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Samsung’s second Tizen smartphone looks like a shrunken Note 5

Samsung’s second Tizen smartphone looks like a shrunken Note 5

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Samsung has unveiled its second phone running Tizen, the Z3. Like Samsung's first Tizen phone, the Z1 from January, the Z3 is a low-cost smartphone headed for India; this model just happens to look a whole lot nicer. The Z3 has a 5-inch, 720p display in a body that looks extremely similar to the Note 5. Of course, the Z3 isn't quite that nice — it's probably not made out of metal, and it's filled out with some very basic specs: it has a 1.3GHz quad-core processor from Spreadtrum, 1GB of RAM, a 2,600 mAh battery, and it doesn't support LTE, only HSPA+. There's also a 5-megapixel front camera and an 8-megapixel rear camera.

The phone will go on sale for INR 8490, or about $130 USD, in India later this month. It's an attempt by Samsung to tap into another huge and growing market, while also giving it a chance to turn Tizen into a competitive platform in other areas of the world. Samsung has some reason to believe this phone will do fine in India, too. It took the Z1 less than six months to sell 1 million units in India earlier this year, and the Z3, likewise, is designed specifically for that market, customized to include access to local deals and content. Samsung is also really playing up the new design on this phone, going so far as to say that it'll "give you the glam and style that will make you ultra cool." I'm skeptical, but that'd be a solid reason to pick one up if true.

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