Powered by Artificial Intelligence Samsung Introduces the New Version of Bixby
Samsung has officially announced the new version of its smart assistant, Bixby, coinciding with the launch of its two new foldable phones, the W25 and W25 Flip, in the Chinese market.
The new version of Bixby, currently available exclusively on the W25 and W25 Flip , is based on large language models (LLMs) making it more efficient at understanding natural language and context, and is able to understand complex sentences containing multiple overlapping commands.
Samsung gave several examples: If a user says, “It’s cloudy outside, what should I wear to work today?” Bixby will display the weather forecast, and recommend wearing a raincoat if it’s likely to rain. If the user continues by saying, “How long does it take to get there?” Bixby will understand that the conversation is about getting to work, and will display directions with an estimated arrival time based on traffic conditions.
Samsung’s intelligent assistant can provide detailed instructions on how to perform certain tasks on Galaxy phones. For example, if a user asks how to add a watermark to photos, Bixby will explain how to use this feature in the camera in a simplified way.
The new personal assistant also has the ability to extract information from the phone's apps and understand context; when asked about a family celebration, Bixby will search the calendar app and display event details including name, date, time and location.
The new Bixby can also understand what’s on the screen and offer contextual assistance. For example, if you’re chatting with a friend and they tell you where to meet, you can activate the assistant and ask, “Go to this location.” Bixby will then scan the screen to identify location-related information and use Maps to provide directions.
The new version of Samsung's smart assistant comes with a new design for the user interface that occupies the entire screen, and allows interaction via voice or writing, with suggested commands to use, and it is characterized by the presence of multi-colored animated graphics, very similar to the modern designs of similar software.
The assistant can be called from anywhere on the phone, whether during conversations or when browsing the web, as it can translate web pages or create documents, presentations or spreadsheets based on the user's request.
The new version of Bixby is currently only available on the W25 and W25 Flip in China, and some of Samsung's premium home appliances, but it's expected to expand to other devices soon.
Samsung is likely to launch this version globally with the upcoming One UI 7.0 interface early next year.