Alex

One thing that every new OS struggles with is apps and the ecosystem of apps. To compete with Android and iOS, you have to bring in users so that developers will want to develop for the OS. These are the struggles with Tizen, webOS, and Firefox in the short term. In the long term, they could be viable alternatives. One way to ensure users will convert would be to tap into the Android Market of apps. Not an easy task but OpenMobile promises to bring a compatibility layer to Tizen so the Android apps will run in the environment. http://www.openmobileww.com/#!acl-for-tizen/ciet OpenMobile's Application Compatibility Layer (ACL)™ enables Android apps to run on non-Android operating systems, ACL for Tizen is coming soon! With ACL, Tizen can be filled with a robust app ecosystem featuring hundreds of thousands of apps, no matter the device: smartphone, tablet, smart TV, in-vehicle infotainment, in-flight infotainment, etc. ACL will deliver a powerful app ecosystem on platforms never before possible.

Samsung to make the Tizen Z1 in India, but can the phone compete with rivals? The Samsung Tizen-OS phone, the Z1, may seem like just another phone launch amongst dozens that take place every month in India, the hottest smartphone market in the world, where a little under 70 percent of the population still operate "dumb" feature phones. But it's not. It has a multitude of narratives wrapped into it, the most important being Samsung's future in the country. The latest news that extends this conversation is the company's announcement yesterday that the Z1 will soon be manufactured in India. Source: http://www.zdnet.com/article/samsung-to-make-the-tizen-z1-in-india-but-phone-faces/

Tizen-based Samsung cameras and round smartwatch leaked Recent leaks show three new Samsung Tizen devices: a pair of cameras, and a round-faced “Orbis” watch with a digital crown, bezel, and wireless charging. Source: http://linuxgizmos.com/tizen-based-samsung-cameras-and-round-smartwatch-leaked/

Samsung 'Orbis' Tizen Smartwatch to Feature Wireless Charging: Report After its brief appearance a couple of weeks ago, Samsung's rumoured round dial smartwatch, said to be codenamed Orbis, has once again come under the spotlight but this time along with some information on one of its key features . To recall, Samsung Orbis is the South Korean firm's yet-to-be-announced smartwatch which is said to feature a round dial and run on Tizen OS. The leak that came couple of weeks ago was based on Samsung's patents that were filed back in 2013. The patents showed the South Korean firm working on a rotating ring technology on its smartwatch. The latest report from Sammobile suggests the Samsung Orbis smartwatch will come equipped with wireless charging feature, which has been missing from all the company's previously launched wearables. The details on wireless charging implementation are yet to be known. However, its mechanism is speculated to be similar to what Motorola uses for the Moto 360. There is no information on other features of the watch as of now. Read more: http://gadgets.ndtv.com/wearables/news/samsung-orbis-tizen-smartwatch-to-feature-wireless-charging-report-651347

So far, reports are that it's nit getting a warm review: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/20/us-samsung-elec-india-tizen-idUSKBN0KT2EI20150120

What are you installing on?

Below are some videos of the new Samsung Tizen Z1 phone.

Samsung's first Tizen phone the Z1 is finally here and being sold in India for roughly $92. Samsung Electronics started selling its first Tizen smartphone in India on Wednesday, priced at 5,700 Indian rupees ($92). The Z1 runs the open-source Tizen operating system backed by Samsung and other vendors including Intel, and which already powers some of the South Korean company’s wearables and TVs. Samsung announced a different Tizen smartphone, the Z, in June, ahead of the Tizen Developer Conference in San Francisco. It said then that it would launch it first in Russia, in the third quarter of 2014, but that phone never appeared. According to some accounts, the release of a Tizen phone in India was also delayed. The Z1 has relatively low-end specs compared to the planned Z, which was to have a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display and a 2.3 GHz quad-core application processor, indicating that Samsung has shifted its focus with Tizen to the low end of the market, a booming segment in India and other emerging markets. In India, the Z1 will have to compete with Android phones with similar hardware capabilities and similar prices, said Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at Gartner. Tizen phones may take time to take off because people are not familiar with the operating system, he added. The Z1 runs Tizen 2.3 and has a 4-inch, 480x800 pixel screen and a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. It has 768MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage, expandable by up to 64GB with a microSD card. Samsung claims the 1500mAh battery will play video for 7 hours or provide 8 hours of talk time. Available in white, black and wine red, the smartphone has a 3.1 megapixel rear camera and a VGA front camera with face detection software. A key focus of the device seems to be entertainment. Samsung has bundled the phone with three months’ free access to movies and songs from Indian digital entertainment websites. The company is also providing users free access to premium content on its own Club Samsung digital entertainment storefront, and has tied with local mobile service providers Reliance Communications and Aircel to provide 500MB of free 3G data services per month for six months. Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2868792/samsungs-first-tizen-phone-arrives-in-india-at-92.html

Tizen TV is Launched with Samsung SUHD Models JS8500, JS9000 and JS9500 This is the Tizen TV part of the Samsung Press Event at CES 2015. You will see the launch of the Samsung SUHD Series TVs, which include the new JS8500, JS9000, JS9500

CES: Samsung Says Its Smart TVs Will All Use Tizen Operating System Outside a ballroom at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas, hundreds lined up before Samsung Electronics‘s (005930KS) press conference for the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show. That meant many others, including this reporter, were turned away from a filled ballroom and sent to an upstairs facility to watch the proceedings on a big TV, how fitting! (Samsung CEO Boo-Keun Yoon will give the opening CES keynote address this evening at 6:30 Pacific time.) Samsung America’s president, Tim Baxter, kicked things off. He talks about having delivered the “largest UHD TV lineup.” Baxter said half of the company’s UHD set sales are curved models, proving consumers see the value of curving displays. Baxter says the company is in its third generation of wearable technology, and has 60% market share. A huge opportunity is the smart home, he says, where a third of consumers express interest, but fewer than 2% actually own the products. Baxter meanders through various product categories, including new products for the cooking crazy, such as a special tablet computer for chefs. Then there is the “Milk” music service, which is coming to the company’s television set. A new version, called “Milk VR,” will combine the service with the company’s “Gear VR” virtual reality headset, delivering a 24-hour stream of virtual reality videos. Users of Gear VR can download the Milk VR app today. After announcing Milk VR, Baxter brings on stage Davis Alpert, executive producer of the series “The Walking Dead.” He notes his production company will be producing a series of short-form videos exclusively for Milk VR. And then, it’s off to EVP Joe Stinziano. This gentleman, you’ll recall, had to put up with the antics of Michael Bay on the stage a year ago. He notes Samsung has led the market for TVs for nine years. Customers, he says, “absolutely love our curved displays.” “But we need to do more,” he says. The company is bringing together an “eco-system,” the “UHD Alliance,” consisting of studios, distributors and others, to set guidelines. Stinziano brings up Mike Dunn of 20th Century Fox Studios, a member of the Alliance, who briefly says nice things about Samsung’s products. Stinziano moves into talking about a new version of UHD sets, “SUHD,” which uses Samsung’s “nano-crystal semiconductors” to boost color and brightness. The technology can be seen in the recent movie “Exodus,” in which things such as the armor worn by the soldiers was enhanced digitally in post production to get a more striking look. The new SUHD sets, explains Stinziano is designed with art and architecture in mind, in things such as the bezel. Henceforth, all Samsung “smart” UHD TVs will be powered by the Tizen operating system, which Samsung has been backing for some time now. Tizen, which already powers Samsung’s wearables, such as the “Galaxy Gear,” has been speculated upon for some time by Wall Street and industry analysts as Samsung’s bid to provide a counter-balance to Google‘s (GOOGL) Android. Samsung’s move to Tizen is in contrast to Sharp (6753JP), which this morning said it would move its line of smart TVs to Android. From here, the presentation takes a strange turn, with a discussion of how Samsung appliances in the kitchen — “where some of people’s fondest memories are — is being transformed by Samsung appliances to let people “discover their inner chef.” Celebrated chefs Michel Troisgros, Chris Kostow, and Daniel Bouloud are invited on stage. They cheer Samsung innovations, such as a “virtual flame” that is displayed on the electric stove to let cooks know how intense the heat is. Samsung is taking the chef collaboration further with a new cooking app for Android, and a new “chef tablet,” a Galaxy brand tablet pre-loaded with the app. Source: http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2015/01/05/ces-samsung-says-its-smart-tvs-will-all-use-tizen-operating-system/

Samsung Electronics to Launch Tizen TVs In February LAS VEGAS— Samsung Electronics Co. will expand the use of its homegrown operating system beyond wearable devices to include Tizen in its televisions sold starting in February, its chief executive said, highlighting the tech company’s renewed push for adoption of the alternative platform that has struggled to take off. In an interview ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show, B.K. Yoon, Samsung’s top executive in charge of its consumer-electronics business, said Tizen TV sets will be available in the U.S. and Korea first, and the company will gradually roll them out in other markets later this year. “We’ve been at [Tizen development] for years and a lot of money was spent,” Mr. Yoon said. “We’re going to continue upgrading the platform.” Samsung is widening the use of Tizen to beef up its own internal software capabilities as it attempts to compete better with Google Inc. and Apple Inc. in the more lucrative market for software and services. The South Korean company, whose profit from mobile phones has tumbled amid stiff competition, has been developing Tizen as an alternative to Google’s Android mobile operating system for many years. But because of a lack of interest from app developers, Samsung has delayed the launch of a Tizen-based smartphone several times. The majority of Samsung’s smartphones use Android, but Google controls the user experience and is increasingly tightening rules on how much Android handset makers such as Samsung can modify their phones to attract new consumers. Android and Apple’s iOS have a tight grip on the mobile-operating-system market, together holding more than a 95% share, according to third-quarter data from Strategy Analytics, making it difficult for alternative operating systems such as Tizen or Microsoft Corp. ’s Windows to compete. But launching Tizen on TVs could have its merits, analysts say, as Samsung already holds a dominant position in the TV category with roughly one-third of the global market. There isn’t a dominant or unified platform for Internet-connected TVs yet so the market is up for grabs. Rival LG Electronics Inc. is competing with Samsung through its WebOS platform, the business it acquired from Hewlett-Packard Co. in 2013. Meanwhile, efforts by Google to power TVs with its proprietary software haven’t taken off despite years of development. “If we have our own [TV] platform it will give us much greater flexibility in what we want to do,” Mr. Yoon said. He added that a Tizen-based smartphone is still scheduled to be launched this year in India, but declined to provide more specifics. Mr. Yoon said Tizen might have a better chance of succeeding in the TV market because it isn’t as reliant as smartphones on the availability of applications. Tizen also allows for low power consumption and less memory, he said. Tizen also could make it easier for users to switch from watching traditional TV channels to other Web-based video streaming platforms such as YouTube, Samsung said. “There could be other forms of Web-connected Samsung TVs, but they will be eventually switched to Tizen-powered ones,” Mr. Yoon said. Whether Samsung can succeed with Tizen, though, still isn’t assured, given the company’s difficulties in introducing a smartphone. But Samsung’s revamped software ambition is tied closely to its bigger goal of carving out a solid position in the era of the so-called Internet of Things, an idea in which many devices will come with Internet connectivity. “We need an open ecosystem so that IoT devices can work together, and we need to collaborate across industries,” Mr. Yoon said during a keynote speech at CES on Monday. “Samsung is prepared to play a leading role.” Samsung says it aims to enable Internet connectivity in all of its TVs by 2017 and expand connectivity to other consumer electronics within the next five years. It hopes to spur a replacement cycle for TVs and home appliances such as refrigerators and washing machines by embedding more software functions that it hopes will help boost sales, which have been lackluster for several years. Samsung’s consumer-electronics business accounted for 24% of its total sales of 47.4 trillion won ($43 billion) in the third quarter of 2014, with mobile phones still making up the bulk. But even Mr. Yoon expressed doubt about whether the company can generate a profit from these initiatives soon. “Everyone knows that a huge change is due when all things become connected and that relevant businesses will grow. But we don’t know how big that will be,” he said, forecasting fresh revenue streams from Samsung’s new Internet-connected devices in 2016 or 2017. Analysts say Samsung can’t risk losing out on the opportunity to control its software and services. “If they can’t do it internally, they have to do [mergers and acquisitions] or find a way to have software capabilities equipped,” said Lee Seung-woo, an analyst with IBK Securities in Seoul. “That’s the only way they will survive the looming change.” Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/samsung-electronics-to-launch-tizen-based-tvs-in-february-1420511402

cnet is covering Samsung's CES press conference, the South Korean electronics giant will show off its latest crop of TVs and home appliances during its presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Samsung's presentation starts at 2 p.m. PT on Monday, and we'll be bringing you all the news and commentary from inside the Mandalay Bay hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. I'll be live blogging along with David Katzmaier, and James Martin will provide photography from the event. Samsung's 2015 CES press conference: Join us Monday (live blog)

For all you Tizen fans, Samsung has announced that it's Tizen operating system will power all it's smart TVs in 2015. We should hear more this week as CES rolls out and all the companies showcase their latest products. Last year at CES 2014, LG announced webOS was going to power all of its smart TVs. They got a raving review, now it's Samsung's turn to bake in their "homegrown" OS. Tizen, a Samsung-designed OS, has powered smartwatches such as the Gear 2 and Gear S. A Tizen-powered phone was postponed from being launched in Russia earlier this year, with rumors of an imminent India launch.

Samsung has posted the SDK for it's 2015 TV line up: http://www.samsungdforum.com/Tizendevtools/Sdkdownload Dear Partners and Developers, The Samsung TV SDK Team is pleased to release the Tizen-based Samsung TV SDK 1.0. The SDK provides developers with the tools they need to begin developing for the Tizen-based Samsung TV platform. The toolset includes an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and a Web Simulator for testing TV apps on a PC. A Tizen-based Samsung TV SDK combines the best features of a TV with the power of web based technologies. By combining the size, input, and multimedia benefits of a TV with the connectivity features of the internet, developers can create innovative new experiences for their users. For overall information about Tizen App development, please refer to the http://developer.tizen.org Web site. Main Features : ■ Integrated Development Environment (IDE) - HTML, JS, CSS code editing - Templates for Tizen TV applications - Packaging Features ■ Web Simulator - Light-weight tool for testing TV Web Apps on the PC - Support for HTML5 - Web Simulator supported html5 media formats : ogg/ogv, MP4 - Caph 2.0 (Caph UI Component is not included.) ■ APIs - Web Standard API(W3C / HTML5 / JavaScript) - Video Tag based on HTML5(HTTP Progressive Download, HTTP Live Streaming) - Tizen Web Device API - Tizen-based Samsung TV Product API - Caph 2.0 Base package API ■ Debugger (Web Inspector) - Code inspection - JavaScript debugger - Network & Resource profiling Information : ■ IDE Relevant Version Information - Eclipse Kepler (4.3) ■ Requirements for Installing Tizen-based Samsung TV SDK 1.0. 1) Tizen-based Samsung TV SDK 1.0 IDE requires Java Standard Edition (Java SE) version 1.7 or higher. Please install the Java Runtime Environment (JRE): http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html 2) Tizen-based Samsung TV SDK 1.0 Web Simulator HLS play feature requires Adobe Shockwave Player and Adobe Flash Player. HLS play supported only in Windows and Mac OS. (Adobe Shockwave Player requirement not supported in Linux) - Please install the Adobe Shockwave Player : http://get.adobe.com/shockwave/ - Please install the Adobe Flash Player : http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/?fpchrome ■ Installation troubleshooting guide of Mac OS. If there are problems installing with the .app file of .dmg, please install via the .bin file in the terminal. - Open a terminal - Go to the directory of the Tizen-based TV Web SDK install files - Run: ./inst-manager.bin ■ SDK System Requirements Processor : Dual Core 1.5GHz / Single Core 3GHz or higher RAM : 2 GB or higher OS (32bit and 64bit supported): - Windows 7 (recommendation), Windows XP Service Pack 2 or higher - Mac OS X : Intel-based hardware, OS versions 10.6 and above. - Linux: Tested on Ubuntu 12.x Screen resolution : 1280 x 1024 or higher HDD : 5GB or higher Best Regards, Your Tizen TV SDK Team

The headlines are coming in with CES happening this week, Tizen will power all of Samsung's 2015 Smart TVs. Samsung is pulling absolutely no punches in hyping up its CES product lineup this year, but this is a level of bravado that exceeds even the typically wild levels the company is known for. Look beyond its the incredibly awkward S'UHD TV branding (which probably stands for Samsung Ultra HD) — the real news here is that Samsung believes it has literally made the "most seductive TV of all time." Features and specs are clearly secondary to this tease — Samsung wants to get our attention with the pure sex factor of a giant, curved 4K TV. We're still more than two days away from the official start of CES, but few things sum up the event more than this. The Verge: http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/3/7487209/samsung-tizen-tv-seductive-advertisement-at-ces-2015

The Tizen SDK is a comprehensive set of tools for developing Tizen Web and Native applications. It consists of IDE, Emulator, toolchain, sample code, and documentation. Tizen SDK runs on Windows*, Ubuntu*, as well as Mac OS X*. Tizen applications may be developed without relying on an official Tizen IDE, as long as the application complies with Tizen packaging rules. https://developer.tizen.org/downloads/tizen-sdk