Samsung’s virtual assistant, Bixby, has some intriguing features that make it potentially more functional than established ones like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. The company is still looking for a way to attract people to use Bixby. According to a report by The Verge, Samsung’s virtual assistant will soon be able to use voice control to play music through Spotify.
Samsung has rolled out Bixby to more than 200 countries After several months, Bixby is now available in countries like UK, Australia, Canada and South Africa. The company will also continue to expand the virtual assistant’s voice feature to more countries, devices, and languages, along with third-party application support.
Bixby supports Samsung's own applications
Samsung's smart assistant uses defaults whenever it opens any type of application. For instance, if a user asks Bixby to send an email, it will automatically open the native Samsung mail application. Bixby will still use default applications even if the user has been using Gmail and has never used any mail applications. But there is a trick to using Bixby.
Users must be specific whenever they ask something to the smart assistant. For instance, if the user wants to send something via Gmail, the user must say “Send an email on Gmail.” Samsung’s smart assistant currently recognizes U.S., English, and Korean. However, its capabilities might vary according to the user's country or service provider.
Smart speaker that could rival Apple, Google, Amazon
Samsung recently confirmed that it is currently working on a smart speaker that will rival the Amazon Echo, Apple’s HomePod and Google Home. The smart speaker will be powered by Bixby smart assistant, and it will work just like its rivals. DJ Koh, president of Samsung's mobile division, said in an interview that they want to provide a fruitful user experience at home with Samsung devices.
According to CNBC, Samsung is hoping to connect all of its products using the Bixby digital personal assistant at the center. A function called Bixby Home is available on selected Samsung smartphones, such as Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8. The Bixby Home allows its users to connect their devices to the smartphone and can be controlled using Bixby.
Smart speakers are expected to reach global sales by 15 million units in 2020, up from just 1.8 million last year.
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