Can Samsung's Tizen smartphone take on Android?

Tizen is an open source operating system built by the eponymous organisation that includes Samsung as a member.

Last week, Samsung launched its first Tizen (pronounced "tie-zen") smartphone in the budget segment in India.

We haven't got a review unit yet but here we give you an idea of where the Z1 stands in competition. 

Tizen is an open source operating system built by the eponymous organisation that includes Samsung as a member.

The South Korean conglomerate is testing the waters as Tizen could replace Google's Android on its devices, including its Internet of Things, in future. The Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch already runs on Tizen. 

The Samsung Z1 uses a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, made by China's Spreadtrum, and a Mali 400 graphics processor.

The Z1 has a four-inch WVGA display, a pretty low-resolution, with Samsung's PLS screen that aims to give as good viewing angles as IPS but with more brightness, and runs Tizen 2.3.

It has only 768MB of RAM, but thankfully 4GB of internal memory that is expandable up to 64GB.

A 3.1MP rear camera and a VGA front-facing one, again low for even budget segment today, with a 1500mAh battery makes it sound out of date. It takes two SIMs. 

The Z1 comes bundled with an anti-virus software and an ultra power-saving mode to increase battery life, rare in this segment.

While it's priced below Xiaomi's Redmi 1S and Redmi Note and Micromax's Yureka at Rs 5,700, all those are far ahead of the Samsung Z1 on specifications.