Samsung announced an
AI add-on to its flagship Galaxy smartphones. Great direction, but I always question bolt-on technology decisions.
The original smartphone came as a ground-up design and leveraged innovation features and functionality, making it the remote control of our lives. Smart assistants have been added to phones with limited success. How often do you use the integrated assistant on your smartphone for a non-trivial task (check the weather, set a timer, search where you can safely read the results)?
Blackberry (you do remember Blackberry?) failed to reinvigorate itself with a new touchscreen in 2008 with the Storm. Rather than redesign for the emerging smartphone era, they integrated a pressable touch screen. The hope was that users would continue to enjoy the tactile sensation while gaining a new screen. One click-press for each letter was awkward at best. There were other issues. It is an example of a product that owned the smartphone business market and tried a retrofit rather than redesign. The touch bar on the MacBook Pro is another bolt-on. It was touch screen-adjacent and never found its place. It intermuddles (interface confusion) the user; you never know when (or if) it provided a better experience.
Unless you redesign a product, adding AI/LLM (or any new tech) to a product creates confusion rather than elegance. What will the AI enhance in the smartphone? Is it a single task such as taking photos, or are there wholesale changes to your experience? Are you adding AI or enhancing an app if it's a uni-tasker? Everyone is happy when the technology fades into the background and provides a more elegant way. If you need to shoehorn it in (I’m looking at you touch bar), then it doesn’t belong. These are the same factors you need to consider when designing a product from the ground up.
Newcomer @Humane has designed, not redesigned, a wearable AI appliance. Their website videos show an elegant interaction and user experience that feels natural. I have questions and am eager to field-test one. I’m especially interested in how it works with languages other than English. I listen to music with non-English names or artists; at best Alexa struggles, and even specialized apps (Spotify, Apple Music) have difficulty.
What are your thoughts? Do bolt-ons work? Are you excited to see products add LLMs, or do you want [demand] redesign?
