Samsung is eager to impress the populace with the launch of its next flagship smartphone device, which is expected to happen sometime in April 2017. The rumor mill for the Galaxy S8, which will have to prove its might as a comeback, is in cahoots and speculates that it will pack in a cohort of features that’ll make us tech enthusiasts go gaga over it.
One of the biggest features that are going to make an appearance with the Galaxy S8 is the new Viv-powered virtual assistant that is expected to be named Bixby. Till date, there have been little to no details available about the functionality of the same. But SamMobile, citing sources privy to the developments, mentions that the Viv-based voice assistant will have a presence across all of the native Samsung apps that come installed on their smartphones.
This move from Korean’s tech behemoth suggests that it has come so very far from the days of S Voice, which was the predominant virtual assistant for users till date. Bixby will be more advanced and can be linked to third-party apps to perform functions that aren’t exactly new for the assistant world. For example, you’ll be able to ask Galaxy S8’s assistant to help you sort photos and videos according to any criterion. This functionality has been available in Google Photos and Apple’s standard Photos app for quite some time now.
But what would be interesting to see is — Will Samsung completely employ the smarts of Viv’s AI algorithms? For those unaware, Viv is the next-gen artificial intelligence platform developed by the creators of Siri. It is not only capable of binding with third-party apps to perform specific tasks but also has the ability to adapt and write its own code over a period of time. The virtual assistant was acquired by Samsung to compete with the likes of Assistant, earlier this year. And it definitely would prove to be a huge leap over the rudimentary S Voice assistant.
In addition, the Galaxy S8 is expected to one gnarly beast of a smartphone due to the rumors of it packing a humongous all-glass display to compensate for the loss of its previous flagship — Note 7. It is also expected to forgo the 3.5mm headphone jack and home button in favor of an under-glass fingerprint sensor. The front camera is also expected to receive a spec bump, and it might pack an autofocusing lens this time around.
