Hasta La Gadget!

It is safe to say that in the smartphone platform market at the moment, the main players are probably Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and BlackBerry. There are of course other platforms out there such as Sailfish OS, Tizen, and Firefox OS. While not to say that these smaller operating systems have no chance at beating out the big guys, doing it on their own could be a long and tough journey, which is why Samsung’s Chief Secretary, Wonsuk Lee, recently expressed interest in teaming up with the folks at Mozilla to bring Firefox OS and Tizen closer together. This is not necessarily a merger, but rather a combination of forces, especially since both platforms support the development of HTML5.

While Samsung continues to rely on Google’s Android operating system for its revenue, Tizen and Firefox OS have been designed to support low-end devices which could help them break into emerging markets. At the moment Microsoft’s Windows Phone and BlackBerry devices are doing relatively well in emerging markets such as India, so perhaps by combining forces, they will be able to gain some traction there. Samsung has also expressed their belief that one day both Tizen and Firefox OS could grow to the point where they might be able to give iOS and Android a run for their money, a little ironic given that Samsung is very reliant on Android at the moment. In any case what do you guys think of the idea of Mozilla and Samsung teaming up?

Tizen And Firefox OS Should Team Up, According To Samsung original content from Ubergizmo.

Samsung has made it clear that its Tizen operating system won’t only be limited to tablets and smartphones. The company aims to create an entire ecosystem which will include all sorts of devices, from smart TVs to infotainment systems in vehicles. Apparently Tizen might find its way into your kitchen as well, if reports coming in from Korea are true. Samsung will reportedly launch a “smart fridge” at CES 2014, one that will be powered by Tizen. This would be the company’s second Tizen device, the first being its smart camera.

Apparently the smart fridge will have a built-in PAD with a large display, it will run on Nexell’s Application Processor and is likely to have 512MB or 256MB of RAM. Nominal built-in flash storage is expected, and so is Wi-Fi b/g/n support. Samsung hasn’t commented on the rumor as yet, and hasn’t confirmed if it plans to bring Tizen over to home appliances as well. There’s no word as yet when the first Tizen powered smartphone will be released, there’s quite a lot of hype surrounding it. Samsung was initially rumored to launch it this year, but it has apparently delayed it to 2014. It is unclear if Samsung plans on making a Tizen phone related announcement as well at CES 2014.

Samsung Reportedly Launching Tizen Powered Smart Fridge At CES 2014 original content from Ubergizmo.

When it comes to targeting emerging markets, Microsoft’s Windows Phone appears to be doing pretty well for itself, with low-end budget devices like the Nokia Lumia 520 selling like hotcakes over in India. Well it turns out that Samsung wants a bigger piece of that pie and has introduced a version of Tizen known as Tizen Lite. This particular version of Tizen is meant to target lower-end devices that might not feature such great hardware specs, and according to Samsung’s specifications, will play nicely with devices with RAM as low as 256MB.

Other supported hardware specs of Tizen Lite include a display resolution 320×480, which is almost pitiable by today’s Full HD standards, and 1GB of onboard storage, with 512MB of that storage going to the operating system alone. Of course depending on the manufacturer (who might not necessarily be exclusively Samsung), those specs can be improved, but given that Tizen Lite will require such minimal specs, budget devices do appear to be its target market. In any case it is likely that these budget devices will make its way to emerging markets, as opposed to more developed markets where the market is already considered to be saturated, but it’s worth keeping an eye out for nonetheless.

Tizen Lite Will Target Lower-End Devices With 256MB Of RAM original content from Ubergizmo.

We have heard how Samsung plans to launch Tizen-based products in the near future, but as it turns out, they have already done so. If you might recall, earlier in October Samsung announced the NX300M camera which was essentially a minor upgrade over the NX300 and was destined for launch only in South Korea. Little did we know, the NX300M is actually Samsung’s first product that is running on the Tizen platform which apparently aided in the camera booting up reportedly twice as fast, and also improved its camera performance, which we can’t attest to since we have yet to try it ourselves.

For those who have tried the NX300M or have read reviews and you like what you see and hear, hopefully this camera technology (software side, of course) will make its way onto Samsung’s Tizen-based smartphones, which according to Samsung during their Tizen Developer Summit In South Korea, will make their debut in Q1 2014, although no specific dates were mentioned. The Tizen smartphones are expected to run in Tizen 2.2.1 but will see an update to Tizen 3.0 when the update is available come Q3 2014 which will see multi-user accounts, 64-bit architecture support, better 3D rendering and more.

Samsung NX300M Is The Company’s First Tizen Product original content from Ubergizmo.

Is Tizen dead? Perhaps not, although the platform and its accompanying hardware have yet to see the light of day, at least as far as Samsung is concerned. We had originally heard that Samsung’s first Tizen smartphones were due for a launch in Q3 2013 but that has obviously not happened, and last we heard, Samsung’s CEO had apparently delayed the release on purpose so as to create an operating system whose experience would be an amazing one. In any case according to recent rumors, chances of seeing a Samsung Tizen device in 2013 would be unlikely as it would seem that Samsung has since delayed the operating system (again) and will see a launch in 2014 instead.

While it is understandable and greatly appreciated by many that Samsung would be willing to delay the platform to create the best experience possible, just like how game developers delay games to iron out all the kinks, the practice might not be so applicable for smartphones. Platforms such as Windows Phone are slowly gaining market share and with new platforms such as Sailfish and Mozilla’s Firefox OS entering the market, a delay would just mean that Samsung would be late to party with customers having already committed themselves to another platform. What do you guys think? Is Samsung making a mistake by delaying Tizen yet again?

Samsung’s Tizen Smartphone Delayed To 2014 [Rumor] original content from Ubergizmo.