Samsung Galaxy S8 Bixby Digital Assistant May Support 8 Languages at Launch

Samsung is gearing up to launch its 2017 flagship smartphone - the Galaxy S8 - on March 29, and leaks about the device have been overflowing. The latest one brings more information about the rumoured digital assistant Bixby, hinting that it will come with support for 8 languages.

South Korean publication ETNews reports that Samsung Galaxy S8's digital assistant Bixby will support eight different languages on launch. This is even more than Google Assistant that was launched last year, which supports few languages including English, Hindi, German, and Portuguese (only on Allo). However, Apple will still rule in this department with Siri offering support for more than 30 languages.

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Bixby is also expected to be integrated into native apps like Camera to help in doing visual search and text recognition. The female voice of the virtual assistant is said to be called Kestra, while Bixby will be the name for the male voice. Recent images hint that the Samsung Galaxy S8 will have a dedicated Bixby button on the edge of the smartphone to activate the digital assistant easily. Samsung acquired Viv Labs (the folks who made Siri), and Bixby is a by-product of that acquisition. The company looks to integrate Bixby into future IoT products as well.

Samsung Galaxy S8 is tipped to come in two variants - 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch - the larger one expected to be called Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus. The display for both is tipped to be dual-edged with little to no bezel at the front. Samsung will ditch the Home Button (however, retain the 3.5mm audio jack), and integrate the fingerprint scanner at the back. Galaxy S8 is expected to have a dual camera setup at the back of the larger variant, and the display for both will be pressure sensitive - just like the iPhone. Recent leaks however tip that both variants will sport dual rear cameras.