Samsung assistant Bixby misses voice control with Galaxy S8 release in US

Samsung’s digital voice assistant Bixby will not have voice control during the introduction of the Galaxy S8 in the United States on April 21. It is still unclear whether this will also be the case with the release in other countries.

Samsung said in a statement that using voice commands for Bixby will be available for the Galaxy S8 in the US at a later date in the spring. Another functionality of Bixby, such as the augmented reality camera option that gives users a visual search function, is immediately available. Also, a clone of the Google Now feed and a reminder function will be available from the moment Samsung’s latest smartphone comes out in the US.

The South Korean manufacturer presented the digital assistant Bixby in March. The assistant, which is somewhat similar to Siri, Google Assistant and Cortana, can be activated on the Galaxy S8 via a dedicated button on the side.

Samsung has said that Bixby will listen to voice commands and perform all functions in apps that are possible through the regular interface. In addition, the manufacturer claims that Bixby is aware of the context in the app and that it can also perform tasks if users do not pronounce the commands correctly.

Google’s VR platform Daydream was also previously known not to work on the S8. The site VRHeads tried to sideload the app for that, but that doesn’t work. The website estimates that if developers allow root access on the S8, Daydream will also be installable. Samsung is currently focusing on its own VR platform Gear VR.

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