CES 2018: Samsung Bixby Smart Assistant

Late last year, Samsung threw their hat into the smart assistant ring with the release of Bixby, their version of a digital voice assistant. Like other smart assistants, Samsung Bixby responds to voice commands to control apps on your phone, set reminders, or fetch you information. And, of course, Bixby puts the entire Internet of Things at your fingertips, letting you control all of your smart devices, whether from Samsung or another brand. We caught up with Samsung at CES 2018 to learn more about Bixby’s capabilities.

One of Bixby’s more notable features is the ability to assist you as you interact with the world around you, through its Vision interface. Point your camera at an item, and Bixby can identify it. That’s pretty neat, but Bixby takes it one step further, by giving you heaps of additional information on the item. Snap a photo of a bottle of wine, and you can get information on that varietal’s origin or rating. When Bixby identifies a particular pair of shoes, it can also tell you where to buy them. And point Bixby towards a foreign-language sign, and Bixby will translate it for you. Samsung promises a continually-growing list of functions for Bixby, as the system continues to learn from users. Bixby is currently available in the Samsung Galaxy Note8 and Galaxy S8/S8+, will be added to more devices in the future, and will also find its way into Samsung’s other smart home products.