both personal and unique to their needs,” said DJ Lee, President and Head of Global Sales & Marketing Office, Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics. “The Samsung Z integrates the power and adaptability of the Tizen platform, enabling users to browse the web faster and utilize applications more effectively.”

Specifications wise, the Samsung Z smartphone comes with a 4.9-inch Super AMOLED display with the HD resolution, and internally there is a 2.3 GHz processor. The smartphone is said to support the 2D and 3D graphics. The camera on the rear side is a 8-megapixel one while the front one is a 2.1-megapixel camera. The special features in this device are – Fingerprint sensor and Ultra Power Saving mode, the features which were introduced and available only in the Samsung Galaxy S5. It’s the Tizen 2.2.1 OS which would be running in the device, and there is a 2GB RAM support. On the connectivity side, the Samsung Z supports the 4G LTE Cat 4 and Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, USB 2.0, NFC and the IR Remote, while the battery has a capacity of 2600 mAh.

While Samsung’s Tizen series of smartphones won’t be able to have an access to the vast ecosystem of apps available on the Google Play Store, but with the market share that Samsung has in the Android smartphone market, they are trying to have a control over their future by relying less on the Google’s Android OS and the restrictions laid by Google for the OEMs. The homegrown software is what would give Samsung a hold in the market in the near future if they are able to market and sell the Tizen based smartphones well. For now, it is still pretty new for Samsung and there won’t be many buyers mainly for the apps.

There have been quite a lot of issues for the entry of Samsung Z, because after the hardware and software part, Samsung had to struggle to get the carrier support, the apps and the features which the company can pitch to launch it successfully. The third quarter is the expected time for the phone to be launched in Russia, and it should follow in the other countries later.

Samsung will be showcasing the Samsung Z smartphone at the Tizen Developer Conference, which is being held this week in San Francisco, where there would be a focus on the OS and the smart watches as well.