Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. News

Samsung's Bixby Voice assistant launches on Galaxy S8 devices in South Korea

Kyle Wiggers
By

open q&a
Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends
Bixby, Samsung’s artificial intelligence-powered answer to Siri and the Google Assistant, gained a new feature this week in South Korea. On Monday, Samsung launched Bixby Voice, the voice-activated component of its digital helper, on Galaxy S8 devices in the company’s home country.

Bixby launched without Voice in April when the Galaxy S8 began shipping globally. It is rolling out to South Korean users in the form of an app update through Samsung Galaxy Apps, according to ZDNet, Galaxy S8 owners began receiving update notifications around 1 p.m. (KST).

Recommended Videos

Bixby Voice can respond to basic questions about the weather, upcoming meetings, sport scores, and movie showtimes, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. It works across apps like the Galaxy S8’s dialer, text messenger, settings menus, camera app, contacts list, and gallery, and performs actions like rotating misaligned photos and playing videos.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Bixby Voice is customizable, too. It lowers the volume when you hold the Galaxy S8 to your ear, and can change the gender of its voice on the fly.

Related

That is not to suggest it is perfect. Bixby has to be enabled on an app-by-app basis — it doesn’t work with a lot of third-party apps just yet. And it only supports three languages, including Korean and British English. But Bixby may be about to get better.

In 2016, Samsung acquired Viv Labs, a company formed by the people who created Siri. “We’re bringing Viv Labs to grow that ecosystem in a scalable manner,” Injonh Rhee, head of research and development at Samsung Mobile Communications Business Group, told Digital Trends in an interview earlier in 2017. “Viv Labs is going to help out expanding into a third-party ecosystem — to make it easier to expose functions and perfect the experience for third parties.”

Bixby Voice is one of Bixby’s several prongs. The others include Bixby Reminders, which collates notes in a single place; Bixby Home, which shows contextual information from third-party apps in a card-like interface; and Bixby Vision, which uses machine learning to identify objects and supply relevant shopping and search results.

Galaxy S8 owners in other territories will not have to wait long for Bixby Voice. Samsung said North America and European territories will get Bixby Voice in the “spring,” and at least one report suggests that May is the target.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Kyle Wiggers
Kyle Wiggers
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kyle Wiggers is a writer, Web designer, and podcaster with an acute interest in all things tech. When not reviewing gadgets…
A famous cartoonist drew me on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus
galaxy tab s8 plus art baltazar famous cartoonist samsung leader actual

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus is a powerful tablet that is centered around creators. The expansive screen and included S Pen with its lowered latency seems to be a perfect fit for a cartoonist, and I just happen to know one. Art Baltazar is a comic book artist (self-described as a "famous cartoonist"), proprietor of Aww Yeah Comics! and my only friend who has his own Wikipedia page. He's currently working with DC Comics while continuing the stories for his own characters. You probably know him for his work with Tiny Titans, The Cray-Baby Adventures, and Action Cat.

I met up with Art at his comic shop in the Chicagoland area for a Drink and Draw event with a number of local artists, and I handed Art the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+, and asked him to draw with it for a few hours. I'll share his thoughts with you, but first I'll talk a little about his typical setup.

Read more
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S8 shows why Android 12L isn’t enough
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra with keyboard.

Android tablets have usually fallen behind iPads and Windows tablets when it comes to offering good tablet experiences. With Android 12L, Google is taking that particular bull by the horns. The update will roll out to Pixel phones starting next month, but Samsung's recent announcement of the Galaxy Tab S8 casts a shadow over what should be a revival for Google's tablet ambitions because it shows that the problem with Android tablets isn't really with the interface.
What's Android 12L?
To quickly recap, Google last year announced Android 12L, an initiative the company is using to make Android a better experience on tablets and foldables. The company will continue this work through Android 13 and has hopes for app developers to step in line and create apps that would work better with Android going forward. The big issue here is that Android 12L is redundant for the most part -- and the Tab S8 is a reminder of that.

Android 12L, as far as focusing on bigger screen devices goes, amounts to pretty much a user interface revamp. There's a new multi-pane interface for the lock screen and the notification center, and there's support for a dock for productivity scenarios. But none of this actually fixes problems that exist for users. If you've done any shopping for Android tablets recently, you'll notice that companies like Samsung that actually sell Android tablets have pretty much always had their device software competently tablet-optimized.
Android tablets already have optimized interfaces
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPGzX_y8ccM

Read more
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus vs. iPad Air 4
Galaxy Tab S8 back.

With the launch of Samsung's Galaxy Tab S8 series, you might be wondering whether to splash out on the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus or go for Apple's iPad Air 4 instead. Although the decision might ultimately come down to whether you prefer Android or iOS, there are plenty of other factors to consider, too. We've done the hard work for you and compared the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus against the Apple iPad Air 4 across six core categories -- from design and display to battery life and special features -- and crowned an overall winner. Which tablet is the one for you? Keep reading to find out.
Specs

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Plus
iPad Air 4

Read more