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Samsung Galaxy S5 could run Tizen instead of Android

The Samsung Galaxy S5 could come in two flavours: tasty, familiar Android and untried untasted Tizen.

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Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
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Richard Trenholm
2 min read
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The Samsung Galaxy S5 could come in two flavours: tasty, familiar Android and untried untasted Tizen.

After a Samsung Galaxy S4 was spotted showing off new Tizen software, IBTimes suggests that some versions of the new phone will run Samsung's own Tizen operating system instead of Google's Android OS.

Android has helped propel Samsung to become the biggest phone manufacturer in the world in recent years. But every phone Samsung sells sends a cut of the price to Google -- and Google continues to make money from the phone every time you spend money on apps, games, movies and music from the Google Play online store. Samsung wants a slice of that pie, and its own brand Tizen software could be key to taking that slice.

This is still a rumour, but I'd speculate that Samsung wouldn't offer you the choice of Android or Tizen. It seems more likely to me that Tizen would be offered in some markets and not in others -- probably in emerging markets to keep the price down. Samsung is no stranger to offering different versions of a particular phone in different regions: the S4 is a quad-core phone in some parts of the world but has an eight-core chip in others.

The biggest problem with Tizen is that it won't have a fraction of the apps, games and services that Android has, which will be a big problem for many customers.

None more metal 

Rumours suggest the next S will be the first Galaxy smart phone to be encased in metal. The S4 certainly took flak in some quarters for its glossy plastic body; not only was it identical to the previous S3, but it doesn't have the premium feel of rivals such as the metal-framed iPhone 5 or the polycarbonate Nokia Lumia range.

Samsung has moved away from glossy plastic with the Galaxy Note 3, on sale next week. The new Note has a suave leather-effect rear -- complete with fake stitching -- for a more pleasing grip and less plasticky feel.

Would you buy a Tizen S5? Tell me you thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook wall.