Android no more: Samsung devices get Tizen in 2013

For certain new Samsung phones, 2013 is going to be the year of Tizen, a newish mobile OS developed by Samsung, Linux and Intel. Samsung had very little to say, issuing a lean sliver information for us to work off. “We plan to release new, competitive Tizen devices within this year and will keep expanding the lineup depending on market conditions,” said the South Korean electronic giant.

Tizen, like Android and the upcoming Ubuntu mobile, is an open-source OS that’ll run on practically any platform. TVs, media players, cheese burgers, you name it, Tizen will run it. Companies backing the move to Tizen include Intel, Vodafone and France Telecom. But before these big names snatch up Tizen, NTT Docomo, Japan’s largest telecom gets first dibs.

For developers, we suggest downloading Tizen’s SDK to familiarise yourself with the OS before it hits the market proper in the coming months, hopefully. Samsung’s got CES, Mobile World Congress and possibly even E3 to show off any new Tizen devices. High time too, Android’s starting to look and feel a little stale. This doesn’t mean that Android is dead and buried. Quite the contrary. With competition in the form of a newish, open-source OS, Android will now have to up its game to meet the requirements of an ever-changing geek populace.