Bixby/ˈbɪksbi/ⓘ; Korean: 빅스비; RR: Bikseubi; Korean pronunciation:[pik̚s͈ɯbi]) is a virtual assistant developed by Samsung Electronics,[9] launched in 2017 as a replacement of the S Voice assistant.[10][11][12] It runs on various Samsung branded appliances, primarily mobile devices but also some refrigerators.[13] The suite includes a voice assistant known as Bixby Voice,[14] as well as contextual search and visual search features[15] including tools like Bixby Vision, an augmented reality camera app,[16]Bixby Text Call, a handsfree call answer feature,[17] and others like Bixby Routines (now named Modes & Routines),[18]Bixby Home (now named Samsung Daily and replaced by Samsung Free), & Bixby Daily, which uses time period account-based routines for actions like calling, setting an alarm, or adding an event, (Now named Samsung Daily & Bixby Routines).
Functionality
Bixby Voice
Bixby can get tailored information about the weather, reminders of meetings, news articles, and others using artificial intelligence. It can learn individual voices, so it can personalize its answers.[19]
Bixby Vision
Bixby Vision is an augmented-reality camera that can identify objects in real-time and potentially offer the user to purchase them online, translate text, read QR codes, and recognize landmarks.[20]
Bixby Home
"Bixby Home" (which has been now named "Samsung Daily" on One UI 2.1, & recently replaced with "Samsung Free" in the latest One UI software update)[21] was a vertically scrolling list of information that Bixby can interact with,[clarification needed] for example weather, fitness activity and buttons for controlling their smart home gadgets.[20] "Bixby Touch" makes recommendations based on intelligent recognition. The user can easily access services such as translation, online shopping, and media by touching the screen. This app is still in its development period and has not been publicly released yet.
Bixby Daily
Bixby Daily was released on 7 November 2018. Bixby Daily uses time period account-based routines for functions such as calling, setting an alarm, or adding an event. Bixby Daily does not let users add routines. Bixby Daily adds routines for all users.
History
The information screen of Bixby 1.0
On 20 March 2017, Samsung announced the voice-powered digital assistant named "Bixby".[22] It was introduced alongside the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ and the Samsung Galaxy Tab A during the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2017 event;[23][24][25] although released for these devices, it could also be sideloaded on older Galaxy devices running Android Nougat.[26] A while before the phone's release, the Bixby Button was reprogrammable and could be set to open other applications or assistants, such as Google Assistant. However, near the phone's release, this ability was removed with a firmware update, but can be remapped using third-party apps.[27]
Bixby in Korean was launched on 1 May 2017 (KST).[28] Bixby Voice was intended to be made available in the US later that spring,[29] however, the release of the English version was postponed as Samsung had problems getting Bixby to fully understand the language.[30] The English version was finally rolled out in July 2017[31] and later that year followed by a Chinese language version.[32]
In October 2017, Samsung announced the release of Bixby 2.0 during its annual developer conference in San Francisco. The new version was rolled out across the company's line of connected products, including smartphones, TVs, and refrigerators. Also, third parties are allowed to develop applications for Bixby using the Samsung Developer Kit.[33] Bixby 3.0 was released with One UI 3 at the start of 2021.[34] With version 3.0, Home and Reminders features were separated from Bixby.
In June 2021, screenshots surfaced for a replacement for Bixby. The three-dimensional virtual assistant, Sam, was popular on social media though it was not intended as a replacement for Bixby.[35][36]
Most recently, in July 2024, Samsung confirmed that it plans to launch an upgraded version of Bixby later this year. This new Bixby will be powered by Samsung's proprietary large language model (LLM) technology, promising a significant boost to Bixby's capabilities with the help of generative AI.[37][38]
Regions and languages
As of April 2018, Bixby is available in over 195 countries, but only in Korean, English (American), and Chinese (Mandarin).[39] The limitation is that the models not intended for the Japanese market, like S10e, are not allowed to login to Bixby services from Japan; therefore Bixby becomes blocked. The choice of languages has since expanded: Samsung has deployed Bixby's voice command function in French,[40][41] and on 20 February 2019 Samsung announced the addition of further languages: English (British), German, Italian and Spanish (Spain).[42] On 22 February 2020, Samsung announced the addition of Portuguese (Brazil), for Galaxy S10 & Note10, in Beta, and later for other models.[43]
