Samsung unveils Tizen 4.0 for IoT application
Samsung Electronics has unveiled the Tizen 4.0 OS that has a wider range of applications to devices than its predecessors.
At the Tizen Developers Conference (TDC) in San Francisco, the South Korean tech giant showed off the new version of the platform, applicable in a wider array of devices than just smartphones and TVs by subdividing functional modules.
TDC was first held in 2012 when the firm announced the open-source Tizen 1.0.
Samsung has been using Linux-based Tizen platforms for its smartphones -- the Z line-up launched in India -- smart TVs, and outdoor signage.
Tizen 4.0 now comes not only in the Linux-based version for sophisticated devices, but has been extended to Tizen Real Time for application in low-specification devices such as bulbs, thermostats, and scales.
Samsung will also cooperate with Microsoft to offer developers development tools and languages to make Tizen apps. Microsoft's .NET and Xamarin UI framework is introduced to Tizen for C# language-based apps that can be made in the popular Visual Studio app by developers.
The company also showed off its Z4 smartphone, the latest in its mid-tier Z line-up. The firm launched the Z1 in January 2015 in India and has been since launching new phones there periodically.
It also introduced a new module in its ARTIK IoT module series, ARTIK053, which uses Tizen 4.0 and is optimised for use in low-data devices. Samsung first launched the ARTIK modules in 2016 and has since diversified the module line-up to encompass the super high-end to the low-end.
Samsung said it will introduce more modules for Tizen applications going forward, as well as develop new ones with Broadlink in China, Commax in South Korea, and Glympse in the US.