Samsung’s first Tizen smartphone is still expected to arrive

Jan 12, 2015 12:40 GMT  ·  By

Samsung first-ever Tizen smartphone, the Z1 has gained a mythical status. The handset has been announced, delayed, cancelled, brought back from the dead only to make itself scarce again.

At this point, we’re not exactly sure whether this handset will ever make it out into the sunlight, albeit some sources indicated January 18 as a possible date.

One of the main reasons Samsung has been putting off launching its first Tizen handset is the nascent app ecosystem. At least that’s what leaksters are saying anyway.

Samsung doesn't believe the Tizen app portfolio is rich enough to sustain interest from the consumer base. And it might not be wrong. But developing an appropriate application portfolio takes time.

Sammy has been desperately trying to spare time thus delaying its Tizen mobile device even more.

WhatsApp will be usable on the Z1

Now it appears the Korean tech giant has meanwhile managed to get some partners onboard. As a bunch of leaked screenshots coming to us curtsy of Tizen Experts reveal the upcoming Z1 smartphone will be able to handle the super popular messaging client WhatsApp.

However, it's unclear whether this is a native WhatsApp app or just the regular Android version. It's possible that the Tizen handset will be able to run Android apps after all, via either Infraware's Polaris App Generator or OpenMobile's Android Compatibility Layer.

The Z1 should launch in India towards the end of this week and is expected to hit the streets with a 4-inch WVGA display and a dual-core Spreadtrum SC77275 SoC clocked at 1.2GHz fitted with ARM Mali-400 GPU under the hood.

The smartphone is also equipped with a ridiculous 512MB of RAM (for today’s standards), dual-SIM card slot, 3.2MP primary camera plus VGA front snapper, 3G connectivity, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth v4.0 and microUSB v2.0 port.

As you can see, the specs are pretty low and Samsung will probably market the Z1 with a super-affordable price tag. Will that be enough to make people forget all about Android? We’ll just have to wait and see.

WhatsApp on the Samsung Z1 (6 Images)

WhatsApp shown to work on Samsung Z1
App drawer on Samsung Z1, check out the WhatsApp iconLeaked image of Samsung Z1
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