It’s “a new way to interact with your phone”

Mar 20, 2017 13:35 GMT  ·  By

Samsung’s virtual assistant Bixby is expected to arrive on March 29, during the official unveiling of the company’s new flagship phone, the Galaxy S8. In anticipation of this event, Samsung has decided to reveal some details about the new virtual assistant.

Samsung says that Bixby will learn and adapt to the needs of users, and “will be a new intelligent interface on our devices. Fundamentally different from other voice agents or assistants in the market, Bixby offers a deeper experience,” according to InJong Rhee, Executive Vice President, Head of R&D, Software and Services.

Samsung’s official went on to enumerate three main properties of Bixby. First of all, Bixby will be able to support almost every task of apps installed on the phone, including touch commands, thus making it easier for users to interact with apps and the virtual assistant.

Bixby comes with context awareness and cognitive tolerance

Secondly, users will be able to call upon Bixby at any time when using specific applications and the virtual assistant will understand the current context and state of the app. This will allow users to carry out their current work continuously, without having to activate other features.

Thirdly, Bixby will be more flexible when it comes to the set of commands for performing various tasks. Samsung says that Bixby “will be smart enough to understand commands with incomplete information and execute the commanded task to the best of its knowledge.”

Samsung’s official has also announced that a number of Bixby-enabled applications will be preinstalled on the Galaxy S8 at launch, while support will expand to more over time. Samsung will eventually release an SDK to enable third-party developers to create their own applications and services Bixby-enabled.

Samsung's Executive Vice President also confirmed previous reports about Bixby's availability on more device. Bixby will be featured on all Samsung appliances and will be integrated into the cloud, so devices that support an internet connection will be able to support Bixby. The official added that “with the continued investment from Samsung on artificial intelligence, the possibility of what Bixby can become is endless.”