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Tizen OS early-stage interface and apps examined (pictures)

We go hands-on with Tizen OS, running on a prototype Samsung phone. Here's what this Android-fighting interface looks like, and how it works.

Luke Westaway
Luke Westaway is a senior editor at CNET and writer/ presenter of Adventures in Tech, a thrilling gadget show produced in our London office. Luke's focus is on keeping you in the loop with a mix of video, features, expert opinion and analysis.
Luke Westaway
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BARCELONA, Spain--Unlike Android, Tizen OS has no app tray -- the home screen itself shows all your apps. There's only one screen here, but the "1" at the top implies you'll be scrolling through several screens once you have more apps. This is an early build of Tizen, so anything is subject to change.
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Here are the basic controls. There's a back button in the bottom right of the screen, and a context-sensitive key on the bottom left. In the gallery app you can see it gives you options like cropping or rotating, but the options change based on which app you're in. Again, this is similar to Android.
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This is the settings menu, which reveals we're using Tizen OS 2.0. It feels quite sluggish, but this is still early software. The Samsung handset, meanwhile, is just called Reference Device, which gives little away.
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The browser felt very fast, and zooming in and out of Web pages was smooth.
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Along the bottom of the screen there are options, including tabs and a back button. It doesn't feel noticeably different from the default Android browser, to be honest.
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Holding down on apps doesn't do anything, so it's not clear whether you'll be able to rearrange your home screen. Again, bear in mind this is early software.
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Tizen is getting app developers on board to try to make tempting software. This one has a cool idea: streaming songs based on the weather in your location. If it's raining you get sad music, and so on. Tizen will need lots of apps if it wants to fight Android and Windows Phone.
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Meet Tizen OS, running on a prototype Samsung phone. Click through to see how this in-development Android rival looks and feels.
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A great idea here -- the Settings menu has a "frequently used" button, so if you're always turning Wi-Fi on and off, you can access those sorts of settings quickly. If you spend way too much time scrolling through settings hunting for the right onscreen switch, you'll understand the value of this feature.
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Drag down from the top and you get a notification bar. Unlike Android it doesn't slide down over the top of the screen, but pushes the rest of your apps down.
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Cut the Rope played with quite a lot of lag, whereas you'll find it running smoothly on almost any modern smartphone. Cut Tizen a break for now, though, as this is still very early software.
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There's a physical home button beneath the screen -- hold it to kick off multitasking.
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Here's the camera software. Hold down the shutter button to take burst-mode shots.
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Here you can see some of the camera options. There are an impressive number of tweaks you can make.

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