In a statement ahead of the Galaxy S8’s April 21 launch, Samsung has said that Bixby Voice won’t be supported in the U. S. until later in the spring.<\/b>
One of the marquee features of the Galaxy S8 is Bixby, Samsung\u2019s response to the Siris, Google Assistants, and Cortanas of the world. Billed as \u201ca new way to interact with your phone,\u201d Samsung has gone so far as to add a dedicated button on the side of the phone to summon its new assistant, and has integrated it deeply into the S8\u2019s interface. There\u2019s just one problem: You won’t be able to talk to Bixby at launch.
In a statement released about a week before the S8 is set to hit shelves, Samsung confirmed that its new AI assistant will be missing a key component. While it will support Vision, Home and Reminder when it launches on April 21, Bixby Voice won\u2019t be included on U. S. models. Samsung says the feature will arrive \u201clater this spring.\u201d
While the other Bixby features will be available, you\u2019ll need to use them as you would any other app. For the AR-syle Vision, you\u2019ll find an icon in the camera app that will call on Bixby\u2019s services for translation, QR code detection, landmark recognition, and shopping. And the Home screen, which is sort of like Google Now, will still learn your routine to display messages, upcoming events, weather, and news. You’ll also be able to set reminders, which \u00ab\u00a0can include specific content like a video you want to watch when you get home,\u00a0\u00bb though it’s not clear how it will work within apps without voice commands.
Bixby Voice\u2019s delay is surely frustrating but it\u2019s not all that surprising. During Samsung\u2019s hands-on demonstration of the service in late March, it showcased a controlled set of actions, and reporters weren\u2019t allowed to test the feature. At the time, reps said the S8-exclusive service would support English and Korean languages at launch, with a goal of expanding it to more languages and devices. According to reports, Bixby will be able to converse in Korean at launch.
Voice may only be part of what Bixby does, but in today\u2019s AI world, it\u2019s a major one. We\u2019ve been trained to talk to our assistants, and we expect them to understand and respond as if we\u2019re talking to one of our friends. Bixby not being able to understand English\u2014at least enough to roll out for English-speaking users\u2014is a major detriment to its adoption, which already faces serious competition in Google Assistant.<\/p>\n