Samsung won’t give up on its Tizen operating system for smartphones: it’s launched a new handset running the OS, aimed at price-sensitive users in India.
The South Korean company uses Google’s Android operating system for most of its smartphones, but sees a potential for Tizen in low-end smartphones, wearables, TVs and the “Internet of Things,” consisting of sensor-connected devices.
The Samsung Z3 phone costs 8,490 rupees (US$130). Samsung launched its first Tizen phone, the Samsung Z1, in India in January and said in June it had sold 1 million of the 5,700 rupees phones.
The Samsung Z3, which will be available in India this month in gold, black and silver, is priced in the $100 to $150 range that is seeing the fastest growth in the country, according to analysts.
The Z3 is powered by a 1.3GHz quad core processor and has a 5-inch HD Super AMOLED display. It has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
The device has a 2,600mAh battery that allows users to operate on standby for up to 33 hours with less than 10 percent of battery life when used with Ultra Power Saving Mode. It has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. A microSD slot can be used to expand memory to 128GB. It has data compression and management features that Samsung claims can cut mobile data usage by up to 40 percent.
Samsung is offering a new app, called My Galaxy, which it says will offer a stream of personalized deals and discounts on a variety of services like content, travel and shopping. The Z3 also features Mix Radio, a free music service with over 35 million songs.