Samsung is developing its first smartphone with Tizen 3.0

By Christian de Looper January 24, 2017

samsung sm z250f news tizen

Samsung’s self-built Tizen operating system is used on most of the company’s wearables as well as some of its smartphones — and it may ultimately replace Android for Samsung, which likely wants to free itself from Google’s grasp. Well, it looks like Samsung is developing yet another Tizen-powered phone — but this one will be the first device running Tizen 3.0.

According to reports, the phone internally goes by the name “Pride,” and it has the model number SM-Z250F. It will be launched in India, and reports suggest it might be launched in other parts of Asia, too — though it probably won’t make it to the U.S.

The phone will reportedly be an entry-level device, but that doesn’t mean that Samsung won’t launch more Tizen-based phones in the future.

Not much is known about the phone’s specs just yet, however some reports indicate that the device may include Samsung’s in-development digital assistant Bixby. Bixby is also rumored to be the digital assistant for Samsung’s upcoming flagship, the Galaxy S8, which will likely run Android — so it will be interesting to see how the assistant performs on a different operating system, and in particular if its functionality is any better on Tizen considering Samsung can more deeply integrate the assistant.

In any case, we’ll likely hear more about SM-Z250F and Bixby over the next few months. Samsung recently acquired artificial intelligence startup Viv Labs, which is largely the brains behind the assistant, according to rumors. Viv Labs was also created by some members of the team that created Siri, Apple’s digital assistant. It will be interesting to see if other Tizen-based smartphones from the company also come with Bixby — and we’re betting that indeed they will.

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Christian de Looper

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Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…

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