The handset is expected to go on sale in India soon

Nov 18, 2014 13:21 GMT  ·  By

Samsung’s Tizen OS is finally about to make its debut on the market after being delayed a few times. However, the mobile platform won’t benefit from a worldwide launch, as Samsung is going to release the first smartphone powered by this OS in select markets.

For the time being, SamMobile reports the first Tizen OS-powered smartphone to go on sale will be available in India soon. Codenamed KIRAN, the upcoming handset’s UAProf (User Agent Profile) appeared online on Samsung’s website several weeks ago, but no details on specs or release date emerged along with its simple mention.

Today, the cited source is back with more info on Samsung SM-Z130H, an entry-level Tizen smartphone, which is supposed to go on sale in India at some point.

It appears that Samsung doesn’t want to risk too much or perhaps it would be better to say that the South Korean company is not willing to bet too much on Tizen OS, which is why it will launch a cheap smartphone in just one country.

Samsung may also have something else in mind, like increasing the hype around Tizen OS in emerging markets and then launch a high-end device if there’s enough demand.

We suspect Samsung doesn’t have a clear plan for Tizen OS for the moment, but wants to go with an entry-level phone now because the company invested a lot of resources in the project.

On paper, the SM-Z130H doesn’t stand a chance against other budget-friendly smartphones available in India, but Samsung hopes that Tizen OS will give its cheap handset some leverage over other devices in the same price range.

The smartphone will be preloaded with some Google services and apps

The KIRAN is powered by a dual-core Spreadtrum SC7727S processor clocked at 1.2GHz and a Mali-400 graphics processing unit. The smartphone will be packed with only 512MB of RAM, but there’s no mention of internal memory.

On the back, the device features a 3.2-megapixel camera with LED flash, while in the front there’s a secondary VGA camera. The smartphone sports a WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) display of unknown size.

Connectivity-wise, the KIRAN will offer dual-SIM capability, along with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with A-GPS support and microUSB 2.0. FM Radio will be included as well.

When it comes to software, the upcoming smartphone will be powered by Tizen 2.3 OS. The UI that will come inside the KIRAN looks very much like the current TouchWiz UI, which isn’t surprising considering this is a heavy Samsung project.

There’s no word on when exactly the smartphone will go on sale in India, but we do know it will come pre-loaded with several social apps like Facebook and Twitter, as well as some Google services and apps.

Tizen UI (8 Images)

Tizen-powered smartphone
Tizen UI (Home screen)Tizen UI (Contacts)
+5more