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Samsung Aiming to Release Smart Speaker to Compete With HomePod in First Half of 2018

Glmnet1 said:
I don't understand the need for smart speakers. Can't one just connect their phone to a bluetooth sound system and then use Siri from the phone?
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What if one doesn't have an iPhone? (I know- that's sacrilege)

What if one doesn't have a bluetooth sound system?

Getting past both of those, how do the other people at your house use this sound system if you are out with your iPhone?

Your question is the same as the one about why not use iPhone as a remote for :apple:TV? Sure, that works fine until that mobile device goes mobile. Then the stationary device left back at home is useless until you bring the good remote back. Same here. That iPhone + bluetooth sound system becomes useless if the iPhone leaves the home with you.

The point of these smart speakers (like the :apple:TV + dedicated remote) is to be all-inclusive functional and STATIONARY devices back at home.
 
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Google Home > Alexa/Siri > Samsung Bixbi

Why does Samsung even bother when on Android their is a much much better option.
 
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George Dawes said:
samsung truly are devoid of any originality whatsoever....pathetic

they make microsoft look like creative thinkers
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It's not like Apple is a gleaming tower of originality. The $5000 iMac Pro proof of that. You want older proof from Tim Cook, look at the same damn design of iPhone prior to X (nice of them to finally jump on the OLED bandwagon... thanks to Sammy). Or a TouchBar, I see no PC competitors rushing to ape.
 
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Mildredop said:
My opinion is no more or less valid than yours, but I want to print what you've said and hang it on my wall.

Smart speakers are (in my opinion) the most pointless tech ever created and I simply don't understand the hype. They won't be around long.
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Sounds like a good time to buy Apple stock. Just as many naysayers around now as when the iPod was released.
 
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samsung and originality don't belong in the same sentence

they slavishly copy sony in the tv space , apple in the computer and portable space etc etc
 
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Baymowe335 said:
The Samsung speaker will be as successful as galaxy gear.
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If that turns out to be true, I'm pretty sure they will be pretty darn happy. I mean since, behind the AW, Samsung's gear has the second highest smartwatch market share.
KanosWRX said:
Why does Samsung even bother when on Android there is a much much better option.
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They continue to try because they realize perception and reality are often very different from each other. As I mentioned above, they have higher smartwatch adoption. They also have higher mobile payment adoption and usage with Samsung Pay compared to Android Pay. Considering they want this speaker to be able to communicate with their appliances, tvs, other a/v equimpent... wait, why are you asking that question?:)
 
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I am an Apple poster boy, but they lost me on this one. The delay plus the rumors that SIRI would be limited to just music led me to purchase a pair of the Google Home Max's. I am guessing that the Max's will end up sounding better (they are more than twice the weight and size of the HomePod).
 
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KanosWRX said:
Google Home > Alexa/Siri > Samsung Bixbi

Why does Samsung even bother when on Android their is a much much better option.
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As an owner of a Galaxy S8 and a prior IOS user, I would have to say that Bixby SUCKS!

WHEN I finally decide to purchase a smart speaker, I will probably choose a Google based system simply because it's both WIFI and Bluetooth not to mention one can purchase a variety of products at different price points from multiple consumers.
 
Mildredop said:
My opinion is no more or less valid than yours, but I want to print what you've said and hang it on my wall.

Smart speakers are (in my opinion) the most pointless tech ever created and I simply don't understand the hype. They won't be around long.
Click to expand...

This is just the first wave of devices that are connected and you interact with via voice commands. As AI increases to grow the ability to communicate with your devices with totally natural speech will happen and then it will seem very natural. These little speakers are just starter kits for that revolution coming. You might as well join at the start because you WILL eventually be joining!
 
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Stella said:
Can Apple improve Siri to enough to compete with other AI assistants?
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Apple's HomePod isn't about Siri, but rather the future of home audio

"HomePod isn't a "smart mic" seeking to force Siri into more places to intercept users' attention. Despite cloying narratives of how Amazon is dominating the "smart speaker" market it created out of necessity after Fire Phone imploded in a cloud of smoke, Apple has always had a commanding lead in the number of people using its Siri voice assistant worldwide.

There are a few million Alexa speakers (mostly all in the U.S.) but a billion devices that run Siri—and they're not confined to a room but rather in everyone's pockets and on millions of wrists (in addition to CarPlay vehicles, Apple TV and on Macs) all ready for immediate use.

For Apple, Siri is a convenience feature, not an attempt to break into a market it's been walled out of. Siri is already everywhere. Apple isn't trying to force people to use it, and it's not blocking Amazon or Google (or Microsoft) from putting their own smart voice-enabled services on the iOS App Store.

The narrative that Apple is woefully behind Alexa or Assistant has things backward. Apple doesn't make any money off people using Siri. If voice services were a truly compelling feature in smartphone purchases, people would have bought Fire Phone and Pixel. That did not happen. Describing Apple as "behind in voice services" is a distraction away from the much larger failure of everyone else's voice service to establish a valuable smartphone platform."
 
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LA_LEE said:
This is just the first wave of devices that are connected and you interact with via voice commands. As AI increases to grow the ability to communicate with your devices with totally natural speech will happen and then it will seem very natural. These little speakers are just starter kits for that revolution coming. You might as well join at the start because you WILL eventually be joining!
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This! I already have one Google Home and Echo dot and find them extremely useful. I have not moved very far down the home automation path, but the Echo is great for interacting with your Amazon orders and I love having the Google assistant control my TV. Nevermind the fact that you can ask the Google assistant almost any question and have it give back an informative response.

Just go watch the movie "Her" to see where voice interaction is heading.
 
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Mildredop said:
My opinion is no more or less valid than yours, but I want to print what you've said and hang it on my wall.

Smart speakers are (in my opinion) the most pointless tech ever created and I simply don't understand the hype. They won't be around long.
Click to expand...
I feel like everyone with this opinion hasn't actually had one, or if they have they haven't made an effort to integrate it into their life at all. They are incredibly convenient and save me tons of time and energy.
 
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I still don't see the point of these 'smart speakers'. I ask it questions and it looks stuff up for me? Isn't that why my phone is for?
 
rpe33 said:
I still don't see the point of these 'smart speakers'. I ask it questions and it looks stuff up for me? Isn't that why my phone is for?
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If you're cool with carrying your phone around with you all the time when you're at home and dealing with the tiny microphone that doesn't understand half of what you say then they do more or less the same thing yeah.
 
rpe33 said:
I still don't see the point of these 'smart speakers'. I ask it questions and it looks stuff up for me? Isn't that why my phone is for?
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Well as a personal example from tonight, (while I was cooking) I was able to ask Google to "play a jack johnson concert on the downstair's TV", ask Alexa to "reorder more wet dog food", ask Google to "set a 15 minute timer", and ask Google to do a cooking measurement conversion. Doing all of that without having to clean my hands off and find my phone is quite nifty!
 
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Mad Mac Maniac said:
Well then I think you might be waiting a while… I absolutely love my echo speakers. I imagine in 10 years they’ll be nearly as ubiquitous as smartphones are now
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I personally hate they idea of ubiquitous connected microphones in my home.

But I concur. They aren’t going away. The utility is undeniable. As the responsiveness and the accuracy of the AI gets better, even curmudgeons like me will recognize that the utility outweighs my privacy concerns. Just like so many other recent tech advances we have bought into.

The writing is on the wall.
 

So if Bixby isn't any good, and less than a year old..

What does that make Siri? Siri should be amazing by now, Six years is a long time....
 
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