Samsung has announced Bixby, a new voice-based user interface that will mark its debut on the Galaxy S8 smartphone.
Samsung said it developed Bixby in order to minimize friction between the user and the phone in terms of how voice commands are issued and understood. Samsung calls Bixby a user interface that relies on artificial intelligence. it is not a personal assistant, per se, though it includes those functions.
Samsung adapted Bixby’s ability to listen and understand commands based on how people speak, rather than force people to issue specific commands (such as “Hey, Bixby”) to get the interface working. Samsung is targeting a handful of core behaviors with Bixby. For example, it is embracing something it calls “completeness” — meaning if an app is Bixby enabled, Bixby will be able to interact with nearly every task that app is capable of completing. Bixby is contextual, which means it will work seamlessly in voice mode or touch screen mode without forcing people to start over or lose their place within a command sequence.
Last, Bixby will include cognitive tolerance, or the ability to “understand commands with incomplete information and execute the commanded task to the best of its knowledge.” The Galaxy S8, which Samsung plans to announce at a March 29 event in New York City, will feature a dedicated Bixby button, something Samsung says will reduce friction in calling upon Bixby for help.
Galaxy S8 owners will be able to press the Bixby button and issue the command they want without first unlocking the phone. Samsung says a small subset of apps on the Galaxy S8 will be Bixby-enabeld at launch, though it expects to add more over time. Further, the company will release an SDK so third-party developers can add Bixby functionality to their own apps. Samsung intends to push Bixby across most of its products tline, including tablets, PCs, and even appliances.
