Items tagged with tizen
Given that the Apple has a commanding lead in the wearables market with the Apple Watch -- along with a lot of mindshare with consumers -- it's often easy to forget that there are other competent players in this market. One of those players is Samsung, which has for years fielded Galaxy Watch devices with plenty of features and sleek looks. That tradition will extend to this year with the release of the Galaxy Watch 3. Official renders of the device have leaked from Evan Blass, and they show a very attractive device with Samsung's typical round display (as opposed to Apple's insistence on a squircle). The round display is more in keeping with traditional wrist watches, while still maintaining...
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The past few months have been filled with speculation surrounding the Galaxy S10 family (which has been fully fleshed out over the past few days) and the Galaxy F folding smartphone. However, Samsung might have another product release up its sleeve for the February 20th “Unpacked” event: a new smartwatch. What we have here is a render of the Galaxy Watch Sport smartwatch, which is the fitness-oriented counterpart to the Galaxy Watch. As you can see, the device carries a premium- and sports-infused design with a round, brushed metallic body and an overall clean, unadorned look. We can see two buttons on the right side of the body and what looks to be a standard...
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Last week we revealed that Samsung's upcoming flagship smartwatch release could ditch the homegrown Tizen operating system in favor or Google's Wear OS. Today, we're learning about what the device will actually be called, and according to a fresh report, it will fall under the "Galaxy" umbrella like the company's popular smartphones and tablets. Samsung registered Galaxy Watch branding with the Korean Intellectual Property Office and has taken similar action with the USPTO. While aligning its smartwatches with the Galaxy branding isn't exactly a foreign concept, the idea that Samsung is adopting Wear OS for its smartwatches is somewhat surprising. Samsung Gear S3 Frontier (Left), Gear...
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You wouldn't think there could be a whole lot of mystery and intrigue in the smartwatch market, but there is plenty of both surrounding Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S4 (or Galaxy Gear). The big question surrounding the new wrist piece is whether Samsung will once again forge ahead with its Tizen, or make the jump over to Google's Android-based Wear OS. The latest chatter suggests the latter. Update: turns out these were actually just one-offs made by Google and seeded to some Samsung workers (i.e. keep moving, nothing to see here). — Evan Blass (@evleaks) June 7, 2018 Let's back up a moment. Back in May, famed leaker Evan Blass (known as @evleaks on Twitter) posted a tweet saying that Samsung...
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More often than not, when someone goes out shopping for a smartwatch, they end up purchasing an Apple Watch. That leaves second place up for grabs between Tizen and Android Wear, and for the first time ever the former overtook the latter in market share. According to data collected by Strategy Analytics, Tizen jumped ahead of Android Wear in the first quarter of 2017 to grab a 19 percent share of the smartwatch OS market, edging out Android Wear at 18 percent. Those figures give Samsung reason to feel vindicated in its decision to move away from Android Wear and go all-in with Tizen in the wearables market. That may not have seemed like a smart decision two years ago when Tizen's share of the...
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When WikiLeaks revealed the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA’s) hacking arsenal to the world, it was made clear that the agency is capable of snooping on Samsung Smart TVs thanks to various security exploits. However, it’s not just Samsung Smart TVs that are susceptible, a new report suggests that a number of Samsung devices running the Tizen OS are at risk due to unpatched exploits. Tizen is Samsung’s homegrown operating system that can be found on its low-end smartphones, smartwatches and of course smart TVs. Like Android, it’s based on the Linux kernel. However, unlike Android, it isn’t nearly as popular, so perhaps Samsung has been reticent to fixing vulnerabilities that plague the operating...
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There was a time when Samsung believed its home brewed Tizen operating system would rise up and usurp Android as the king of mobile, or at least be a competitive force. Things haven't worked out that way, and though Tizen has gone on to fined renewed purpose in things like smart TVs and wearables, it's still being used in smartphones, including the Samsung Z2, the world's first Tizen smartphone with 4G LTE functionality. It's a significant milestone in Tizen's journey, not because 4G LTE is some new and rare technology—obviously that's not the case—but because of its price point and audience. The Samsung Z2 launched in India today and is intended for users making the leap from a feature phone...
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Sound the alarm and alert the public, Samsung is kicking Android Wear to the curb and rolling exclusively with its own Tizen OS for wearables such as smartwatches! Actually, don't go sounding the alarm and don't alert the public—contrary to what you might have read earlier today, Samsung isn't ditching Android Wear. The clarification from Samsung came after Fast Company cited unnamed executives from the South Korean firm as saying that it wasn't building or planning to develop any Android Wear devices. It seemed like a totally plausible statement considering that Samsung's tapped Tizen for nearly all of its smartwatches, including its most recent addition, the Gear S2. But whatever the executives...
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Remember when Samsung had big ambitions of taking over the mobile handset market with Tizen, its home brewed operating system? Well, that didn't happen, but instead of scrapping Tizen, Samsung's breathed new life into its OS by pushing it into other mobile markets. One of those is the automobile industry, for which it's new Connect Auto is intended. Connect Auto is a small dongle that plugs directly into the OBD II port that sits somewhere underneath the steering wheel in your car—it's the same port that auto mechanics tap into when trying to decipher why your 'Check Engine' light is on, along with other onboard diagnostics. In this case, the Connect Auto isn't serving as a diagnostic device,...
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In late January, Samsung kicked off the global launch of the Gear S2 Classic New Edition smartwatch. The name is defiantly a mouthful, but it merely represents two new finishes available on Samsung’s range-topping Tizen-based smartwatch: Rose Gold and Platinum. Although both new smartwatches went up for pre-order in Europe with a $500+ price tag, folks in the United States won’t pay nearly as much. Samsung is pricing both the Rose Gold and Platinum smartwatches at $449.99, which represent a $100 premium over the standard stainless steel Gear S2 Classic (cheaper still is the standard Gear S2 which retails for $299). The Gear S2 Classic in 18k Rose Gold will ship with an ivory-colored genuine leather...
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Earlier this month at CES, Samsung announced two new additions to its well-received Tizen-based Gear S2 smartwatch family. While Samsung launched its latest, circular-faced smartwatch family with the sporty $299 Gear S2 and more stately $349 Gear S2 Classic, the expanded lineup now includes two new color hues for the Galaxy S2 Classic: Rose Gold and Platinum. These new smartwatches, which are labeled as Gear S2 Classic New Edition, feature plated finishes layered atop the Gear S2 Classic’s stainless steel housing. The 18K Rose Gold model comes with an ivory leather band, while the Platinum version is offset nicely with a black leather band. But that’s not all, Samsung has also thrown in some...
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The nascent smartwatch market has delivered a number of near-winners thus far. The Apple Watch and Microsoft Band, for example, are better-than-average fitness trackers and smart timepieces. The 2nd generation Moto 360 is impressive from an aesthetics standpoint. The Huawei Watch hits the mark for those looking for a good-looking, functional, timepiece that also happens to feature smartphone notifications. And then, there's Samsung. In a bid to be first to market, the original Galaxy Gear was launched with a less-than-optimal design, poor battery life, and a camera that wasn't very useful. That was just over two years ago though, and the company has since popped out a multitude of wearables...
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Samsung has a few different smartwatches up for grabs, including its latest offering in the wearables category, the Gear S2. It's a sleek and round successor to the comparatively garish Gear S, and since we've entered the season of deals, you can already find it marked down for sale all over the web. The cheapest sale price is just $200.Buydig, an authorized dealer in the United States (which means the warranty is intact), is the one selling it at that price. The deal is through its eBay channel, not its retail website where it's listed for $50 more at $250. That same deal can be had at Amazon too, by the way right now.The Gear S2 runs on Samsung's home grown Tizen platform powered by a dual-core...
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The mountain that stands between BlackBerry and widespread relevance just got a little bit higher and steeper. How so? According to the latest report published by Strategy Analytics' Wireless Smartphone Strategies (WSS) services, Samsung's Tizen operating system just overtook BlackBerry as the third largest smartphone OS in the world. Android registered a "slight year-on-year" bump in market share, while Apple gained ground on "strong demand for new iPhone models," the report states. Meanwhile, Microsoft, BlackBerry, and Firefox all "drifted down," giving Tizen an opportunity to jump in rank. And that's what it did, with "tangible growth" allowing it to overtake BlackBerry, now been relegated...
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Not many expected much from the Samsung Z1, the first smartphone to use Samsung’s homegrown Tizen operating system. After all, many suspected that without the vast Android ecosystem by its side, the Z1 would be doomed to failure as it went head-to-head with bargain basement smartphones from the Android One initiative. Well, as it turns out, the Z1 has been somewhat of a hit for Samsung in emerging markets and the lack of Android apps hasn’t been a hindrance to the platform. So instead of backing away from Tizen, which has now expanded to smartwatches, Samsung is advancing the platform with the brand new Z3. The Z3 is powered by a [likely Samsung-sourced] 1.3GHz quad-core processor with 1GB of...
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After generally underwhelming the masses with its previous smartwatch efforts, Samsung looks to have a winner on its hands with the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic. And if you’ve been eagerly waiting to get your hands on Samsung’s latest wearables, you’ll be happy to learn that you’ll have the opportunity to purchase them this Friday, October 2nd. The entry-level Gear S2 is priced at $299.99, while the more “premium” Gear S2 Classic is just $50 more at $349.99. To put that pricing in perspective, the 38mm Apple Watch Sport starts at $349.99, while the cheapest Moto 360 (second generation model) starts at $299.99.Samsung Gear S2 Classic and Gear S2 The Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic feature 1.2-inch,...
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Samsung just couldn’t let Google have all the spotlight today when it comes to smartwatches. Samsung has been teasing its Gear S2 for the past few weeks, but now the South Korean electronics giant is ready to give us the Full Monty on its reentry into the smartwatch market. As Samsung clearly states, it has “come full circle” with the introduction of the Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch. While we always had an idea that Samsung’s latest smartwatch would once again dip into the Tizen OS well, the company today confirmed the news. And we also learned that Samsung is launching not one, but two Gear S2 smartwatches. There’s the Gear S2 that is made for “those who are on-the-go and have an admiration for...
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In case you haven’t been paying attention, Samsung has been extremely quiet on the smartwatch front for the past year following the launch of the Gear S. After releasing a flood of smartwatches during 2013 and 2014, the company has been relatively quiet on the smartwatch front while Android Wear devices and the Apple Watch have started to gain some traction. The lack of new product releases doesn’t mean that Samsung has abandoned the category; quite the contrary in fact. Samsung is hard at work on its Gear A “Orbis” smartwatch, which could be revealed as soon as this September at IFA in Berlin. Up until this point, all that we have learned about that device’s hardware specs is that it will feature...
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Samsung had big plans for its Tizen platform, the home-brewed mobile operating system that was supposed to free the company from its dependency on Android. That hasn't happen yet, and probably never will, though that doesn't mean Samsung is ready to give up on Tizen. Just the opposite, Samsung reportedly has plans to launch more handsets running its own OS. That's a bit surprising when just six months ago it seemed like Tizen was destined to serve its remaining days as a smart TV platform. But then something happened. Just over a month ago, Counterpoint Research published data showing that Samsung's Tizen-based Z1 smartphone was the best selling handset in Bangladesh in the first quarter of 2015....
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Well, look what the cat dragged in. It appears that the folks over at Nokia were well on their way towards releasing a smartwatch that would have competed in a market that is starting to swell with Tizen-, Android Wear-, and watchOS-based offerings. However, Microsoft’s acquisition of Nokia’s Devices and Services division in 2014 put an end to what was known internally as project Moonraker. Although most know Moonraker as the 1979 film starring Roger Moore as James Bond, Nokia’s Moonraker was actually a colorful smartwatch that looks similar in design to Sony’s Smartwatch 3. Existence of Moonraker was first discovered by serial leaker Evan Blass, who discovered a Tumblr page featuring the device...
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Samsung had big plans for its home brewed Tizen operating system. The idea was to storm the mobile world with its own OS and become less reliant on Google's Android platform in the process. It was an ambitious goal that was made even more difficult to attain due to delays and a seeming lack of interest, though there's still hope for Tizen.Data collected by Counterpoint Research shows that the Samsung Z1, a Tizen-based smartphone that sells for $92, was the best selling handset in Bangladesh in the first quarter of 2015. The report didn't list the total number of sales, and we'll concede that Bangladesh isn't big market, but that's also the point -- it shows that there's promise for Tizen in emerging...
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Samsung is riding high following the debut of its flagship Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones. But while the Galaxy S5’s launch in early 2014 was joined by the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches, a new smartwatch offering did not join the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge onstage. That was surprising for a company that released six smartwatches in the past 14 months and “still leads the smart band market” according to Canalys. Samsung and LG were the first to bring Android Wear devices to consumers, but while LG has made a significant leap from the lackluster G Watch to recently announced Watch Urbane, Samsung’s original Gear Live hasn’t seen a worthy successor. Even if we consider Samsung’s Tizen-based smartwatch...
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