Samsung Galaxy S8 Bixby Problems: Samsung Finally Allows Users To Disable Virtual Assistant
While there's no question that the release of the Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8 regained some of Samsung's lost prestige with the Note 7, it can't be said that the Korean mobile giant had a perfect year either. This is especially true when it came with its Bixby virtual assistant, feature that judging from critics, nobody seemed interested in.
The company's answer to Amazon's Alexa, Google's Assistant, Microsoft's Cortana, Samsung announced the voice-powered digital assistant back on March 20, 2017 and was introduced alongside the Galaxy S8 and S8+. However, the reception to the VA was lukewarm at best and some users were even annoyed by it, particularly the placement of its button.
Now, Samsung has introduced an update for the S8 and S8+ that addressed the issue, at the cost of making the button even more pointless. Assuming that they have the update installed, users can now select between two different settings for the Bixby key: "Press to open Bixby Home. Press and hold to open Bixby Voice," or "Don't open anything."
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The second option can be a bit confusing. While it suggests that it disables Bixby, a long hold on the button will still open the virtual assistant.
However, users will likely be happy with the new update as the button's position makes it prone to accidental presses. This is bittersweet for Samsung, for while it addressed an issue that its users are complaining about, it's as if they shot themselves in the foot by making the button virtually redundant.
There are Galaxy S8 and S8+ users who want the ability to remap the Bixby's button to another feature, which could regain the button's usefulness. It seems that Samsung is not ready to give up on its fledgling virtual assistant just yet.
