'Samsung Galaxy' Specs, News & Updates: Rumored Release Date, Bixby/Kestra Personal Voice Assitant Feature; Plus 6GB Of RAM And 256GB Of Storage

Samsung is reported to keep close of its biggest rival tech company, Apple. As Samsung keeps tracks of Apple's innovation in the smartphone scene, it was reported that the Galaxy S8 will likely bring over a few features that are surely coming on the iPhone 8 next year (all-screen design with buttons and sensors incorporated into the display) and features that are available in this year's iPhone 7 (3D Touch support, dual-lens rear camera, and a personal voice assistant).

However, there will be a new Galaxy S8 feature that will never happen until now. The Samsung Galaxy 8 will incorporate its own personal voice assistant.

It was reported that Samsung has acquired Viv, a startup that makes Siri-like products. In fact, one of the people behind Viv worked on Siri for Apple in the early days. Meanwhile, rumors suggest that Viv might be a lot better, according to BGR.

GalaxyClub, the Galaxy S8's AI assistant, will come with two personalities, including male (Bixby) and female (Kestra) voices, and bring over support for mobile payments by voice. The site discovered new AI-related trademark applications filed in South Korea and the European Union, which mention the two names and variations thereof.

Meanwhile, the name "Bixby Pay" was also noted, suggesting that Samsung is looking for an innovative way to enable users to pay for goods by simply voicing the appropriate instruction to either Bixby or Kestra. However, this might be just of the novel AI features heading to virtual assistants next year, and probably one of the tricks coming out of Viv's coffers. In relation, BGR had also reported that Siri currently does voice payments via PayPal, and Apple's virtual assistant might get iMessage peer-to-peer payments support in the future.

A new rumor has surfaced regarding the Galaxy 8's storage capability. If this rumor from China is to be believed, the Galaxy S8 will sport 6GB of RAM and the company will offer a 256GB storage variant as well. The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge both ship with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of native storage, while they also offer a microSD card expansion, but only the 32GB storage variant is available, according to Android Headlines.

The "Galaxy S8" will be Samsung's flagship smartphone for 2017 and it seems like it might launch in March or April if rumors are to be believed. Now, if Samsung intends to stick to their release cycle, this phone will be announced during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona next year, though it is possible Samsung will, once again, introduce more than one flagship 'Galaxy S' handset.