Despite the numerous leaks surrounding the Samsung Galaxy S8 launch, there's still a few surprises left for the event, scheduled for this Thursday 2am, AEDT. If the rumours are true, we can expect a nearly bezel-less 2960 x 1440 pixel display, fitting more screen in less body. The phone should maintain a headphone jack, feature 64gb on-board storage, and a fully curved body similar to the much loved but ultimately flawed Note7. But there are two leaks that create more questions than they answer.

Where exactly does Samsung's new digital assistant Bixby sit against rivals Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and Google Assistant? And what kind of 'desktop experience' does the rumoured Samsung DeX Station provide?

First, to Bixby. Bixby can't really be considered a leak, as Samsung itself announced the new assistant on their media site last week. Developed by the original creators of Siri, Bixby seems to be deeply woven into the new S8.

Samsung says the assistant will have its own dedicated launch button, and will be able to deep dive into applications that are "Bixby enabled" to launch a specific action within the app, all using natural language. I'm hoping this means the assistant will be smart enough to act on the command: "Hey Bixby, open Pocket Casts and play the latest My Favourite Murder episode."

And like Google Assistant, Bixby can work with text as well as voice input, depending on whichever is more convenient to you. To quote Samsung, "Bixby will allow users to weave various modes of interactions including touch or voice at any context of the application, whichever they feel is most comfortable and intuitive."

Of course the Samsung Galaxy S8, as a modern Android device, will already have Google's Assistant built in. So how will the two co-exist? Will Bixby override Google's search, or will Google's Assistant be just another app or service Bixby will rely on?

And how exactly will the DeX station work, if the rumours of its existence are true? The DeX Station is a dock for the phone with ethernet, display, and USB ports. It promises to turn the Galaxy S8 into a "desktop experience", but what experience can we expect?

Will the Samsung Galaxy S8 turn into a Chrome desktop when docked? This seems plausible, as Chromebooks can now run Android applications. Or will the dock simply embiggen Android, like this popular Kickstarter project? Samsung make Windows 10 tablets and laptops, and Windows 10 can now run on the SnapDragon 835 rumoured to power the new Galaxy S8, so it's possible the Galaxy S8 could even become a full Windows 10 desktop.

Either way, the idea is intriguing. I loved the concept of HP's Elite X3, the Windows Phone that could morph into a desktop or laptop when docked. It's great in theory, let down by lack of Windows Phone applications. But an Android phone that could pull the same trick would be the best of both worlds - a well supported mobile and desktop environment.