Samsung really wants to get in on the whole smart home frenzy happening now, with brands like Google, Amazon, and Apple all bringing their tech to various appliances and systems. The Korean OEM has now announced that they are bringing their voice-activated personal assistant Bixby to the Family Hub 2.0 refrigerator system and it will be rolling out soon to existing users. This is just the first step as they will continue to integrate it into the other Samsung Electronics products.
In case you’re not familiar with it, Bixby is Samsung’s machine learning AI voice-activated digital assistant that they first introduced with their new flagship, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. They’re also planning on rolling it out to other Samsung devices and maybe even to other Android smartphones as well. But for now, you will also be able to use it with the Family Hub 2.0 refrigerators as they started installing it last week. For those who already have the ref, they will be rolling out an update to your software.
This is the first home appliance that is benefitting from Bixby and will definitely not be the last. They are planning to add it to all of their consumer electronic products and make consumers’ houses more convenient by creating a whole eco-system. For now, by using Bixby on your ref, you will be able to search for recipes, listen to music and the radio, and even control the temperature. It will learn more about your habits the more you use it.
While Amazon, Apple, and Google may already be a bit ahead with Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant respectively, Samsung is playing catch up and so may be more aggressive. The secret would be to have a cross-platform functionality so they will not be limited to Samsung products only (although that may defeat the purpose)
VIA: Pulse News
