Samsung and Intel show off Tizen for phones and cars (pictures)
Since being shown off at MWC 2013, Tizen has changed its focus purely from phones, to include cars and wearables.
Andrew Lanxon
Andrew is CNET's go-to guy for product coverage and lead photographer for Europe. When not testing the latest phones, he can normally be found with his camera in hand, behind his drums or eating his stash of home-cooked food. Sometimes all at once.
Tizen was first shown off on Samsung phones at Mobile World Congress 2013. Now that a year has passed, how does the Android-alternative operating system look?
2 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Tizen is highly customisable. Samsung has therefore done its utmost to make it look a lot like its Android TouchWiz interface.
3 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
There are app icons and live widgets scattered across various homescreen panels.
4 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
You can resize the widgets too.
5 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Samsung's app menu looks almost identical to its Android one.
6 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
You'll even see familiar faces like S Note.
7 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The rounded icons look a lot like the new icons on the Galaxy S5.
8 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
There are still plenty of settings to confuse you.
9 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The camera app can float above the rest of the interface.
10 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
You can have different versions of your homescreen so you can customise which widgets show on your screen at which time.
11 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The widgets -- named "dynamic boxes" -- can display more information if you swipe down on them.
12 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
News widgets, for example, can show more of a story without you needing to open an app.
13 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
This F1 racing game looked good.
14 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
There's a Tizen app store. You can find some native apps, but it will also run HTML 5 apps.
15 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
This is an HTML 5 app -- I couldn't tell it wasn't a native app as it ran very smoothly.
16 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
I love playing Asphalt 8 on Android and it seemed to run fine on Tizen, too.
17 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The image gallery is pulled straight from Samsung's Galaxy phones.
18 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
ZTE had a Tizen phone too. Its version of Tizen was much more basic.
19 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
There's no app menu -- app icons are simply scattered on the homescreen.
20 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The settings menu is more basic -- but much easier to understand.
21 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Physically, Samsung's phone looks the same as the Galaxy S4. Keep in mind that this isn't the phone that will be released -- it's just a reference model.
22 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The home button is identical.
23 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
There's a camera in the same place on the back too.
24 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Intel is working with Tizen to bring the software to in-car entertainment systems.
25 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
It'll be able to run Google Maps with touch and voice control.
26 of 26 Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Working with manufacturers like Land Rover, Intel intends the software to be able to give detailed information about the car.