Samsung Galaxy S8 Updates With Bixby Voice In US

The Samsung Galaxy S8 has been on the market since late-April and its highlight feature, Bixby Voice has finally been implemented onto the device in the U.S. market. The artificial intelligence update is rolling onto Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ handsets over-the-air, adding to the overall platform, the ability to instruct the handset to execute functions with one’s voice. Bixby serves as Samsung's answer to other AI assistants such as Siri, from Apple, Alexa from Amazon and Google Assistant.

Read: Galaxy S8, S8+ Owners Can Now Use Bixby Voice Through Samsung’s Preview Program

In addition to Bixby Voice, the assistant includes features such as Hello Bixby, which serves as a hub for vital information for those using a Bixby enabled handset, Bixby Reminders, which learns user's patterns and sets automatic reminders, and Bixby Vision, which uses the Galaxy S8 camera app as a machine learning identification tool to pull information about products, places or things or even translate text.

The latter three features were enabled on Bixby when the Galaxy S8 launched; however, Bixby Voice was delayed due to Samsung having issues implementing English speech recognition onto the platform. After a short beta period in the U.S., Bixby Voice is now officially being implemented.

While U.S. Galaxy S8 users have been waiting for the Bixby Voice update, there has been a considerable buzz around the standalone Bixby button on the Galaxy S8. Users can launch Bixby with voice commands, but Samsung’s latest smartphone also has a dedicated button on its left side, which users can press to activate Bixby.

There have been applications created, which allow users to remap the Bixby button for a different use; however, Samsung and mobile carriers have since sent out wireless updates to disable these customization function.

Read: The Galaxy S8's Dedicated Bixby Button Can Be Remapped Using An App

Bixby is expected to be also be featured on Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 8 smartphone and several leaks have indicated that a dedicated Bixby button will likely also be included on the phablet. There have also been rumors that Samsung was planning a Bixby based smart speaker similar to Google Home, Amazon Echo or the Apple HomePod; however, recent reports suggest the manufacturer may scrap the idea. There was no official name for Samsung’s smart speaker, but the product was reportedly referred to internally under the codename Project Vega.