India became the first country to get Samsung's Tizen-powered Z1 smartphone today. It's a budget effort by the company, evidently aimed at the Tier II and Tier III cities and towns in the country. The device has low end specifications and comes at a comparatively low price of Rs. 5,700. The phone follows Samsung's current design philosophy, in the same way as the OS follows Android's aesthetics.
The Tizen 2.3 operating system on the Z1, though capable of running Android apps, has similar weaknesses as Windows Phone. The app ecosystem isn't well developed yet and while it does have some known apps like WhatsApp, it doesn't match up to Android. That said, the initial experience of the OS made it seem like something that looks and feels like Android, with minor differences. We weren't disappointed with the first look of the OS, but we would have to test it out much more before giving a verdict.
The plastic back on the Samsung Z1 is reminiscent of any Samsung smartphone that you can think of, while the softer corners remind you of the Samsung Galaxy Alpha and the recent Galaxy A3 and A5.
Design-wise, there's only one change - the square home button on the bottom. This is a departure from Samsung's usual home button, which is more rectangular and it fits with the smartphone's overall size. That said, it is not a very big change.
The Samsung Z1 also follows Samsung's recent emphasis on metal, with a metallic rim around it. This gives it a more premium feel than its competitors. The Z1 actually stacks up well against most of its competitors in the design department.
The rear camera on the Samsung Z1 is a measly 3.1 MP shooter, which we're not very impressed with. Samsung said it takes good shots, but we're not very hopeful.
The front camera is even more disappointing, being a VGA shooter, which is almost unheard of in this day and age, even in the budget range.
The device is available in White, Black and Wine Red colours, all of which fit its price tag in terms of the looks.
Overall, the Samsung Z1's specifications include a 1.2 GHz dual-core SoC, along with 768 MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage expandable to 64GB and a 4-inch WVGA display. This doesn't seem very impressive, especially considering its competitors, like the Redmi 1S, Moto E and even the Android One smartphones.