Will this smart speaker ever come out?
We've said it time and time again... but the Samsung Galaxy Home release date could actually be on the horizon, as the beta testing period for the smart speaker has just started.
Samsung has invited testers to try out the Bixby smart speaker, who are able to apply from now up to September 1, according to a report by Tizen Help – which would corroborate the speculation that the Samsung Galaxy Home will be released in the latter half of this year.
The speaker has also now appeared on the Samsung website, with the banner 'coming soon' overlaying new press images.
Speaking to the Korea Herald in June, Kim Hyun-suk, one of Samsung's co-CEOs and the President of the Consumer Electronics division, said that the company is aiming for a "mid-second half of the year" launch.
According to the publication, "other Samsung executives" told the Herald to "expect a Q3 rollout".
A Stop-Start Approach
Of course, it's important to take all rumors of a Samsung Galaxy Home release date with a pinch of salt; after all, it was initially slated for release in April, having been first unveiled in August 2018.
That means it's been over a year of waiting for the rival to the Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod and Google Home speakers, and we still don't know too much about the spaceship-esque smart speaker.
We know that it contains an eight microphone array for far field voice recognition, allowing you to speak to Bixby from across the room, as well as audio tech provided by Harman's AKG brand.
At the initial August 2018 launch, Samsung also revealed it had teamed up with Spotify to help you seamlessly switch from one device to another without skipping a beat on your music.
The feature is enabled through the Samsung Smart Things app, and allows you to walk into your home listening to Spotify on your Samsung phone and automatically connect it to your speaker or smart TV the second you walk into the room.
If all goes according to plan, we could see these features in action well before the year is out – here's hoping that Samsung is able to meet its own deadlines in the meantime.
This article originally ran on techradar.com.
See also: Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus: Tom's Guide Review Excerpt
