After years and years of delays, Samsung has finally announced the launch of its first Tizen smartphone: the Z1. The device will be available in India starting Jan. 14.
We won't hold it against you if you forgot about Samsung and Intel's mobile OS Tizen -- the company has been announcing Tizen devices since 2013, but no phones based on the OS ever hit the market.
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Tizen does power several Samsung wearables and Smart TVs, but the company explicitly promised smartphones based on the OS, even announcing the Samsung Z in June 2014, a phone that never hit the market.
But while the powerful Samsung Z was positioned somewhere between a mid-range and a high-end device, the Z1 is low-end smartphone with a 4-inch screen, a 3.1-megapixel rear camera, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 768MB of RAM and 4GB of memory (expandable up to 64GB via a microSD card).
Other features of note are dual SIM support and a 1,500mAh battery.
While those specs don't sound too inviting, what makes the whole package interesting is the price of only 5,700 rupees ($92). To sweeten the deal, Samsung will also give users up to 500MB free 3G data per month over a 6 month period.
The phone will be available in three colors -- white, black and red. Availability for markets outside of India has not been announced.