Samsung's Bixby-powered Galaxy Home will take on the Amazon Echo
Samsung is officially joining the smart speaker war.
At its Unpacked event for the Galaxy Note 9's grand introduction, Samsung also announced a new Bixby-powered smart speaker, the Galaxy Home, to compete directly with the Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple's HomePod.
If you think Apple's HomePod is big for a smart speaker (compared to an Echo or Google Home), you're not gonna like the Galaxy Home.
Not only is its mesh-covered body, which houses eight far-field microphones to pick up voice commands from across a room, much larger than a HomePod, but it's also got three metal legs to prop it up.
Samsung didn't share many details on the Galaxy Home. We know it's a premium speaker with omnidirectional sound that's tuned by audio company AKG (like Samsung's phones and tablets) and it has a "Sound Steer" feature that allows users to say "Hi Bixby, steer" and direct the sound directly at them no matter where they are in the room.
On the top of the Galaxy Home are buttons for controlling playback and volume.
Galaxy Home, like other smart speakers, can also control your smart home devices through Bixby. It supports Samsung's SmartThings platform. Samsung said Bixby will be capable of many of the same digital assistant functions available on its Galaxy phones.
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Samsung's also partnering with Spotify to make it the default music streaming service. Additionally, the partnership will enable a seamless listening experience across the Galaxy Home and other Samsung electronics such as its smart TVs.
Samsung had over a dozen Galaxy Home speakers on display in its Unpacked demo area, but none of them were functional. Some of them even had a little flat microchip cable popping out of their top.
It's hard to gather any first impressions about the Galaxy Home other than on its design and size. I have no idea how well it sounds or how competent Bixby is.
No word on pricing or release for the Galaxy Home, but given its emphasis on sound, it'll probably cost a pretty penny. Samsung says it'll share more details on the smart speaker at its next developer conference in November.
Topics Samsung
Raymond Wong is Mashable's Senior Tech Correspondent. He reviews gadgets and tech toys and analyzes the tech industry. Raymond's also a bit of a camera geek, gamer, and fine chocolate lover. Before arriving at Mashable, he was the Deputy Editor of NBC Universal's tech publication DVICE. His writing has appeared on G4TV, BGR, Yahoo and Ubergizmo, to name a few. You can follow Raymond on Twitter @raywongy or Instagram @sourlemons.
