According to Samsung, Bixby is now 35 percent faster than before, thanks to on-device voice processing. Bixby now “detects and processes your voice all on-device, without having to go through the server,” said Christina Burton, who was one of the presenters at the event. That’s pretty much it when it comes to Samsung talking about Bixby at the just concluded Galaxy Unpacked event, which largely focused on the new Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3, and Galaxy Watch 4. The company didn’t even reveal whether this faster Bixby performance will come to older Galaxy devices. However, this confirms that the Korean firm hasn’t given up on its digital voice assistant yet.
Samsung improves Bixby with on-device processing
On-device voice processing is what most popular voice assistants do for faster responses. Back in May 2019, Google announced that it will start processing some Google Assistant queries on the devices, starting with the Pixel 4 series. The company said on-device processing makes the Assistant up to 10 times faster. Bixby isn’t quite on par with some of these digital assistants as yet. But Samsung has been doing the work required to improve it. The Korean giant recently rolled out a UI makeover so the assistant covers less screen real estate. Bixby now takes up only as much screen space as it needs to display the response. Earlier, it covered the entire screen. Bixby can also now learn your preferences in a much better way over time. Last but not least, you no longer need to train the assistant on your voice for it to recognize the “Hi Bixby” wakeup command. Time will tell if Samsung can develop Bixby enough to challenge Google Assistant and the likes.
