Tizen has been in development for years. We saw some phones running it at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February, where Samung also announced the Tizen-powered Samsung Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo. Finally Samsung has launched the world's first Tizen OS smartphone in Russia —  the Samsung Z. 

1. It’s open sourceSamsung has worked with Intel to develop Tizen. It is Linux-based platform built from Nokia and Intel’s ditched MeeGo. The fact it is open-source, like Android, means that hardware manufacturers that choose to adopt it are free to tinker with the interface and the UI to make it as unique as they like.

2. HTML 5Tizen is a HTML5-based operating system. This is good news for content creators since the platform should allow for shorter development cycles, works intuitively with the web and should lower the cost of making apps.

3. Tizen looks like Android with TouchWizthe real question as to whether users will adopt Tizen has to do with how intuitive and experience it will provide. Can it be as user-friendly as iOS or Android’s 4.4 Kitkat operating systems? In its latest guise 2.2.1, Tizen doesn’t look entirely different from a TouchWiz-layered Android as our Tizen first look video above shows.

4. It’s not just for smartphonesThe operating system aims to offer a unified experience across multiple devices, so expect to see it featured in TVs, laptops and even crop in the 'bank and car industries' according to Samsung Electronics co-CEO J.K. Shin.

5. Samsung Tizen appsAs we've seen with Windows 8/Windows Phone 8, apps are a very big deal the growth and success of any new operating system. The good news is that Tizen will support native and web apps just as it did for Bada and existing Bada apps will also be ported over. Cut the Rope and Gameloft's Asphalt 7 are already set for the open Tizen Store and gives you an idea of the calibre of content you can expect at launch.

Samsung's Tizen mobile OS could signal new competition for Apple's iOS, Google's Android