Analysis: This three-in-one app for the Galaxy S8 is very much in beta mode.
The new digital assistant hops aboard Samsung’s Galaxy S8.
Samsung’s new Bixby assistant for the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus (and beyond ) isn’t exactly like Siri, Google Voice Search, Amazon Alexa or Microsoft Cortana, and that may confound you. Especially when Google Assistant also lives on both S8 phones.
So what is it? I find it’s easier to think of Bixby as an app in three parts — Bixby Voice, Bixby Home, Bixby Vision — and one that’s very firmly in beta mode. In fact, Samsung says it will work on Bixby until the two S8 phones arrive in stores on April 21, and even long after. So what I saw during my hands-on time with the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus may not be as sophisticated as the final version is at launch.
Samsung’s new digital pal might not even come preloaded on the phone — the company says it will update us on Bixby’s progress — but it could arrive as a software update, with more updates definitely rolling out over time. In other words, Bixby may have a slow start, and become more versatile as Samsung adds support for third-party partners and new Bixby skills.
Tired of typing? Bixby can use your words to controls settings on your phone.
(Bixby is all homegrown so far. Samsung says it will eventually integrate the AI it bought when it acquired Viv Labs in 2016 , but we don’t know when.)
I dig into that more below, but let me start by saying that some demos I saw worked well and others were pretty buggy. There was a lot we heard about (like linking up with Uber to hail a ride) that we didn’t actually get to see — and none of us were able to try out Bixby’s voice controls for ourselves.
A little bugginess is expected when you see prefinal software like this Bixby beta, so I can cut Samsung some slack here. It takes time to bring complex, multi-part software together in a smooth, cohesive way. But it’s also risky. Showing off an ambitious project before it’s truly complete can either rally people behind promising software, or alienate them if they aren’t feeling the spark.
