Samsung's new Tizen phone touted for bigger things

 

The South Korean consumer electronics colossus showed off the Samsung Z, its first Tizen-powered smartphone, in a break from the ubiquitous Android operating system used in the majority of its devices.

 

Samsung touted Tizen as a platform not just for phones, but for a range of connected devices from home appliances to door locks and watches which may communicate with one another in the future.

 

The unveiling came a day after Apple -- a few blocks away in San Francisco -- unveiled a coming new version of its iOS mobile operating system with capabilities that could have iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices vying for that same spot in the middle of a what is billed as the booming Internet-of-Things.

 

The world's biggest smartphone maker made its pitch at the Tizen Developer Conference, a forum that aims to help the platform become a rival to Android and Apple's iOS.

 

Samsung showed off a line of Tizen-powered devices ranging from Tizen-Android cameras to its freshly announced smartphone powered entirely by the South Korean technology firm's open-source operating system.

 

Samsung even teased a prototype smart television that connects to rich online content using Tizen.

 

Along with being enticed with contests offering cash prizes for winning applications, the approximately 1,000 developers at the keynote presentation were urged to check out an Open Smart Home project for "monitoring and controlling devices in the home or on the body all together" whether from one's living room or from half a world away.

 

"The goal of this project is to have it evolve into services for the entire Internet-of-Things," Samsung executive vice president and Tizen technical steering committee co-chair Jong-Deok Choi said during an on-stage presentation.

"We plan to have this project implemented through Tizen."

 

Samsung announced Monday the launch of a new smartphone based on its own operating system, in a step towards independence from the Google Android platform that dominates its popular handsets.

 

The Samsung Z, which has been specially developed to run on the Tizen platform, will go on sale in Russia in the third quarter of this year before reaching other markets.

 

The vast majority of Samsung's devices, including its flagship Galaxy S smartphones, use the Android operating system.