Samsung today announced the Samsung Z, the first smartphone to run its home-grown Tizen platform. The phone strongly resembles Samsung’s Android smartphones and will launch in Russia during the third quarter of the year.
Samsung has spent years developing Tizen as an alternative to Android, though it has delayed the launch of Tizen-based phones several times. According to Samsung, the Z’s Tizen operating system offers fast start-up times, 3D graphics, ultra power savings mode, multitasking, multi-colored themes, and a customizable home screen. It comes with Samsung’s S Health software, as well as its own app store. Since the Z runs Tizen, it does not include apps and services normally found on Android devices, such as Gmail and Google Maps. Samsung has developed its own alternatives to these apps.
The Samsung Z’s hardware features a 4.8-inch 720p HD screen, 2.3GHz quad-core processor, and an 8-megapixel main camera with dual-shot, panorama, best photo, and mini mode. Other hardware features include a fingerprint scanner, 2.1-megapixel user-facing camera, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and support for microSD cards up to 64GB. Radio support includes Cat 4 LTE, Bluetooth 4.0, dual-band Wi-Fi, GPS/GLONASS, NFC, and infrared.
Samsung said though the Z will first be sold in Russia, it expects to expand availability to other markets over time. Pricing is expected to be less than that of Samsung’s Android devices.
