As previously reported, Samsung has brought its first ever Tizen-powered smartphone Samsung Z1 in Bangladesh. The company made the official inauguration of the device in Dhaka today.
Priced at 6,900 Taka, Samsung Z1 will arrive in stores on February 5. The smartphone is powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor with 768MB RAM and 4 GB of internal storage. It supports microSD card so you can expand the storage up to 64GB.
The phone has a 4-inch display with 480 x 800 pixels resolution. It has dual-SIM card slot and because of the operating system and Ultra Power Saving mode, the 1500mAh battery backup may be somewhat longer than most Android phones.
Samsung Z1 has a 3.1 MP camera on the back and a 0.3 MP camera on the front. So if you’re into selfie, this is definitely a phone not for you. In fact, the phone’s audience is quite different from what Samsung targets with most of its other Android smartphones. According to Samsung, the Tizen-powered smartphone is aimed at people who are still using feature phone and looking upgrade to an affordable smartphone. The Samsung Z1 has a handful of popular applications, including Facebook and LinkedIn. In addition to these, the phone will come preloaded with a Festival Wallpaper which will show the date of national festivals and holidays.
Tizen is a relatively new operating system that Samsung and other companies — including Intel and Huawei — have been developing over the past few years. After the Korean giant’s Bada OS failed to gain momentum, the company started developing Tizen operating system in order to make smartphones affordable and run better on low hardware. The company also wants to reduce its dependence on Google for Android operating system.
Tizen is far from being a competitor to Android. At present, the only phone that’s running on Tizen operating system out of the box is Samsung Z1. The company said it would produce upcoming Tizen-powered smartphones in neighboring country, India. When there are more Tizen-powered devices to choose from, we’ll get to see how the Tizen phones compete against low-cost Android phones, particularly those from Google’s Android One program.
But for now, Tizen remains a bargain for most users. One of the best things about Android is the huge array of apps that are available for it. By contrast, Tizen only has some 1,000 apps on its store. The number will go up in the coming days, but for now, it may be difficult to convince people to buy Samsung Z1 who are already familiar with Android phones.
Would you be interested in a Tizen-powered Samsung Z1 phone in this price?
