A few days ago, I wrote a piece explaining why software is the next big evolution in smartphones. Ever since, the evidence to support this has been greatly increasing. Rumours surrounding the Galaxy S8 claim that Samsung plans to deeply integrate AI into the Galaxy S8’s software. This is further supported by the fact that Samsung acquired Viv Labs, a company that created Siri. Samsung’s new AI will be taking a different direction from Google’s Digital Assistant.
Dubbed, Bixby, Samsung’s AI will be running on top of Viv’s AI software that was designed to answer layered questions that current AI services either can’t comprehend or struggle to process. For instance, Viv CEO – Dag Kittlaus explained that Viv can answer complex questions like, “Find me a flight to Dallas with a seat that Shaq could fit in”. We’ve also seen reports that Bixby will allow users to use voice commands to send money to friends and family. Sammobile also claims that Bixby will be tightly integrated into the S8 camera and will be able to process text via OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and even search for and identify objects.
The most recent rumor involving Bixby centers on how users might trigger the feature. According to newly surfaced Galaxy S8 case renders , it seems that the S8 may come with a fourth physical button. This had led to the speculation that this mysterious fourth button, might be used as a way for users to quickly activate Bixby. The Galaxy S8 is shaping to be a very interesting device and we will be following up with the rumours to give you an inside scoop of Samsung’s next flagship.
