When Samsung first started developing its own operating system, named Tizen, many thought the company would be positioning it as an Android competitor at some point. That hasn't really happened, with only a handful of phones in emerging markets (plus some TVs and watches) actually running it. Samsung today revealed the 'Samsung Z4,' and it's a pretty good representation of the platform as a whole.

First off, the phone is just plain ugly. The front looks nearly identical to the original Galaxy S (just with a smaller home button), and the large rectangular camera bump brings back memories of the S2. Speaking of which, Samsung says the Z4's cameras are "optimized for social media." I have no idea what that means.

It's a tiny phone too - it has a 4.5" 480x800 display. The Z4 also has an unnamed quad-core 1.5 GHz chip, 1 GB of RAM, and a 2,050 mAh battery. The phone will be available in "select countries," starting with India. No pricing was announced, but considering the Z3 is currently ₹ 5 590.00 (about $87) from Samsung India, I expect the Z4 will be somewhere around that price.

I know what you're thinking - "but Corbin, this is a cheap phone, so of course it has terrible hardware!" My point is that the Tizen ecosystem is so terrible and underdeveloped that the premier device for the platform is an awful budget phone for emerging markets. As if the recent revelations about Tizen's awful security didn't make the operating system disappointing enough.

Source: Samsung