After several rumours and leaks, Samsung has officially announced the Tizen OS based smartphone – the Samsung Z3. By skipping a number (no Samsung Z2), the Z3 is the successor of the relatively successful Samsung Z1 which made its way to India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The Samsung Z3 runs Tizen OS 2.4 and is powered by a quad-core Spreadtrum processor clocked at 1.3GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU and 1GB of RAM. The device has a 5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels (HD) and 8GB space of internal storage.
The Z3 has a rear facing 8MP camera with f/2.2 aperture and LED flash; a front facing 5MP camera with f/2.2 aperture for selfies and for additional storage, there is a microSD card slot for expanding the storage up to 128 GB. Connectivity options available includes – Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS, micro USB 2.0 and 3G.
Measuring 141.6 x 70 x 7.9mm in dimensions and weighing 137 grams; the Samsung Z3 has Dual SIM slots and is backed by a 2600mAh battery with Ultra Power Saving (UPS) mode -this mode ensures longer usage time or battery life but functions on the device will be minimal.
The device also comes with Ultra Data Saving (UDS) mode; this mode works like Opera Max ensuring outgoing and incoming Data traffic are compressed thus saving data costs. The Z3 comes pre-loaded with Mix Radio app, Theme Store, Here Maps and some games.
Taking positives from the Z1, the Samsung Z3, being a low cost model should be a success too but the lack of 4G LTE is a talking point. It is available from online (exclusive to Snapdeal) and offline stores in India for Rs 8490 ($130) starting October 21st. Black, Gold and Silver are the available colours to choose from.
Samsung is expected to still launch the Z3 in Europe, Africa (Egypt) and some other countries in Asia.
