Samsung has announced the Z4 smartphone running the company’s own Tizen 3.0 operating system. It’s an entry-level device that sports a 4.5-inch display (800 x 480 pixels) with 2.5D curved glass on top and is powered by an unspecified quad-core processor clocked at 1.5 GHz. The interesting part though is not the specs, but that it’s an Android challenger targeted at developing markets.
The Samsung Z4 only has 1 GB of RAM and comes equipped with a 5 MP primary camera with an f/2.2 aperture and dual LED flash. The front-facing selfie snapper also has a 5 MP sensor with LED flash, which comes in handy when taking selfies in low-light conditions. The camera comes with a few nifty features, as it allows you to take a photo by showing your palm and smiling. You can also use the Auto Selfie feature that will snap an image with the help of facial recognition.
Some of the other features of the smartphone include a 2,500 mAh battery, dual SIM support (in some countries), and 4G connectivity. The Samsung Z4 will go on sale sometime this month in select markets, starting in India. You’ll be able to choose from a few different colors including gold, silver, and black. Not all of them will be available in every market though. The device will also be showcased at the Tizen Developer Conference, which kicks off on May 16 in San Francisco.
As you know, the vast majority of smartphones Samsung sells run Android. But the company has demonstrated time and again that it wants to reduce its reliance on Google, which is why it’s still working on its own Tizen OS. Tizen is quite popular when it comes to smartwatches and has actually surpassed Android Wear during the first quarter of the year in terms of market share.
But when it comes to smartphones, Tizen is still WAY behind Android. Pushing out affordable Tizen devices in emerging markets might go some way towards closing the gap, even if only a little. But according to Amihai Neiderman, a security researcher at Equus Software, Samsung’s operating system does have its share of problems. He found as many as 40 zero-day vulnerabilities in the OS and said that Tizen’s code may be “the worst he’d ever seen”.
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