5 Things You Need To Know About Samsung’s Tizen OS

Android, iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry are the four major players in the smartphone world. Mozilla’s Firefox OS looks like what has been left to chase shadows but Samsung’s new mobile OS Tizen appears to have won the heart of many even before arrival.

Nokia had earlier formed a partnership with Intel to develop an open source Linux-based operating system called Moblin which was later merged with MeeGo that caused several delays. This forced Nokia to finally adopt Windows Phone OS the primary OS for its Lumia range of smartphones.

Few years after the Nokia-Intel fiasco, Samsung developed interest in Intel’s new project, a Linux-based operating system which was later known as Tizen. Tizen has been in development since 2012 and promises to ridicule the monopoly of Google’s highly rated Android OS. Samsung says it will produce a new range of smartphones running on the Tizen OS but it is unlikely Samsung will drop support for Android, as they have become the leader in the smartphone market-share accounting for roughly 63% of all Android devices.

So here’s a roundup of five things you need to know about Tizen OS.

5. Support From Intel And Samsung

Tizen is a very promising project and many analyst have nick-named it the “Android killer”. Whether Tizen OS can dent the dominance of Android is one which nobody can predict. The only valid proof would emerge once the OS becomes main-stream

Like explained in the previous slide, Tizen is an open source project within the Linux Foundation with direct technical oversight from Intel and Korean electronics giant Samsung.

After Nokia had fallen out with Intel due to multiple delays of MeeGo, the project was abandoned. Samsung’s promising LiMo OS was also abandoned by the smartphone leader in 2011. And then, Tizen was born, the combined ideas of MeeGo/SLP and LiMo later became the backbone of the new mobile OS Samsung and Intel believes will shape the future of interaction between humans and mobile devices.

4. HTML 5 Bound

Developers writing apps for Tizen have been encouraged to create apps with HTML 5. This will allow users to enjoy a clean and smoother browser experience on their smartphones. HTML 5 allows seamless integration of standard web features on mobile devices, you can embed videos and lot more without the need for plugins and it evidently conserves data.

Must Read: Samsung Smartphones Will Be Bendable In 2014 And Foldable In 2015

This makes HTML 5 which was released in 2010 a better alternative to writing apps unlike iOS and Android which uses Java and Object-C as their primary coding languages.

3. Possible Android Alternative For Samsung

Samsung has generally been successful with the Galaxy S series in terms of sales but the company has failed in making users exclusively use their messaging and other services while Google enjoys the monopoly of users using the Google Play app and other Google mobile applications on Samsung’s flagship devices. This way, Google generates profits each time an app is purchased on Samsung Phones. This of course, is the reason why Samsung wants to break Google’s monopoly by going beyond the hardware and exploring the software world with Tizen OS which will establish an ecosystem centered on Samsung.

Samsung smartphones already come with a heavily skinned version of Android known as TouchWiz, this places Samsung’s own spin on the Android interface and includes its own Samsung Apps store. This idea might not be enough as Samsung would be looking to up its revenue base and this can only be possible when the company has its own OS and calls the shots.

2. 2014 Release Date

Tizen future looks rocky as an earlier promise by Samsung to release its first Tizen phone in fall of 2013 has largely been unachievable. Samsung has subsequently refused to provide a definite release date but Choi Jong-deok, Samsung’s executive vice president insists that Tizen phones or television will hit the market “very shortly.” However, analysts believe we won’t see any Tizen devices until next year, preferably February when the winner of Tizen app contest would be announced.

One of the few things which shows that Tizen is indeed well and alive is a purported leak of Tizen 2.1 running on a Samsung phone GT-i8800.

1. Not Tied To Smartphones Alone

Samsung and Intel envision a future with Tizen which isn’t entirely tied to mobile phones but will make an appearance in cars, televisions and fridges.

Infact, at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, there was a demonstration of the power of Tizen OS for cars. There is really a lot it can do on vehicles, few details have been released by Intel which includes direct access to Google Maps for navigation and the ability to output real-time information from your car.

Tizen will also be integrated into netbooks and tablets.

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