Latest news with #HyesoonJeong
The National
6 days ago
- Business
- The National
Samsung focuses on voice commands for XR headset
Samsung Electronics' coming extended reality headset will focus on a multimodal experience centred on voice as it prepares to enter its newest hardware category later this year, a senior executive has said. The company is in no rush to release the device dubbed Project Moohan in a category that has yielded mixed results for even the biggest technology companies, said Hyesoon Jeong, executive vice president, and head of framework research and development at Samsung Electronics. In XR, multimodal interaction includes voice commands, hand gestures, eye tracking, haptics and controller inputs. In more advanced cases, brain computer interfaces can be used. Project Moohan, which is being developed in partnership with Google, was teased at January's Unpacked in California. Ms Jeong had previously told The National that it might not be released this year, but Google, at its I/O conference in May, announced that it will be available by the end of 2025. 'For XR, we are already developing the UI [user interface] and it will be applied and moving forward' while the hardware is being built, she said at a round-table on the sidelines of Galaxy Unpacked in Brooklyn on Wednesday. 'The interface we will develop [will be] more say voice centric and multimodal; that's the direction that we will go,' she added, without specifying what interactions will be included in Project Moohan. Samsung's jump into the XR realm will pit it against some of the tech industry's top names in an increasingly crowded sector. It is already well positioned to do so being the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer and a top chipmaker. Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, already has its Meta Quest line-up of AR headsets and teamed up with Ray-Ban to launch smart glasses, while Microsoft already has its HoloLens. Apple, Samsung's biggest rival in smartphones, has the high-end Vision Pro, which has since been discontinued. Another advantage Samsung enjoys is its extensive partnership with Google, allowing it to tap into the Alphabet-owned company's major generative artificial intelligence platform, Gemini – and AI itself is a critical factor in the development of advanced XR systems. For Google, it could be an opportunity to redeem itself from the failure of its Project Iris and, most notably, Google Glass, its first major attempt to bring the device into the mainstream that struggled with a number of problems and a hefty $1,500 price tag. Google's Gemini was chosen by Samsung as its main generative AI partner over other platforms such as Microsoft's Copilot because of its 'openness', Ms Jeong said. California-based Google is the developer of the Android operating system used in Samsung smartphones and is the owner of some of the most used apps globally, including Gmail and YouTube, in which Gemini is integrated. 'We thought that [Gemini] was optimised for the mobile environment. That's why we went with Gemini,' Ms Jeong said. 'Galaxy AI pursues openness, therefore, based on that philosophy, we continuously look at user needs and are always open to adopt to what users call for.' 'Respect' for user app preferences Meanwhile, Samsung said it will maintain the presence of its native apps on its devices despite the dominance of Google's Gemini-backed services out of 'respect' for user preferences, Ms Jeong said. A number of apps that are pre-installed on Samsung phones perform the same tasks such as Google's; for example, Samsung Internet, Samsung Music and Samsung Gallery are equivalent to Chrome, YouTube Music and Google Photos. Samsung apps cannot, however, be considered as bloatware, which are apps that are unnecessary or hinder performance, as they are part of the Galaxy Ecosystem that connects the company's devices, similar to the interconnectivity of Apple's hardware and software. Samsung also has its own Galaxy Store where users can download apps specifically programmed for the company's devices; Ms Jeong said Samsung has a substantial number of users tapping into their native apps, hence the reason they will stick to this strategy. 'There are other instances though where we have to respect the choice of consumers, as well and their feedback,' she said. 'There are still many people who use Samsung [apps] … we try to respect and give options when needed.'
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Yahoo
One UI 7's slickest AI features might skip Galaxy S24 and older flagships, Samsung hints
During the two-hour-plus Galaxy Unpacked event last month, Samsung made its vision for the (near) future clear: AI gets priority over hardware upgrades. The representatives on stage tirelessly promoted new features, including one that, they insisted, surpasses any other advancement we have seen in the field. Samsung's Now Brief is one of the chief highlights in the new One UI 7 interface and is touted to serve as a personal assistant to those who own a Galaxy S25 series phone. However, those of us with older Samsung flagships may be out of luck. The reason behind newly added AI features, such as Now Brief, potentially not working on older devices is because it is part of a suite of features called 'Personal data engine.' This 'engine' is responsible for processing any sensitive data securely on the device itself and stored within an encrypted vault. In the absence of such safeguards, data can be used to trace back to your identity in an event of a leak. Sally, Hyesoon Jeong, executive VP and head of the Framework R&D department at Samsung's mobile division, recently spoke about how personalized AI experiences are at the core of Samsung's approach for the Galaxy S25 and future devices. Since these features process sensitive personal information, they must be processed on the device without being uploaded to the cloud. While local processing ensures your data is safe in the event of cyberattacks or not fed back to the algorithm for training and fine-tuning, it increases the compute requirements. Therefore, executive stressed that features that rely on on-device processing, including Now Brief, need powerful chipsets, such as the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The new Galaxy S25 series gets the chipset's overclocked version, with Samsung and Qualcomm partnering to especially enhance the neural processing capabilities. The intent is to boost features that integrate insights from multiple apps into one and process information as intuitively as possible. Another Samsung executive previously told Digital Trends that Now Brief is designed to offer a 'consolidated view' of our lives, fetching data from various system and third-party apps and preparing us (and itself for us) for activities ahead of us. Unfortunately, Sally hinted the Galaxy S24 or older flagship devices might not satisfy those hardware requirements, and that means Now Brief and other intuitive features that Samsung adds in the future may force you to upgrade to newer models — in a fashion similar to what Apple did with Apple Intelligence. This also makes Samsung's promise of seven Android updates less enticing, but the executive confirms that other AI features that can rely on cloud-side compute, such as Circle to Search, will continue to work and be upgraded for older devices. If it's any consolation, Samsung's Now Brief initially appears underwhelming and does not match up to the revolutionary claims the company makes. So, your Galaxy S24 or an older S series device should be good — at least for now. If that changes over the coming weeks or months, we will be sure to share an update.
