Newsletter
At its annual Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) in San Francisco today, the company announced new advancements for its SmartThings smart home platform and Bixby digital assistant to enable smarter lifestyles. The Korean firm is forming a deeper integration between the two services and also teaming up with multiple industry partners for seamless connectivity with Matter-compatible smart gadgets.
Samsung says it has a vision of creating an ecosystem where devices connect and work together instantly. Taking inspiration from Calm Technology, where users jump straight into the experience rather than setup, the company is expanding SmartThings from a connectivity platform to the entire smart home. SmartThings and its connected services will bring audio and visual data for a seamless smart home experience. With SmartThings Energy, SmartThings Pet, and SmartThings Cooking, you get a complete hub in one place.
Deeper Bixby integration will allow developers to build more voice experiences for SmartThings. The new Bixby Home Studio will give developers a complete set of tools for development. Samsung says Bixby has evolved enough to serve as the “on-device AI solution able to control individual Galaxy devices as well as the cross-device experience”. This November, it will gain support for Latin American Spanish, bringing it closer to more people.
Along with deeper integration between its in-house solutions, Samsung is also partnering with various other companies. It has integrated Philips Hue Sync into Galaxy devices, enabling your smart home lighting to sync with the music. And leveraging Matter‘s multi-admin capabilities, the Korean firm is allowing cross-platform control of devices set up with Google Home on SmartThings, and vice versa. Samsung has also joined the Home Connectivity Alliance.
Samsung Knox Matrix will secure the Galaxy and SmartThings ecosystem
At SDC 2022, Samsung also introduced a new security platform dubbed Samsung Knox Matrix. It is a private blockchain-based platform that builds on the company’s award-winning Knox security. Knox Matrix will use eligible Galaxy devices as a shield to protect the entire Galaxy and SmartThings ecosystem. From smartphones and tablets to TVs, home appliances, and smart gadgets, Knox Matrix will enable Samsung devices to protect each other.
Additionally, the new Security and privacy dashboard will keep users on top of the privacy and security of their devices. The dashboard allows the customization of privacy settings and gives data management options to users. It also helps find vulnerabilities and recommends security updates whenever necessary or available.
Samsung is also working with universities and healthcare institutions for advanced mobile health solutions. It is offering a full stack SDK (software development kit) – the Samsung Health Stack – to help developers with research into various health fields, including heart health, stress, blood pressure, lung health, and neuroscience.