Equipped with a number of new features, Tizen 4.0 was developed by Samsung and other industry leaders with two goals in mind: to reinforce the application ecosystem through an easier development experience and to build a device ecosystem to help any device manufacturer create their own IoT product.

A New Development Experience for a Strengthened Application Ecosystem

While many existing OS platforms are limiting due to their framework, policies or business models, Tizen 4.0 aims to promote innovation and the expansion of the application ecosystem by giving developers more freedom and flexibility.

One way the platform accomplishes this is through the introduction of .NET. With .NET, Tizen developers can enjoy C#, the familiar, industry-leading programming language and one of the richest standard libraries.

Additionally, Samsung worked closely with Microsoft to develop Visual Studio Tools for Tizen, which are integrated into Visual Studio, a popular IDE (Integrated Development Environment), and Xamarin.Forms, a cross-platform UI toolkit. Because Xamarin.Forms supports cross platforms, developers can build native UIs for Android, iOS and Windows from a single, shared C# codebase, and easily port these apps to Tizen.

Since announcing its collaboration with Microsoft on .NET open-source projects last November, Samsung has steadily released preview versions of the Tizen.NET SDK to help developers build more powerful apps and to encourage their participation in the ongoing development of the Tizen application ecosystem.

Creating a mobile app in C# using Xamarin.Forms through Visual Studio.

Tizen .NET currently supports Microsoft’s .NET Standard 2.0, and will provide a stable Tizen C# development environment with the release of the Visual Studio Tools for Tizen v1.0 this fall.

Samsung’s preview versions of Tizen.NET have garnered the attention of developers across the world, including those who attended the Microsoft Build 2017 held in Seattle, Microsoft Build Tour in Seoul and Tizen App Development Seminar at Konkuk University in South Korea earlier this month.

Tizen 4.0’s Voice Touch APIs also provide developers with the opportunity to implement voice-controlled application behaviors and web operations. This means that when using Tizen-based devices, users can navigate between webpages or control music playback with voice commands.

The platform’s Sensor Framework has also been enhanced so that developers can easily define and utilize any physical sensor in an application, such as intrusion detection or air pollution measurement, by simply installing an application and device driver without having to upgrade firmware.

Building an IoT Device Ecosystem

To help build the Tizen device ecosystem, Samsung worked closely with partners to improve the configurability, updatability and IoT-readiness of Tizen 4.0.

As a result, Tizen has been significantly restructured. With the previous version of the platform, only specific types of “defined” devices – namely TVs and smartphones – were supported. But Tizen 4.0 has been configured to support various devices without the need for new build projects and infrastructure for each device type.

In other words, vendors can now configure and prototype an OS for their devices with Tizen without the need for setting up their own build infrastructure or creating yet another profile, or diverging their source codes or binaries.

Furthermore, the build environment of Tizen 4.0 M1 has been unified and the structure of and the relation between Tizen packages has been refactored significantly.

When Tizen 4.0 is completed at the end of 2017, the Platform Development Kit (PDK) will be distributed to assist device makers in creating their own IoT devices, while the Tizen Update Service will help them update their IoT services.

Enhanced Security for the IoT Era

As the number of IoT devices continues to grow, and more and more things become connected to the Internet, security is of the utmost importance. To ensure that Tizen 4.0 is secure as possible, Samsung is systematically strengthening the development process of the platform.

For example, the company is using static code analysis tools, tightening code review and continuously monitoring the security vulnerabilities of Tizen and related open source software and patching them regularly. Some of these patches will be tightly coupled with the Tizen code review system, with an aim to prevent vulnerable code from being merged into the Tizen code base from the first stages of development.

Building upon the platform’s first milestone, M1, additional features of Tizen 4.0 will be reinforced and stabilized during the second half of this year. The final version of Tizen 4.0 (M2) will be available later this year.

The interactive event offers attendees up-close looks at convenient Tizen-based products made possible through collaboration with innovative partners from around the globe. Among the showcased innovations are solutions that allow more businesses and users to streamline connections in their work and daily life, and make it easier for developers to innovate within the Tizen ecosystem.

Check out some of the seamless products and solutions for yourself in the photos below.

Attendees view a demonstration of location sharing platform Glympse’s Family Map service, which allows users to seamlessly share their location using a variety of devices within the Tizen ecosystem, including Samsung’s Gear S3 and Family Hub refrigerator.

A display demonstrates how the workflow of the You.i Engine app platform makes it easy to port comprehensive C++ based apps onto Tizen TV apps using NaCl (Native Client).

Attendees view a video that’s been optimized for Smart TVs with NexStreaming‘s NexPlayer for Tizen, a video player SDK for Tizen-based apps that offers video service providers advanced playback and customization tools.

New Cloud Technologies’ comprehensive, Tizen-based MyOffice/Collabio productivity suite features apps that allow users to access and share documents, edit text and spreadsheets, view presentations and manage emails.

NIISOKB‘s SafePhone is a mobile device management solution that allows administrators to lock and unlock devices remotely, send secure messages, and manage applications, including browsers and cameras.

The exhibit for Tekoia’s OCF (Open Connectivity Foundation) certified ‘SURE Universal Remote’ app demonstrates its ability to seamlessly manage OCF-compliant devices through an Android mobile phone.

Accedo’s exhibit showcases its framework for deploying apps on top of the Tizen SDK and focuses on the ‘10-foot UX’, which considers the user’s experience viewing a smart TV from a 10-foot distance.

Fuse’s exhibit features a live demo of the Fuse UX engine, designed to address current app development challenges. Utilizing Fuse’s UX, intuitive Markup and JavaScript allows developers to produce a sophisticated, beautifully animated UI/UX that runs natively on multiple platforms – all without writing enormous amounts of code.

The Institute for System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISP RAS), a research organization that specializes in system programming, showcases how the Svace static analysis tool may be used to check Tizen codes for defects and potential vulnerabilities.

Kyrio Security Services, a cyber security provider trusted by some of the largest device networks in the world, outlines its efforts to make device manufacturers’ IoT security implementations simple, strong and effective.

Optimized for Tizen-based smartphones, Android to Tizen’s (A2T) Wish mobile app makes it easy to browse a worldwide selection of trending fashion, electronics and more, and facilitates simple and secure purchases.

TecAce’s exhibit features demonstrations of B2C and B2B apps designed for Tizen wearables. Showcased apps include Gear For Nest, a connected-home application that allows users to conveniently control their Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Cam security camera via their Gear S3, as well as Retail Checkout, a smart mobile checkout solution that utilizes a Gear device and a handheld barcode scanner.

Today, we sit down with Hyogun Lee, Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics and Chair of the Tizen Technical Steering Group, who will address at TDC what developers can expect to see in Tizen 4.0, as well as share his thoughts on Samsung’s ongoing vision for the platform.

Q. What was Samsung’s vision in developing Tizen 4.0? What do you see as its major progress over preceding versions?

Hyogun Lee: Even though the landscape of the IT industry keeps changing, we believe that OS platform technology is still essential to the innovation of products and services. In the age of IoT where everything is connected to the internet, there is a growing need to create something new, something smarter. And we don’t want to have limitations in doing that due to the framework, policy or business model of existing OS platforms. Our aim is to give more freedom and flexibility to developers.

In terms of Tizen 4.0, our key accomplishments have been to reinforce the Application Ecosystem through an easier development experience. And second, to create a Device Ecosystem to help any device maker create their own IoT device. In sum, the flexibility to configure and customize according to a variety of hardware requirements, and freedom to add new ideas into a well-established OS will allow device makers to develop whatever they have in mind, encouraging innovation. Because Tizen is an open source project, it will also benefit manufacturers other than Samsung.

Q. How has the industry and community of developers reacted to Samsung’s decision to open sources for Tizen?

Hyogun Lee: In general, they have welcomed the open sources decision. Because Tizen has been commercialized and has a record of sales growth, it has proven itself as the most successful Linux-based embedded OS in the world. Therefore, Tizen can be reused for other industries and communities as an open source platform. In addition, and towards the aim of doing business well, we have also been focusing on supporting companies who are working to commercialize Tizen products based on our own experiences.

Q. You make a key point that Tizen 4.0 extends the ecosystem of applications. Can you further elaborate on this?

Hyogun Lee: In Tizen 4.0, we are making several big investments such as introducing .NET as a new framework and offering design tool options such as Adobe XD. With .NET, Tizen developers can enjoy C#, the industry leading programming language and one of the richest standard libraries, and Visual Studio, the most loved IDE (Integrated Development Environment) currently available.

As a very tangible application, we will begin deploying .NET to Samsung TVs later this year. With .NET, Tizen developers will be able to build beautiful .NET apps fully leveraging Samsung TV’s various capabilities.

Q. Can you further describe what you mean when you say Tizen 4.0 is helping move towards a Device Ecosystem?

Hyogun Lee: In Tizen 4.0, we have begun working closely with partners to build the Tizen Device Ecosystem. In specific, we view configurability, updatability and IoT-readiness as the key features of the ecosystem. First, we are going to help any device maker create their own IoT devices using the PDK (Platform Development Kit) based on Configurable Tizen. Second, we are going to help device makers update their own IoT devices based on the Tizen Update Service. Finally, we are going to help device makers connect their own devices to OCF-Ready IoT Cloud like Samsung Connect.

Q. Can you give an update then on which Samsung devices are, and will be using Tizen?

Hyogun Lee: Including our smart TVs, the Z-Series smartphone, wearables and the Family Hub refrigerators, a wide range of Samsung devices are currently using Tizen. In the near future, more home appliances such as our Robot Cleaner, washing machines, air conditioners, and network speakers will be using Tizen.

Q. What efforts has Samsung been making to reinforce the safety of Tizen?

Hyogun Lee: We have been putting our best efforts into making the Tizen open source code more secure. For example, we are using static code analysis tools, tightening code review, and continuously monitoring the security vulnerabilities of Tizen and related open source software and patching them regularly. Some of these patches will be tightly coupled with the Tizen code review system, with our aim to prevent vulnerable code from being merged into the Tizen code base at the first step of development.

On a final note, it’s important to understand the Tizen open source itself is not the exact same code that goes into a product such as a TV. The product teams take the code from Tizen.org and adapt, optimize and secure it again based upon the specific needs of the product. This includes removing unused code paths, and manual penetration testing and hardening against specific known attack vectors. We believe this two-stage process helps us build a platform which is resilient against attacks that are relevant to the particular product.