User of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and other African countries can now enable and use the voice component of Samsung’s native AI, Bixby and enjoy its full functionalities.
Although Samsung had unveiled its AI as far back as May 2017, it was however only a week after the launch of the Galaxy S8 and S8+ that Samsung broke the hearts of many when it announced that the Bixby Voice will be delayed and launched as an update later.
It was reported that the reason for the delayed was due in part to the fact that the Samsung Bixby Voice wasn’t ready – it failed to take voice commands. Though annoying, but it was a pretty smart move. No one wants a deaf and air-headed A.I.
There a new “quick command” feature which allows users create custom voice command to replace certain phone comments. For example, you can use utter the phrase “Good morning” to either snooze or turn off your alarm. Also, the “Good night” phrase can be used to “activate the Do-not-disturb mode” or activate an alarm for a set time.
The Samsung Bixby is not a stand-alone app, rather, a software integration that can do a lot things on your device upon activation. The Bixby A.I can identify objects, carry out product search, manage your calendar, launch your favourite app, search for files, identify places, translate text, detect similar images, scan QR codes, and read bar code.
Asides the Samsung Bixby Voice, other Bixby features and components include Home, Reminders and Camera – and these were ready when the Galaxy S8 and S8+ launched.
A quick press of the dedicated Bixby button right below the volume adjusters and subsequently speaking a command afterwards activates the Bixby. Alternatively, the wake word “Bixby” also activates the A.I.
Presently, Bixby supports only two languages: the US English and South Korean. And while the AI has been fine tuned and perfected to give accurate responses to questions and commands like “What’s the weather like in Kenya?”, “What is the current time in Ghana?” or set you an alarm for 5:00AM the next day, do not expect it to correctly tell you how old your daughter is.
How to update the Samsung Galaxy Bixby
The Samsung Galaxy Bixby Voice will come out of the box on new Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ users. Old users will get a notification prompting them to update their Samsung Bixby to the latest version so as to enjoy the Samsung Bixby Voice…as seen in the image below
