Today we have prepared a short overview Bixby on Samsung, a fun voice assistant like Google Assist and Siri. We will tell you about its capabilities, how Bixby works, and we will also make short review on this assistant.
The Bixby button finally found application in the S8 series smartphones and received an important function - voice support. On the this moment this feature was officially launched in the United States as an early version, and Samsung has promised to work a lot on Bixby updates and release them frequently. And that's a good thing - because at launch, Bixby's functionality has a lot of flaws.
There is no beta testing in Russia yet, but we did it with the help of our American colleague @AndrewBon and today we will share his experience.
At the very beginning of the launch, you will be shown a tutorial that will tell you how to launch the Bixby function and that the program will learn to recognize your voice.
You can activate Bixby by saying “Hi, Bixby” (hello, Bixby), or by simply holding the Bixby button during a call, as if you were on a walkie-talkie. Then you can ask him the basics: London weather, alarm clock. And right here, on the most basic functions, Bixby stumbles. No, he can tell about the weather, the problem is a little different.
First, it is very slow and sluggish compared to Google Assistant. Ask Bixby for some time and it will first launch the watch app, and then read the answer. Identifying the President of the United States (a simple request for Siri and the United States) is clearly a difficult task for him. It just takes you to Google. And in general, he quite often sends a request to the search, as if there is no knowledge base from where the answers should be taken.
Even a simple task in the form of SMS exchange is a little difficult here. First, you must use the " Samsung Messages"As your default. And if you do not clearly say "Send a message to your mom and ask" how are you doing ", then the option with a simple analogue of Siri in the form" Write to mom - how are you doing "will not be available here. You will be sent to google again.
What Bixby does well is tweak phone settings internally. Switch between call modes, open the application in a split screen, go to the settings - it does all this perfectly, since Samsung has added about 3000 commands for this part to the phone base. Own Samsung apps work best with Bixby, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Uber, Gmail, Google Maps are also perfectly optimized. The list is rather big and with all this voice assistant Bixby does a good job.
In "consistent" apps, we'd say, Bixby is somewhere above our expectations. You can safely say to him - "Open Uber and rate my chauffeur 5 stars" or "Open Instagramm and post my last photo." Bixby will calmly do everything we described above. The only thing is that the Korean company still needs to work on the clarity of voice recognition, sometimes posts on Twitter are added with inarticulate krakozyabra.
To help Bixby identify your voice, you need to talk to it more often. Samsung has even introduced an experience system that allows you to level up and unlock new background colors for the assistant's interface by using your phone.
Samsung has kept its promise that soon they will allow reassigning the proprietary Bixby button to other actions, for example, to launch third-party applications. On February 28, the company released an update for its own virtual assistant, Bixby, which brings the promised feature.
The long-awaited update is now available for all brand models with this button, including the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S9, Note 8 and Note 9. You can still completely disable this key on the side so that nothing happens when you press it. A significant proportion of users complain about accidental clicks, so soon after the S8 debuted, Samsung added an option to disable it.
Bixby's settings have everything you need to customize the keys to your liking. You can set to launch a program or perform an action at will. This could be calling a specific contact or turning Bluetooth on / off on the phone.
Unfortunately, the Seoul people still limited users in choosing the default assistant, but there is a solution that will circumvent the ban.
XDA Developers forum enthusiasts have come up with two solutions to replace Bixby with Google Assistant or whatever you prefer (Alexa doesn't work).
How to remap the Bixby button to launch another assistant
At the beginning, we noted that there are two different ways... Let's start with the simplest, at least it seems simpler to us.Method 1: install the Bixby Button Assistant Remapper app
1. Download the Bixby Button Assistant Remapper app from Google Cloud Storage and install it manually. Do not forget to activate the "Unknown sources" option to.2. Open the Bixby Voice settings and go to the Bixby button menu.
3. Select the second option "Double tap to launch Bixby" and tap "Use one tap".
4. Opposite “Open application”, click the gear - these are the settings you need. Then find “Bixby Button Assistant Remapper” in the list and select it.
5. Press the Bixby button and you will see a menu where you need to select the default assistant. Click “Always” to always open it.
Method 2: using quick commands
1. Open Bixby Voice2. Go to “Quick Commands” in the dropdown menu.
3. Create a new command using the “+” button and name it “Assistant”.
5. In these settings, enter “open assistant” and click save.
6. In the Bixby Voice settings, tap on “Bixby Button”.
For fans mobile devices we often hear about the benefits of voice assistants, which are rapidly evolving every now and then with the advent of new technologies and the release of revolutionary smartphones to the market. Probably, some people find these technologies useless and think that they would never be able to use them. We assure you, this is before the first use Bixby.
A worthy competitor to Siri and Google
One of distinctive features the most recent, revolutionary device Galaxy S8 from a South Korean company Samsung was an innovation that had not previously been encountered in more than one solution from the giant. Meet Bixby, a voice assistant that will simplify the use of your smartphone and help you with solving problems associated with it.
Bixby was not developed at Samsung from scratch, but based on the technologies of the previous assistant. You probably don't know about it because few people have used it. But it has been installed in almost all smart devices from the company, even watches. We can say that S Voice(this is the name that the first voice assistant on the devices of the South Korean company bore) became a great help for Bixby, which the world saw quite recently. However, this is not a continuation of the S Voice idea. Only help was taken from the old technology, in essence, the new product surpasses both it and its competitors from Google in everything.
Features of Bixby Voice Assistant
Unlike analogs, the new project from Samsung will not be limited to living only on smart devices such as Android and watches. No, the South Korean company plans to go much further. In their ambitions, they see Bixby embedded in almost all household appliances, which in theory should make them easier to use. The platform for the new voice assistant will be operating system Tizen, embedded in some refrigerators from the giant company.
These innovations will allow technology to move to a completely different level. If you can't imagine how this will be used, then here's an example: you own a smartphone with Bixby, while at the same time you have a new refrigerator from Samsung at home. Instead of writing lists of groceries to buy, you can simply ask your smartphone about what is not in the fridge, what you usually buy, and what you need to buy now. Also, a photo of the content will be provided. But, so far, this is only a theory.
Bixby in smartphones
A separate button is dedicated to activate the voice assistant. This makes its use as convenient and quick as possible. On the other hand, a wave of incomprehensible remarks poured out on Samsung. Why allocate a dedicated button on your device for Bixby when you can use a simple and accessible voice command? This was probably done to popularize the new technology. It's hard to disagree: if your smartphone has some kind of button, then you will undoubtedly want to know: what does it do? Thus, more and more people will become familiar with Bixby. Probably, when the use of a voice assistant becomes commonplace for owners of gadgets from Samsung, the company will abandon the button in favor of a convenient voice call. Do not throw away the ability to activate Bixby with a gesture familiar to the user.
Main functions
Its only function is to make managing your smartphone as easy as possible. It can get to the point that you don't have to use the screen - just say out loud what Bixby has to do and it will. Such opportunities, in the form of working with applications, menu items, photos and audio, cannot be offered by more than one competitor on the market. This makes the novelty from Samsung interesting and popular. On the other hand, while Galaxy smartphone The S8, like the voice assistant itself, is relatively new, it is impossible to judge the relevance of using Bixby features in non-standard applications. By the way, the need to walk through the menu items is not such a useful thing, because it's faster to do everything with your fingers than to ask Bixby for help out loud. On the other hand, it is an extremely useful thing for people with disabilities.
Bixby has been blessed with a feature that was previously introduced into apps from well-known marketplaces. Its essence lies in scanning a specific object, making a search for it on the Internet. Thus, the user of a smartphone with Bixby has the opportunity to view information about the things he is interested in, as well as find it in the vastness of Internet sites and stores, and find out about the average price. But, unlike applications, the voice assistant perceives and searches not only for goods, but for any object that turns out to be of interest to the smartphone user. It can be a house, a monument, or whatever.
The voice assistant perfectly understands natural speech. For example, take Siri - if you want to learn something from her, then you need to contact her according to a certain list of phrases. With Bixby, everything is much easier, at least if you speak to your smartphone in English. And of course, where without an instant translator. The novelty is also equipped with this function, so you can forget about third party applications... Just dictate your text and Bixby will translate it into your preferred language.
Bixby is an extremely forward-looking creation from Samsung that just needs time for a few things:
- Firstly, the South Korean company must bring all Bixby functions to stable operation;
- secondly, to settle down with their fans, who will undoubtedly appear soon.
When both of these events happen, we will see this technology on other devices of the Samsung brand, but for now, only S8 and S8 users have the opportunity to test it.
For the first time, Samsung has launched an AI-powered digital assistant on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 +, and has even added a dedicated hardware button to summon Bixby. A lot of people have been overlooked by Bixby and would like to change either the function of the Bixby button to open another app, or turn it off entirely.
For a long time, Samsung hasn't come up with a way to disable or remap the Bixby button. But it soon released updates that allowed the Bixby button to be remapped. In a recent Bixby Home update that was released in multiple markets, Samsung finally suggested disabling the Bixby button. If you've already disabled the Bixby button but want to re-enable it, the situation can be pretty tricky.
There are two ways to turn Bixby Home back on: Request Bixby via voice command, or swipe left from the Home screen. This is only possible on phones that come with a dedicated Bixby button. Here's how to do it using both of these methods.
Re-enabling Bixby Home by asking for Bixby
Step 1. Long press the Bixby button to activate Bixby Voice and the “Open Bixby Home” prompt.
Step 2: Click on the gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen, and then turn on the Bixby Key option by sliding the switch to the right.
Reactivating Bixby Home from the Home Screen
Step 1: If you've turned off the Bixby home screen, tap on the home screen and swipe left.
Step 2: Toggle the Bixby Home switch.
