Is Bixby really that bad?

[ZOMMBIE1]

I really like bixby and feel having both Google Assistant and bixby makes it even more capable of a device.

 

[NeoGrandizer]

I don't use voice assistant much in public. Maybe only to issue call commands but that's about it. I use it at home to kill time. Bixby is kind of hilarious trying to learn and is fun to play with. I mean it can't sing, but can try to rap. LOL.

 

[robmidi]

I mean, it's bad enough when loud talkers have phone conversations that everyone around them can hear and that actually drown out the music I'm trying to listen to with my headset.

I got the S8+ and my wife got the N8. She cannot, no matter what, get the accuracy of voice recognition that she had on the S6. I imagine her in the setting you just described, dictating a text, inserting profanity when Bixby creates some humorous "auto corrects" and smacking her Note down hard when she finally gives up (all the while saying she has violated her first rule of dining out which is "leave the phone in the purse.")
At home she dictates ALL texts, and Bixby is nowhere as good as S-voice in understanding her. Oh well, hopefully it will get better over time. I did, though, disable the button, as it was getting launched by mistake too often. And to think we got people to the moon and back (in 1969 no less)

 

[xxaarraa1983]

I use google assistant and remapped the bixby key. However, I do find bixby useful to call up obscure settings and save clicks. "bixby open screen timeout settings" or "bixby edit Josh's contact information" etc. I have the key mapped to flashlight on double click, bixby on long press.

 

[Methos1979]

I don't think it's so much that Bixby is bad, it's just not very useful to some people - me being one of them. Like a few others above I would feel stupid sitting around talking to my phone. The only place I could see Bixby being useful to me would be in the car if I was the type of person that just had to have texts read to me and reply to them but I'm not, I can wait until I get to where I'm going. I'm never in the car that long anyway. As for using Bixby to configure my phone's settings based on where I am (Bixby, turn on wifi, turn off gps, etc) I do all that automatically via an app called Llama so it's done automatically without my input.

I did give Bixby a try to see if it might be something I would use but it quickly became apparent that it did not. What little bit I did try it was a dismal failure (as in nothing worked well) despite watching a bunch of videos and reading threads about it around here. But I also did not dedicate that much time to it either as like I said I knew it's not something that I would use that much. Ok Google works just fine for looking up stuff and everything phone setting related is automatic.

In the end I just remapped the Bixby button with BK disabler.

 

[missionsparta]

I have exactly the same problem.

Bixby update...same problem still exists. How hard is this?

 

[frankenhooker]

I only use it via right swipe to check news, steps, etc. For my usage, I actually like it. Compliments goggle assistant well.

 

[felloffthetruck]

My Bixby is deaf and will not wake up when I say "Hi Bixby"

 

[AnotherInternetGuy]

Urgh. These comments make me shudder.

Bixby is excellent- for what it is. But it's NOT a personal assistant. It's an OS assistant.

It's primary function is doing administrative tasks that would otherwise require you to rummage through settings menus.

The idea is that making technical changes to your phone shouldn't require an intimate understanding of Android menu systems. Imagine a phone experience that removes the necessity for accessing OS menus altogether. That's bixby.

It's not meant to be faster than doing it by hand. It's meant to be an alternative to navigating menus by hand. And in that single respect it's more powerful than Siri or Google Assistant combined.

It's not sophisticated yet and currently, the extent of it's capability is limited to imagination of the person using it (which is a problem since most people are dullards) but I genuinely believe that this is an inevitable step towards a an ideal where anyone can pick up any device on any OS and use it seamlessly. The solution to OS fluidity is not simplifying menus, it's removing the need to use them altogether. Samsung is the first realise this.

 

[AnotherInternetGuy]

Urgh. These comments make me shudder.

Bixby is excellent- for what it is. But it's NOT a personal assistant. It's an OS assistant.

It's primary function is doing administrative tasks that would otherwise require you to rummage through settings menus.

The idea is that making technical changes to your phone shouldn't require an intimate understanding of Android menu systems. Imagine a phone experience that removes the necessity for accessing OS menus altogether. That's bixby.

It's not meant to be faster than doing it by hand. It's meant to be an alternative to navigating menus by hand. And in that single respect it's more powerful than Siri or Google Assistant combined.

It's not sophisticated yet and currently, the extent of it's capability is limited to imagination of the person using it (which is a problem since most people are dullards) but I genuinely believe that this is an inevitable step towards a an ideal where anyone can pick up any device on any OS and use it seamlessly. The solution to OS fluidity is not simplifying menus, it's removing the need to use them altogether. Samsung is the first realise this.

 

[stewarta13wsb]

No it's not - IMHO
It's learning and getting smarter all the time with Bixby 2 on the horizon.
Quick question... Is there a command in bixby that will switch off the phone without touching the screen?

 

[missionsparta]

Urgh. These comments make me shudder.

Bixby is excellent- for what it is. But it's NOT a personal assistant. It's an OS assistant.

It's primary function is doing administrative tasks that would otherwise require you to rummage through settings menus.

The idea is that making technical changes to your phone shouldn't require an intimate understanding of Android menu systems. Imagine a phone experience that removes the necessity for accessing OS menus altogether. That's bixby.

It's not meant to be faster than doing it by hand. It's meant to be an alternative to navigating menus by hand. And in that single respect it's more powerful than Siri or Google Assistant combined.

It's not sophisticated yet and currently, the extent of it's capability is limited to imagination of the person using it (which is a problem since most people are dullards) but I genuinely believe that this is an inevitable step towards a an ideal where anyone can pick up any device on any OS and use it seamlessly. The solution to OS fluidity is not simplifying menus, it's removing the need to use them altogether. Samsung is the first realise this.

Google Assistant is meant for anything that requires online searching. Bixby was made for anything that would be done through the OS...SUCH AS TEXTING. So why does it struggle so bad at that. That's what makes me cringe.

 

[sk8er_tor]

I can't stand it. What's worse, is they force you to sign in to a Samsung account and agree to all their B.S. terms and conditions in order to disable it. If they had any common decency, they'd allow the ability to disable the Bixby button without having to sign in to anything.

 

[WeAreAllUnique]

No it's not - IMHO
It's learning and getting smarter all the time with Bixby 2 on the horizon.
Quick question... Is there a command in bixby that will switch off the phone without touching the screen?

If you say "power down phone" it should work.

 

[AnotherInternetGuy]

Google Assistant is meant for anything that requires online searching. Bixby was made for anything that would be done through the OS...SUCH AS TEXTING. So why does it struggle so bad at that. That's what makes me cringe.

Nope. Did you read the messege you just quoted. That's what google assistant is for. Sending a messege is not an administrative task.

You still dont get it. Bixby is for anything that grandma (or a person who's never used android before) wouldn't know how to do.

Turning your phone to silent, changing screen brightnes, , clearing notifications, finding and opening apps, using powersaving mode... Anything inside "settings". Administrative tasks that require you to know how to use android menus.

Yes, Bixby has overlap with siri or google assistant functions, but thats not what its aiming for.

Samsung's mistake was failing to explain what it really is. Everyone thinks its a google assistant alternative and it simply isn't.

 

[AnotherInternetGuy]

Google Assistant is meant for anything that requires online searching. Bixby was made for anything that would be done through the OS...SUCH AS TEXTING. So why does it struggle so bad at that. That's what makes me cringe.

Nope. Did you read the messege you just quoted. That's what google assistant is for. Sending a messege is not an administrative task.

You still dont get it. Bixby is for anything that grandma (or a person who's never used android before) wouldn't know how to do.

Turning your phone to silent, changing screen brightnes, , clearing notifications, finding and opening apps, using powersaving mode... Anything inside "settings". Administrative tasks that require you to know how to use android menus.

Yes, Bixby has overlap with siri or google assistant functions, but thats not what its aiming for.

Samsung's mistake was failing to explain what it really is. Everyone thinks its a google assistant alternative and it simply isn't.

 

[edubb256]

Nope. Did you read the messege you just quoted. That's what google assistant is for. Sending a messege is not an administrative task.

You still dont get it. Bixby is for anything that grandma (or a person who's never used android before) wouldn't know how to do.

Turning your phone to silent, changing screen brightnes, , clearing notifications, finding and opening apps, using powersaving mode... Anything inside "settings". Administrative tasks that require you to know how to use android menus.

Yes, Bixby has overlap with siri or google assistant functions, but thats not what its aiming for.

Samsung's mistake was failing to explain what it really is. Everyone thinks its a google assistant alternative and it simply isn't.

I don't know where got that, but your definition of Bixby is very different from the one on Samsung's FAQ page. According to Samsung, Bixby IS intended to do things like send text messages and answer questions about the outside world. It's just that Google Assistant does those things much better.

 

[reinbeau]

I don't know where got that, but your definition of Bixby is very different from the one on Samsung's FAQ page. According to Samsung, Bixby IS intended to do things like send text messages and answer questions about the outside world. It's just that Google Assistant does those things much better.

Again, sending a text is part of the functions of Bixby. The rest is still under development. I think anotherinternetguy is right. Samsung has missed the mark on explanations.

 

[edubb256]

Again, sending a text is part of the functions of Bixby. The rest is still under development. I think anotherinternetguy is right. Samsung has missed the mark on explanations.

I don't know if they made a mistake in messaging. I think they strategically did not want to characterize it as "administrative" is because they realized that would significantly limit the audience.

I do agree with you though that much of it is under development. I think Samsung should have left the "Beta" label on for another year to lower expectations. For example, Google Maps was labeled as beta for a year after it was generally availabie. I think when Samsung fixes some of the Bixby functions like texting, recognition of contacts, and voice dictation, it'll be a great product.

 

[AnotherInternetGuy]

It's an AI product so it will definitely improve, but as for being a great product: it already is. But what it's great at and what people think it is are entirely separate. That's the problem.