After waiting for months, Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ users in the US are finally getting Bixby voice assistant on their phones. Samsung says that it is currently pushing an update in the US and Bixby should be going live through that, sometime tonight.
To recall, Samsung didn't make the Bixby voice available at the launch of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ in the US. At that time, the company said that the English version of the assistant is not ready yet, and there are some software glitches. On the contrary, the users in Korea has access to the Bixby voice assistant since March.
In a press release, Injong Rhee, head of research & development, software and services at Samsung Mobile, says:
Bixby is a first of its kind experience on a Samsung smartphone. Users can now use their voice to do many things they do with touch. Users can ask Bixby to complete simple tasks like turning on the flashlight, taking a screen shot, or taking a selfie. Bixby can complete more complex tasks like creating a photo album of all the pictures a user took last week and calling it “Vacation,” and then sharing those photos with family and friends. Users can have Bixby remember things and remind, such as “remember this is where I parked,” or “remind me to pick up eggs and milk at the grocery store.
The long wait for the voice assistant made many Galaxy S8, and S8+ users doubt its arrival. These users had access to the Bixby app, but it lacked voice assistance that's the main feature of any virtual assistant. Many reports also raised the question on Bixby's capabilities as it has limited functionalities. Like we already mentioned, the Galaxy S8 and S8+ users had access to some of the features such as Bixby button, which later became the point of concern for Samsung.
An end to remapping of Bixby button?
Many third-party apps were allowing users to remap the Bixby button to a better app such as Google Assistant. It served as a way to the S8 users who could access at least one voice assistant in the absence of Bixby's voice assistant. Samsung reacted to such apps by blocking them via software updates. Now, with Bixby Voice's arrival, users would no longer need to remap the Bixby button for any other purpose.
