Samsung still believes in Tizen, releases dirt-cheap Z2 in India

Tizen, Samsung’s homegrown operating system, may seem dead in the water, but the Korean giant is not ready to give up on it just yet.

Samsung announced the third Tizen-powered smartphone for the Indian market today. The Z2 (note the absence of the “Galaxy” branding”) follows up on the Z1 (January 2015) and the Z3 (October 2015). Yes, in Samsung’s universe going from Z1 to Z3 and then back to Z2 somehow makes sense – and you thought the decision to skip the Note 6 was bizarre…

Weird naming aside, the Samsung Z2 has a clear claim to fame: it’s the first Tizen phone with 4G. It’s also very cheap, at Rs. 4,590 or about $68. That’s actually very close to the average selling price of the Indian phone market, which is the equivalent of $70. It’s also cheaper than both the poorly received Z1 (Rs. 5700) and the Z3 (Rs. 8,490).

For that money, the Z2 delivers the aforementioned 4G connectivity (dual-SIM), a “superior” 4-inch WVGA screen, a quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of expandable storage, a 5MP camera, and a “long-lasting” 1,500 mAh camera. That’s obviously nothing to write home about, but we are talking about a bargain-priced device that’s targeted at current feature phone users. And India has a lot of feature phones users, so the addressable market is quite large.

Read more: Best cheap Android devices

Samsung teamed up with Reliance Jio to provide Z2 buyers free voice and data access and free access to Jio media apps over a trial period.

The Z2 comes preloaded with apps that Samsung developed under its Made for India initiative, including Ultra Power Saving mode and S bike mode.

Any takers here?