Samsung has finally unveiled the product it feels can take on Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri-powered speakers in the smart home stakes with the launch of the Bixby-supporting Galaxy Home.
Following the announcement of its latest Galaxy Note 9 smartphone at its ‘Galaxy Unpacked’ event, Samsung gave us the news some have been waiting to hear for a while… the launch of its smart speaker, the Galaxy ‘Home’ (imitation is highest form of flattery, Google).
Samsung’s speaker is certainly an interesting prospect – with the appearance of a slightly peculiar ornament and support focused on personalised Spotify functionality and working with other Bixby-enabled consumer products, the Galaxy Home will certainly not be for everyone.
Naturally, beneath the black cloth exterior is Harman-owned AKG technology – incorporating a sub, six drivers placed around the speaker and eight microphones for picking up all your commands and banter directed at Bixby.
The Korean tech giant says SoundSteer technology is also on hand to allow owners to actually ask Bixby to direct sound/music towards where they are in a room.
Samsung’s partnership with Spotify also will lead the way for “deeply integrated Spotify experiences on Samsung devices” according to Spotify, allowing users to switch between devices (such as the Galaxy Home and a Samsung TV, or another Galaxy Home) more easily than ever before.
The speaker’s unique form factor sees it move away from the tall cylindrical form of the Amazon Echo, instead resembling a black Google Home place on a tripod stand. It’s fairly sizeable too, and will take up more room than an Echo or Google Home speaker (with no word as yet on whether a smaller Dot-esque accompanying speaker is on the horizon).
Samsung hasn’t yet released full specs or divulged when the Galaxy Home will be available – whether it will be priced to compete and make up some ground on Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant’s huge market share’s also isn’t clear at the moment… nor is whether Bixby is really going to happen.