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Samsung Announces Galaxy Home Speaker With Bixby Smart Assistant

Posted by BeauHD on from the shiny-and-new dept.

The smart assistant that nobody asked for will be the brains of a new speaker Samsung is launching later this year. The Galaxy Home speaker will rival Apple's HomePod, while standing apart from competitors like Amazon's Echo and Google's Home with a promise of higher-quality audio. The Verge reports: The Galaxy Home looks like a strange vase or statue that might go on a table in the corner of your home. It's wrapped in fabric and elevated by three stout metal legs. It has a flat top with control buttons on it for skipping tracks and changing the volume. The speaker is supposed to deliver surround sound-style audio using six built-in speakers and a subwoofer. It also includes eight far-field microphones for detecting voice input. You'll be able to say "Hi, Bixby" to activate Samsung's assistant and ask it to start playing music or a number of other tasks. Samsung indicated that it'd be able to do many of the same things Bixby can do on a phone. Samsung is expected to share more details about the product at a developer conference in early November.

25 of 47 comments (clear)

  1. I have a Bixby refrigerator by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Funny

    My wife bought a Bixby enabled Samsung refrigerator. It is difficult to voice activate, doesn't understand much, and is way worse than either Alexa or Google Home (she has both of those too).

    It does include good speakers, so if you want your refrigerator to play nice music, you may like it.

    1. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

      I’ll never understand why people would even want combo devices. You pay a premium; then, if something goes wrong with either component, you either have to do without that functionality or you have to make another expensive purchase.

      What exactly does voice assistance add to a refrigerator, for Pete’s sake?

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    2. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by Brett+Buck · · Score: 2

      Us, too, but occasionally it gets enraged, turns green, and wrecks the house.

    3. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      I have a Begby enabled Samsung refrigerator. Whenever I say something to it, it swears at me in a near-incomprehensible Glaswegian accent.

    4. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by mentil · · Score: 2

      I know, right?! That's why I carry a Nintendo DS, point-and-shoot, flip-phone, iPod and GPS in my pockets wherever I go!

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    5. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      That's why I carry a Nintendo DS, point-and-shoot, flip-phone, iPod and GPS in my pockets wherever I go!

      At least those are all "things you want to have in your pocket". The problem with the Bixby smart fridge is that 99% of the features have nothing to do with refrigeration. The calendar can remind you of your appointments, but the interface is so clunky that it is useless. You can use it as a web browser, but why would you want to stand in the kitchen to do that? One feature that is actually related to the refrigerator is an internal camera that can display the contents of the fridge without opening the door ... but it takes so long to traverse the menus, that it is easier to just open the door and look the old fashioned way.

      In fact the interface is so badly designed that we can't even figure out how to set the temperature, so it it is still on the factory settings, which occasionally results in frozen milk if we put it on the back shelf.

      If they fixed the voice recognition to Alexa levels (which are very good) and tied the voice recognition to the rest of the functionality, it might not be so bad. But overall it is a dumb concept with an even dumber implementation.

      Our Alexa occasionally does OTA updates. But Bixby (apparently) never does. So I don't have any hope for improvements.

    6. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      I know, right?! That's why I carry a Nintendo DS, point-and-shoot, flip-phone, iPod and GPS in my pockets wherever I go!

      I’ll see you all that and raise you a Kindle!

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    7. Re: I have a Bixby refrigerator by datavirtue · · Score: 2

      Bixby is dead on arrival. What planet do these guys live on? Nevermind....board room planet.

      --
      I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
    8. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      If it had a barcode scanner than could tell you what was in the fridge that would be useful. Could keep track of stuff you need to buy, and even do some simple projections to make sure you never run out of stuff.

      Maybe it could send you a reminder about the yogurt that has been in the back for 5 months too.

      But no, that would be too useful. Let's have a useless web browser and the world's dumbest voice assistant instead.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    9. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by Daralantan · · Score: 1

      The calendar can remind you of your appointments, but the interface is so clunky that it is useless. You can use it as a web browser, but why would you want to stand in the kitchen to do that? One feature that is actually related to the refrigerator is an internal camera that can display the contents of the fridge without opening the door ... but it takes so long to traverse the menus, that it is easier to just open the door and look the old fashioned way.

      With a decent interface and voice I imagine it'd be nice at least to say.... look at the weather and/or calendar when filling up your water? But otherwise it seems insane to have a smart fridge. Maybe with voice you could ask your fridge to show the contents while you're messing with the coffee maker a few feet away....? I always forget "Smart Fridges" exist - probably because I can't see any reason for why.

    10. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      I always forget "Smart Fridges" exist - probably because I can't see any reason for why.

      Well, have to differentiate your product somehow ...

      Brian Regan has some advice about that ...

    11. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by Desler · · Score: 1

      And being a Samsung fridge, the icemaker freezes up.

    12. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      You can use it as a web browser, but why would you want to stand in the kitchen to do that?

      Recipes on the web. That assumes the browser is usable, though.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    13. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by supremebob · · Score: 1

      Seems like a planned obsolescence thing to me. A good refrigerator will last 20 years, but that Samsung Galaxy Tablet that they basically glued into the front of it will be unsupported within 4 years and will be completely useless within 6 or 7.

    14. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      My wife bought a Bixby enabled Samsung refrigerator. It is difficult to voice activate, doesn't understand much, and is way worse than either Alexa or Google Home (she has both of those too).

      It does include good speakers, so if you want your refrigerator to play nice music, you may like it.

      I personally love Bixby. There's nothing more light hearted and charming than being in the middle of a conversation and your phone randomly lighting up to tell you it didn't understand what you just said. Most digital assistants are useless, but at least Bixby is trying to listen to everything you say.

  2. Re:I have a Bixby refrigerator Bi!! Bi!! Bi!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Billl, your wife is sleeping around on you. She is not satisifed. She is out there looking for those zipless fucks! Sorry to be the one to tell you, Bill, but the clues are right there in what you wrote.

  3. Re: No digital smart assistants by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

    You just made federal prison sound appealing. The number of dumbasses who buy one, stick it in their living room and "just use it as a Bluetooth speaker" is incredibly high.

  4. Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Take the worst feature of Samsung's very popular phones, and sell it as a stand-alone feature. Why, Samsung, Why?

    1. Re:Why? by supremebob · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure why they just didn't make a Google Assistant speaker with some extra bells and whistles instead. The last thing this new smart speaker ecosystem needs is yet another competing and incompatible "standard" to develop for.

  5. Trust? by coofercat · · Score: 1

    I'd trust voice 'assistants' in about this order:
    - Amazon
    - Apple
    - Google
    - Just about anyone else
    - The dodgy repair shop down the street that knocked together their own from spare parts
    - Uber
    - Samsung

    As for the other comments about getting 'smart' fridges - oh man, that would drive me nuts. I'm annoyed enough that our wine fridge has a light that insists on staying on for 10 minutes after you close the door.

    Are voice assistants the new "clocks". It used to be that every blooming device insisted on having a clock on it. At the start and end of summer you'd have two dozen clocks to change around your kitchen. At least voice assistants don't need that, but if you shout "Bixby Alexa Google" in the average kitchen, how many devices are going to say "yes, how can I help?"

    1. Re:Trust? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I'd trust voice 'assistants' in about this order:

      - Amazon

      - Apple

      - Google

      - Just about anyone else

      Brutal! Mycroft loses on trusthworthiness to a bunch of competitors that you definitely know for sure aren't even slightly trustworthy. And Mycroft works for you!

      This means you trust people that you know view you as prey, more than you trust yourself! I bet lots of people are like that. No wonder we have a criminal president. Let me guess: did you vote for him?

  6. Don't make it angry by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    You wouldn't like it when it's angry ...

  7. ...so nothing much of value? by myNameIsNotImportant · · Score: 1

    Samsung indicated that it'd be able to do many of the same things Bixby can do on a phone.

    ...so, nothing much of value?

    After Samsung stuffed Bixby down consumers' throats on S8 and S9 and would not provide a way to disable that goddamn button, I am staying away from anything Bixby.

  8. Why is Samsung insisting with Bixby? by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    There seems to be a generalized accord that, when it comes to digital assistants, Bixby does not amount to much - and, bearing in mind the very limited usefulness of digital assistants, that's saying something. So, why is Samsung insisting? Is it really generating more sales for them? Are there really vast numbers of people who are buying Samsung because of Bixby? My anecdotal experience is that I have yet to meet anyone - anyone - that has something nice to say about Bixby. On the other hand, I have met quite a few that actively complain about having to deal with Bixby. I know I would never buy any Samsung phone - they are too big, expensive, they come with too much in the way of unremovable bloatware - and Bixby.

  9. Re:No digital smart TRUMPs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Trump will hang for treason.

    Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you damn well know that sometime in the future, you're going to read this headline: "JUSTICE DENIED. PRESIDENT PENCE PARDONS TRUMP 45 MINUTES AFTER TAKING OFFICE" Basically, nothing can stop this and nobody will be able to do anything about it. Trump will pardon his family and "friends" at the beginning of his impeachment (or possibly right before, thereby triggering the impeachment) and they'll go ahead and actually vote to remove him. And then Pence will pardon him just like Ford did for Nixon. This generation's Nixon is going to get away with it. If you don't like this, then stop voting for Republicrats, but it's too late to imprison this crook. You're supposed to put them in prison before you elect them, dimwit. When you vote in favor of Republicrats' pro-crime platform, you get crime. Why is that do hard to understand?