The future of Tizen as a smartphone operating system may be in question now that Samsung has delayed the launch of its first Tizen phone yet again. But the electronics company seems intent on putting Tizen on just about everything other than phones.

Samsung launched a Tizen-powered camera in late 2013. Now USA Today reports that Samsung’s second-generation smartwatch will be powered by Tizen instead of Android.

Samsung Galaxy Gear
Samsung Galaxy Gear

Update: According to The Verge, Samsung could soon introduce several wearable devices under the Galaxy Gear name.

The new watch is said to feature a custom user interface designed in HTML5 and it will still be able to connect to your phone to display notifications on your wrist. But because it’ll run apps written using HTML5, it should be easy for third-party developers to write apps that will run on the new Galaxy Gear.

Samsung is expected to unveil its next-gen smartwatch at Mobile World Congress the last week of February. It’ll likely replace the original Samsung Galaxy Gear which launched in late 2013 with a hefty $299 price tag.

It’s not clear if the new model will be cheaper or have any other major changes, but USA Today says 3 different sources have confirmed the new watch will run Tizen rather than Android.

Tizen is a Linux-based operating system backed by Intel, Samsung, and a number of other key partners. Some see it as an alternative to Google Android, which is currently king of the smartphone space.

While Android has a major head start, it’s possible that launching Tizen first on devices that aren’t phones will level the playing field a bit. Smartwatches are pretty new as a product category and no one player really dominates the market yet.

via GigaOm

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4 replies on “Report: Samsung Galaxy Gear 2 smartwatch to run Tizen”

  1. What is with the ugly plastic bands? Why not metal or leather? At this price range customers should get a premium band.

    1. Pretty much. It is hard to see any point in Tizen at all except to cause further market fragmentation. Developers will ignore it completely, and customers will end up disgusted. Good way to taint your brand, Samsung. Back off before you commit a “Windows 8” with these products.

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