Attractive perks bundled with smartphone.
By Dileep Thekkethil
BENGALURU: The wait for Z1 smartphone is over as Samsung ended six months of speculation about its indigenously built Tizen OS based handset by launching the device in India today.
The maiden Tizen powered Samsung smartphone is priced at Rs. 5,700 ($92) in India and is targeting first-time smartphone users. Samsung is currently the top selling Android smartphone brand in India and across the world, and has been working on their indigenous OS for some time.
The success of Z1 is directly linked to whether the South Korean smartphone manufacturer will cut itself away from the Google’s Android OS, which has successfully powered scores of Samsung devices worldwide.
A major caveat for Samsung’s Tizen OS will be to compete against two already successful platforms – the Android and iOS. If the competition gets tight we could be witnessing a battle between Samsung and Google, who are now in a win-win situation.
Samsung Z1 is powered by a Dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and is coupled with a 768 MB Ram. Interestingly, not many smartphones come with 768 MB RAM, the usual standard is 500 MB or 1 GB. The device has a 4 inch TFT touchscreen display with a pixel ratio of 480×800.
Coming to the camera department of Samsung Z1, it has a 3 MP primary camera and a VGA front camera. The camera allows only VGA recording at 15 fps, which is a major shortcoming of the device. In addition to the inbuilt 4 GB internal storage, Samsung has also provided a Micro SD expansion slot with a maximum storage capacity of 32 GB. Z1 also has all standard connectivity features such as Bluetooth, WI-FI, GPS and 3G. The new Samsung Dual SIM smartphone is backed up by a 1,500 mAh battery.
Samsung is also offering several additional perks bundled along with Z1, which includes free access to Club Samsung, unlimited free music access via Hungama app for three months after purchase and free subscriptions for nexGTV and BoxTV worth Rs. 1,750.
The South Korean manufacturer has also partnered with Reliance and Aircel offer 500 MB free 3G data for a period of six months along with the new Samsung Z1.