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Samsung's Galaxy Home smart speaker is still alive, somehow
While Samsung's Unpacked event was mostly about the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+, a new S Pen and a Galaxy Book S laptop, plenty of observers expected some news on the fate of Galaxy Home. Samsung announced the smart speaker a year ago, but it's been beset by delays. Most recently, Samsung targeted a release window of the "mid-second half of the year" -- so perhaps sometime this quarter. The latest word is that Samsung is still working on the Bixby-powered device.
Samsung delays its Galaxy Home smart speaker to Q3
Samsung has delayed the release of its Galaxy Home speaker. The Bixby-powered device should be on shelves sometime between July and September. Official confirmation of the delay shouldn't be too much of a surprise, as Samsung previously told Engadget it planned to put the speaker on shelves in the first half of the year, and there's still no whisper of a confirmed release date.
Samsung's Galaxy Home is here at CES, and you can (sort of) talk to it
When Samsung revealed its oddly shaped, Bixby-powered Galaxy Home last year, many of expected the company to launch it immediately. That, uh, didn't happen. It's been five months since then, and Samsung still refuses to discuss when its first smart speaker will go on sale, or how much it'll cost when it does. Hell, even though Samsung has trotted out the speaker a few times since that day in Brooklyn, it generally hasn't let members of the public actually talk to it. At this year's CES, though, that changed — sort of.
Bixby still isn’t smart enough for a speaker
As it gears up to move into a new home (a Galaxy Home, to be specific), Bixby is far from ready. Samsung's digital assistant has become infamous for its tardiness, and even after showing up late to the AI party, Bixby doesn't have much to show for the extra time. It's not smarter than the rest and doesn't offer any new tricks, even in the recently announced Galaxy Home, other than perhaps better sound quality. As much as I'm excited about Samsung potentially giving Amazon, Google and Apple some competition in the smart speaker space, I'm pretty sure they have nothing to worry about, if my time with Bixby on the Note 9 is any indication.
Watch Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 event in 12 minutes
Samsung wasn't holding back at its Unpacked event. The centerpiece was clearly the Galaxy Note 9, but it had a veritable onslaught of announcements beyond that. The Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Home smart speaker and a two-device wireless charger were on deck for hardware, while special deals involving Fortnite and Spotify also provided a good reason to tune in. But what if you don't have one hour and 40 minutes to relive the whole thing? Don't worry: We've boiled the presentation down to a 12-minute supercut to save you some time. Follow all the latest news from Galaxy Unpacked 2018 here!
Does Samsung's Galaxy Home stand a chance?
After more than a year of rumors and vague comments from Samsung leadership, the Galaxy Home, Samsung's Bixby-powered smart speaker, is finally official. Sort of. Samsung briefly showed off the device at today's Galaxy Note 9 launch event in Brooklyn, but the company left us with more questions than answers. We don't know when it'll launch; how much it'll cost; what music services, if any, it supports besides Spotify; and, perhaps most importantly, what Bixby will be capable of when the Galaxy Home goes on sale. Like Apple did with the HomePod, Samsung is touting the Galaxy Home first and foremost as an excellent listening speaker, with multidirectional tweeters and a full subwoofer as well as some neat audio-optimization tricks. Spotify is Samsung's new streaming-music partner, which means you'll be able to control Spotify music playback with Bixby. The device will also serve as a hub for smart home gadgets using the SmartThings platform. Finally, we know Bixby will be on board, but what specifically it'll be capable of remains a mystery. While there will probably be some things to like about the Galaxy Home, the lack of info Samsung has provided made its introduction feel like a rushed, incomplete letdown. It's the kind of misstep that's hard to make when you're competing against the likes of Apple, Google and Amazon.
Samsung's smart home devices can pick up Spotify streams from your phone
Samsung just announced the Galaxy Home, a clear competitor to Apple's HomePod, and the speaker will be powered by Spotify. The company also announced a new partnership that'll tie the two companies pretty closely together: Beyond using Spotify for music on the Galaxy Home, Spotify will also be included on all Galaxy devices in the setup process. So if you have an account, you'll set it up as you set up your phone; if you don't, we imagine you'll be prompted to get a free trial.
Galaxy Home is Samsung's Bixby-powered smart speaker
Samsung has been developing a speaker based on its own digital assistant, Bixby, for awhile. But today, we're getting our first look at it. During the company's Galaxy Note 9 event in New York City, Samsung finally revealed the Galaxy Home smart speaker, a clear rival to the Apple HomePod, the Google Home and the Amazon Echo line. The device, which features the rumored tripod design with a round body, is powered by Harman's AKG audio and was engineered to "make music sound amazing."
