When the Samsung S8 smartphone was unveiled in April to eager UK customers, many ripped open the boxes, desperate to try out the Infinity screen and the new Android assistant to the marketplace, but were left disappointed when news filtered out that Samsung’s ‘Bixby’ assistant – a rival to Cortana and Siri – was struggling to understand English syntax and would be delayed a few weeks.
Despite bold claims that their virtual assistant would be able to overpower all of the market rivals, it seems that they are lagging even further behind while their competitors show off new features like checking your flights times and traffic en-route to the airports to giving you the best odds before you bet on the big games. But who would we be if we didn’t back the Samsung S8 over its’ Apple rivals – especially when the potential is so vast. Not only is it set to work with enabled-apps, which Siri and Cortana have stumbled over blindly in the past, but it learns what you like and even helps recognise landmarks, translate signs or suggest new features based on how you interact with your phone. It’s not a hard stretch to imagine that the flight time and checking features or online betting odds and suggestions will be replicated with more finesse and better app integration to easily overpower its’ rivals in even their more ‘user-publicised’ areas.
So the question on everyone’s mind is – when are we likely to get it … if ever? Well according to several reliable tech media sources, its’ release is imminent. Applications are already being prepped to conform with it and publishers are undoubtedly hoping it will lead to increased sales and user activity as people look to play around with it. Having spoken to a few betting app owners already about the Siri tweaks and how these would work with their football betting options – credits to Boyd Gaming’s Betting team and Sporting Bet’s Football Betting division – it seems that huge increases in user signups are just one of the winning by-products they are hoping to win on by integrating tips and odds with Bixby. But the real value will be in those Android app developers who go beyond the notifications and gimmicky tip offs – the translation-based apps and calorie counting programs that employ Bixby’s vision mode to do their jobs for them and tap into the bustling realms of tourism and health. I’m sure it won’t be long before you see us reviewing a few of them in our Apps Reviews section and telling you all our favourite ones.
In the meantime, the imminent release should soothe those of you who haven’t already re-mapped the button and convince those of you who have, to revert it back in preparation for what could be the next big jump in mobile assistance tech.
