LG makes some solid smartphones, but for the first time, the LG G6 coming on February 26, 2017, will get something no Android phone other than Google Pixel has – Google Assistant, the voice-based AI program that currently competes with Alexa, Siri and Cortana.
A CNET report shows that the new smartphone model from Korean electronics giant LG will be the very first non-Pixel phone to get Google Assistant. The virtual smart assistant can answer questions, interact with other apps and do several actions based on the voice commands that are given to it by the user.
But Google Assistant works very differently from Amazon Alexa. The voice assistant that made its debut on Amazon Echo smart speakers – but is now going all over the world – has its functionality based on a set of pre-programmed voice commands and what are known as Alexa Skills.
Of course, the AI elements of speech recognition and natural language processing are all there, but Google Assistant has far more deep learning capabilities at this point, as anyone who has used both Amazon Echo and Google Home will know.
The LG G6 was originally slated to come with Alexa, incidentally, but the higher-ups at LG finally decided that “it didn’t feel ready just yet.”
The Galaxy S8 from Samsung is expected to come with Bixby, Samsung’s in-house utility that comes from its acquisition of Viv Labs, which originally created Siri.
If the report is true, then the LG G6 will be the first ever phone other than Google’s own Pixel models to come with Google Assistant, which could set a precedent for other smartphone makers to license the technology from Google.
The launch date for LG G6 is set for February 26 at the Mobile World Congress 2017, or MWC 2017, where we expect to hear more about Microsoft’s Surface Phone and other flagship products from various companies.
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