Samsung's Tizen gets poor reception in India

Samsung Electronics' first smartphone to run on its own operating system received a frosty welcome after its launch in India, with reviewers and consumers criticising its low-resolution cameras and dearth of software applications.

The South Korean giant's latest handset stands out not so much for its no-frills specifications but for what lies under the hood - the Tizen operating system Samsung has developed to rival Google's Android platform.

Samsung is hoping the Z1 will catch on in the world's third-largest smartphone market, boosting its flagging global market share and gaining a foothold for Tizen among India's first-time smartphone buyers.

But the initial reaction of analysts and consumers suggests the Z1 will struggle to get ahead of a crowded field in a country with about 280 smartphone brands on offer, led by Samsung and closely followed by Indian maker Micromax Informatics.

"Samsung has been delaying the launch of this Tizen phone for a long time and when they finally did it, it turned out to be an under-powered phone," said Mumbai-based filmmaker Samir Ahmed Sheikh as he shopped for a new phone for his wife.

The 3.15 megapixel primary camera and 300,000 pixel front camera are "like a phone from 2010", he said. "A simple comparison with any of the Android One phones will tell you how much the Z1 is missing."