Samsung confirmed before it had even unveiled the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ that the upcoming flagship will come with a new artificial intelligence-powered assistant called Bixby. During its presentation today, Samsung provided more details about what Bixby can do on the Galaxy S8.
Samsung claims that Bixby can do almost everything in response to a voice command that the user can do by tapping on the display. That's a tall claim. So basically, Bixby can help you share information or content inside an app with a friend.
For example, if you're looking at a photo inside the gallery you can press on the dedicated Bixby button and tell it to “Send this to Cindy.” It will then present you with a list of contacts named Cindy in your phone if there are more than one. Bixby knows when to ask for more information so it will prompt you to tell it which the correct contact is and what service you want to use to share the photo through.
Bixby is also deeply integrated into native apps like the Camera. Bixby understands what the user is seeing in the Camera app so it can provide information about any landmarks, show places to eat and drink around that landmark and enable you to shop online by scanning a barcode.
The assistant is also aware of your needs. Swiping right on the homescreen will bring up the contextual Bixby screen which will display cards similar to what you get in Google Now. It will show cards from gallery, email, and third-party apps like Uber. It will know how to prioritize these cards as well.
For example, if you take an Uber to work every morning, it will eventually learn this habit over time and always place the Uber card at the very top. It's also integrated with Google Play Music so it can stream songs from that service and even remind you when a new album lands on Google Play Music.
Bixby is only going to get better with time and given that Samsung has already confirmed that third-party developers will eventually be allowed to access Bixby on the Galaxy S8 well, we'll certainly see a lot of interesting Bixby integrations in the months to come.
