After several months, Samsung finally rolled out its voice-controlled digital assistant Bixby in more than 200 countries around the globe. According to a report from CNBC, Samsung confirmed in a blog post that Bixby will now be available in countries including UK, Australia, Canada and South Africa. While the global roll-out has begun, Bixby Voice feature has not been enabled in India yet.
The company officially announced Bixby just prior to the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus back in March, but its primary voice feature was not available yet.
Samsung says that it will continue to expand Bixby’s voice feature to more countries, languages, and devices, along with support for third-party applications.
How to activate the digital smart assistant?
Users can press the button on the side of the Galaxy S8 to activate the digital smart assistant, or users can simply say, “Hi, Bixby.” Users can also ask Bixby to carry out tasks, such as sending a picture that has just been taken to a contact or searching through a photo album. According to Samsung, Bixby’s recognition of personal preferences will increase as time goes by.
Bixby really wants its users to use native Samsung applications. That means that if the users ask Bixby to send an email, it will open Samsung’s mail application even if the user has used Gmail from day one and have never used any mail applications.
The smart assistant currently recognizes U.S. English or Korean accents, dialects, and expressions.
Apple’s Siri and Google assistant are also loyal to their own applications. But there is a trick to use these smart assistants, and it just needs a couple words. Users must be specific when instructing Bixby or any smart assistant, for example, if users want to send an email, they have to say “Send an email on Gmail.” Bixby’s capabilities might vary according to the user's country or service provider.
Samsung unveils Galaxy Note 8 today
In other news, Samsung will unveil the next generation of Galaxy Note smartphone. The company is also expected to talk about the safety of the device. Samsung has redeemed the consumer’s trust somewhat with the Galaxy S8. The device has been a huge hit for this year, and it is one of the best Android phones available in the market. But the company is expecting that the Galaxy Note 8 might surpass the Galaxy S8, and hopefully, it can bring back the Note line’s former glory.
