Samsung unveils Galaxy S8 with new voice assistant

Samsung finally launched its latest flagship smartphones the Galaxy S8 with a 5.8-inch screen and the Galaxy S8 Plus with a 6.2-inch screen both of which come with a smart voice assistant called Bixby on Wednesday.

The S8 is a combination of glass, metal in a case that is much smaller than anyone will expect. The phone is also slimmer and the screen now extends to the edge of the device’s top and bottom.

The launch from all indications may arguably be Samsung’s major effort to rebound after a year in which the company faced many challenges.

There were several leaks prior to the S8’s unveiling and majority of them appear to be very accurate.

Samsung killed off the home screen button replacing it with a touch screen home button, full-face recognition or a fingerprint scanner on the back of the phone. There is space for an earphone jack.

According to Jean-Daniel Ayme, corporate vice president for mobile in Samsung’s Europe office, “The high-end big phone market is growing and we had a challenge of as you mentioned, people getting a bit tired or renewing their phone with the same design. So we decided to take a big step forward and change the design.”

Some analysts are calling the screen on Galaxy S8 the boldest feature on the device. The screen which Samsung is calling “infinity display” stretches up and down to cover nearly the entire front of the phone. It also curves around the left and right. The 5.8-inch Super AMOLED version is clear is bright and colourful.

Its wideness allows more content to be spilled down and front of the phone, with all the internal apps optimized to make use of the larger space.

The design is also exquisite and could be the lowest bezel-to-screen ratio on a globally-available flagship phone.

Although Bixby is projected to give Apple’ Siri a good run for its money, Samsung said it is different. According to the company, Bixby which has the ability to understand English and Korea can give users information on a particular subject that they captured with their camera as well as restaurants nearby. Users can also request for pictures taken at a particular location and the smart assistance will call it up.

However, Bixby’s functions at the moment are limited but it is expected to grow in the near future. It should be noted that its use is restricted to users in the United States and Korea for the time being. Samsung also unveiled Samsung Connect which allow users to control a number of internet-connected home devices such as TVs and refrigerators.

With Samsung Connect, Galaxy S8 becomes the first smartphone to have the ability to link with Samsung’s vast portfolio of internet-connected devices.