Samsung is currently the top smartphone maker in the world and most of those sales come from Samsung smartphones running Android. But Samsung has viewed Tizen OS as its way of reducing its reliance on Google's Android operating system. It is believed that Samsung got more serious about branching out from Android after Google purchased Motorola, one of Samsung's biggest competitors in the smartphone world. Samsung viewed the acquisition as a conflict of interest and decided to move forward on releasing smartphones running Tizen.

SAMMOBILE has posted screenshots of Tizen OS from the just released Tizen SDK 2.0 software. Sources have told SAMMOBILE that the UI in the screenshots are believed to be close to the final version of the OS when it ships. The first device expected to ship with this version will be a Samsung smartphone that sources have said is based on the Samsung Galaxy S3, but there was no indication if that means design, hardware or possibly both.

The screenshots show a clean and simple UI. You get views of what the settings screen, clock app, messaging with a glimpse of Tizen's keyboard, web browser and home screen look like. The apps on the home screen are likely to indicate the default apps that will ship with Tizen OS. Standard apps like contacts, messages, music player, camera, gallery, Internet browser, calendar, email, phone and memos all appear on the home screen. It's all the basic apps you find in any mobile operating system.

Developers who are interested in getting a head start on creating Tizen OS applications can head over to the Tizen Developer site to download the Tizen SDK 2.0 software.

Rumors say that Samsung might give the world a preview of the smartphone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Feb. 25 through 28. Samsung appears to be getting ready to have a very busy 2013.