You might have heard the word “Tizen” many times over the past few days as several new high-end gadgets like the Samsung Gear 2 and Gear Neo run on this new operation system, but what really is Tizen? is it a modified version of Android? Lets take an in-depth look at what Tizen is, what it is meant to be used for and on what upcoming devices we will see it.
So what is Tizen? Tizen OS is an operation system for mobile devices, tablets, cameras, smart TV’s and smartwatches that is based on Linux. The OS is open source and is created by the Tizen Foundation which is a joint-effort of which various mayor tech companies are part of, among them are Samsung, Intel, Panasonic, Sprint, Vodafone, Huawei, Fujitsu and many more.
Where did Tizen come from?
Samsung used to have its own operation system called SLP (Samsung Linux Platform) which it “fused” with LiMo another linux based operation system for mobile devices but it wasn’t until semiconductor chip giant Intel joined the project back in 2011 that the operation system was renamed Tizen. Currently, the operation system is owned by the Tizen Organization of which are part the companies mentioned earlier.
Why is Tizen being implemented into Samsung devices?
The answer to this question is also the answer to why it is so important for Samsung to get Tizen on its devices. Since the first Samsung Galaxy smartphone, Samsung has used Google’s operation system called Android on its devices. Samsung has been since then the company with the most market share of devices running Android as more then 63% of smartphones running Android are Samsung. So why does Samsung want Tizen? Well, Samsung has been depending a lot on Google with Android as it almost has no creative control another mayor factor is money.
Samsung also seems to be looking into creating its own brand and not be just another smartphone manufacturer which puts some software and hardware together, instead adopt more of Apple’s philosophy which is “creating the software for the hardware” and having the control over Tizen it currently has it allows Samsung to do just that, having an in-house OS could also be a way to reduce the price of upcoming devices.
Will we see upcoming smartphones run Tizen?
Building up a brand for years takes a lot of hard work and money and Samsung won’t implement Tizen into its smartphones straight away since the consumer is used to Android and suddenly switching to Tizen could hurt the brand and decrease the market share, what it currently is doing is implementing it into its wearable devices which is a new market, with this it is also encouraging developers to start creating apps for Tizen (something we will talk about a little later).
This however doesn’t meant hat in the upcoming years we will see Samsung and other manufacturers releasing Tizen OS running smartphones and eventually fully drop Android and use only Tizen. This is something we don’t know for sure and only time will tell if Samsung is willing to completely drop Android
What about the Apps?
Apps are a mayor problem for Tizen as developers need to create new apps for the operation system but both Intel and Samsung are doing their best to get developers to create apps for Tizen. It is doing this by giving out awards to apps in the form of money. If you win the prize for best gaming app, you can win up to $200,000 while the best non-gaming app can receive up to $120,000.
What devices currently run on Tizen?
There are currently 2 mayor devices that run on Tizen which is the Gear 2 and Gear Neo Smartwatch from Samsung. But it also has its software running on 2 cameras the NX2000 and NX300. Remember that Tizen is a new OS and it takes time for new devices to be released running it, right now there are several rumors indicating that the ZEQ9000 smartphone from Samsung will run Tizen.
