Galaxy voice assistant. Bixby Samsung: what is it and how does it work? Detailed overview

Understanding the natural language of speech. Many voice assistants are still very limited in their vocabulary. For them to understand you, you need to say some special phrase. Bixby understands natural speech. At least in English. Only in extreme cases does he ask the interlocutor again. This will be most noticeable after the voice assistant becomes very popular. After all, the service needs to actively study natural speech, only after that it will really learn to understand it. And this takes time.

Reminders. Expanded in the voice assistant and base function regarding reminders of certain upcoming events. The user has the ability to ask the assistant to remind him of something when he is in a certain place. Again, it is assumed that the command will be delivered in the usual colloquial speech: "Remind me to take the documents when I am near Chapaev 42."

How to use Bixby?

As mentioned above, while the service works only on samsung galaxy S8 and its enlarged counterpart. You cannot install the voice assistant on any other devices (at least as of April 2017). Roughly speaking, buyers of the new flagship are still testing this service. When the South Koreans realize that their creation works almost perfectly, they will provide the opportunity to use it and the owners of some other Samsung smartphones. The assistant will arrive with the next firmware update, replacing S Voice. Download it somewhere third party resource is unlikely to be possible. Although the creators of all kinds of mods may well somehow implement this.

It should also be noted that the first buyers of the new flagships will not be able to play with Bixby. The fact is that it took the South Koreans a little more time to finalize their service. It will become active only at the end of May or beginning of June 2017. It is not yet known whether Bixby will immediately speak Russian, or whether this will have to wait for several months or even years.

Using the voice assistant is very easy. It is enough to press the appropriate button and say a question or command. Also, after pressing the button, you will see the start screen of the assistant. It collects all sorts of clues and other helpful information. For example, it will contain notifications about the actions of friends in , the number of steps you have taken, and much more. The order of the blocks on the screen will constantly change, depending on what information is in this moment is more important.

It's been a long time, but Bixby has finally found his voice. Samsung has started releasing the latest part of its AI suite, Bixby Voice, to everyone Galaxy phones S8 in over 200 countries and territories. Before long, millions of people will be saying "Hi Bixby" to call the new assistant, although Bixby still only supports English and Korean despite a worldwide rollout.

While we may not need another AI assistant on our phones, Bixby is actually a pretty good companion for Google Assistant. It's a little slower at times, but I was impressed with how well he understood me. And Bixby is not a clone of Google Assistant or Sir ori. Samsung's X's are more servants than smartie pants, performing phone tasks that usually involve multiple steps. Here's what you need to know to get started.

Update 10/20/17: Samsung has announced Bixby 2.0, which opens up the AI ​​assistant to third-party developers and lets you control your smart devices. See Bixby 2.0 for more information.

Setting up Bixby Voice

How do I know if I have?

Like everyone else Samsung updates, Bixby Voice will be released in a checkerboard pattern, which will vary depending on your carrier. Once it's available, your phone should alert you to it, but there are several ways to check that it's been pressed on your phone.

You should see the Bixby Voice icon on Bixby home screen. If you don't, check the About page to see if an update is pending.

First, swipe left to go to the main Bixby screen. If Bixby Voice is alive, you'll see a new "b" symbol next to the Bixby Vision eyes and the Bixby Reminders bell icons. If you don't see it, click the overflow menu at the top right and select Settings. Then tap the About Bixby option and it will tell you if there are updates available.

You will need to update other Galaxy apps. To do this, open the Galaxy Apps store, tap the overflow menu icon in the top right corner, then My Apps and Update. If any apps need to be updated, they will appear on the next screen. If Bixby Voice is one of them, once it's finished updating you'll be ready to go.

In more recent versions of Bixby, the "b" icon has been replaced with a gear icon that lets you toggle the side button on and off. If you see this, you are using latest version and active Bixby Voice

How do I get started?

To start using Bixby, go to main screen Bixby and it has to go through the setup process, which is quite simple. On the next screens, you will practice saying "Hi Bixby" and try out a few commands. In addition, there are several general options in the Bixby Home Settings menu, including background color, sounds feedback, conversation style and notifications.

Bixby Voice only works with Samsung apps at launch, but more on the way.

What apps does Bixby work with?

When launched, Bixby will only work with a few Samsung apps:

• Bixby Vision
• Calculator
• Camera
• Contacts
• Gallery
• Internet
• Messages
• Telephone
• Reminder
• Settings
• Weather

What about third party apps?

At launch, Bixby is only meant to work with the apps above, but Samsung wants to quickly bring Bixby Voice into large quantity applications, including some popular third party applications. The Bixby Labs tab in Home Settings shows which apps are in development and you can select them for testing. Bixby Labs already includes some intriguing apps, including Instagram, YouTube, Play Music, Maps, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Twitter.

Using Bixby Voice

How to call Bixby?

There are two ways to call Bixby. You can say "Hi Bixby" or you can press and hold the phone's side button. A small blue circle will appear in the left corner of the screen to receive your request. Just be aware that the side button works like a walkie-talkie, so you'll need to keep it pressed until you've finished your command.

When you call Bixby, it will show up as a small blue icon on your home screen.

Can I use Bixby on the lock screen?

Sorting. You can call Bixby on the lock screen by pressing the button or say "Hi Bixby" as usual. However, you need to unlock your phone before it can complete your request.

Can I enter commands in Bixby?

Yes! When you call Bixby, you will see the Full Screen button on the right. Tap it and Bixby will expand to fill the entire screen. Then select the Search Commands box in the center and you can type Bixby instead of talking to him.

Samsung offers a handy list of questions for each of the Bixby Voice apps.

How do I know what I can ask?

Many of them are trial version and error, but you can see a list of suggested questions for each app in Bixby Home. Click the overflow menu, select Applications with Voice and select desired application. Inside each of them you will find a list of valid requests.

Can Bixby be fixed?

Samsung wants to get Bixby as quickly as possible, so after completing each request (or not), a question will pop up on the screen asking, "How's my answer?" Click Great and you will get 5 XP points. Tap Let's improve and Bixby will take you to a screen where you can select words that were misunderstood or describe what went wrong.

When you use Bixby, you will progress through your levels and unlock feaures.

Wait, XP points? What's this?

Samsung played with Bixby Voice to encourage people to use it. As you level up, you will unlock features (at the moment they are just background colors). You can track your level on the My Bixby page.

Bixby Voice Features

As long as you need to use samsung apps to use Bixby at launch, you can do a lot with them. Here are some examples:

General Commands

You can launch any Bixby app by simply saying "Open" and the app's name. Or you can say "Open Chrome as a popup" to enter this mode. You can also say "Take a screenshot" to capture what's on your screen, or "Close recent apps" to clear your carousel. Basically, if your S8 can do it, there's a good chance that Bixby can help.

Camera

Ask Bixby to pull himself together and it will open the camera app and flip over to the front camera with a countdown timer that gives you three seconds to improve your puff to shutter speed. You can also say things like "Take a photo with rear camera”, “Disable Flash”, or “Disable HDR” and that will be mandatory. And when you're in the camera app, you can say "Hey Bixby, take a picture" and it will capture the moment.

Calculator

You can use Bixby Voice to calculate simple equations. If you say "What is 6 plus 3" or "What is 12 percent of 900" it will open the calculator, enter the equation and show you the solution. However, if you want to multiply the answer by 3, you will need to start a new equation. He doesn't understand what to do when you say "Times 3" or "Multiply that by 3.". It also doesn't get any conversions. If you ask how many pints are in a cup, you will be taken to the calculator's conversion section, but when asked what you want to convert, it will say, "It turns out I can't do that." But it shouldn't be too long before that's possible.

Bixby Vision

Bixby Vision has lived on since the debut of the Galaxy S8, and Bixby Voice doesn't add much to improve it. However, it makes it easier to use. You can say "Open Bixby Vision" or "Search Bixby Vision" and the camera will open with Vision support. Or you can say "Translate this text" or "Show nearby restaurants" and it will launch the relevant section of Bixby Vision. But you will still need to interact with the screen to find something. And you need to be specific. If you ask something general, like "What is this?" Or "How much does it cost?" Bixby isn't smart enough to summon Vision to find the answer.

Settings

Bixby Voice really shines when it comes to the Settings app. You can toggle and customize every setting on your Galaxy S8 using Bixby, from turning off Wi-Fi to turning on the flashlight to brighten up. You can also say things like "Turn on power saving mode", "How much data have I used this month" and "Change wallpaper" and Bixby will navigate to the correct screen and perform the action. If you ask, he will even display your IMEI number. I tried dozens of queries and couldn't find a settings command that she didn't understand. This is 100% the strongest Bixby suit ever.

Phone / Contacts

Bixby Voice works the way you'd expect when it comes to calls. Say something like "Call mom on mobile" and he will start phone call. For incoming calls, you can say "Accept" or "Reject", although it's just as easy to tap the screen. You can also easily add a contact or view someone's information by simply asking. You can say "Block last number" which is useful for spam calls, or "Show missed calls" to see what you missed. You can also ask Bixby to block specific number or person, open the dialer or turn off the ringer.

Bixby 2.0

Samsung has announced the release of Bixby 2.0, which will be a "bold reinvention" of the platform, according to Samsung. Here's what we know about it so far:

Smart devices

The main feature of Bixby 2.0 will be integration with smart devices and devices, including "TVs, refrigerators, home speakers, or any other related technology you can imagine. “At first, Bixby will be mainly limited to Samsung devices, but Samsung plans to expand it to a wide range of others.

Developer SDK

Bixby 2.0 launch will bring a developer kit software which third-party device manufacturers can integrate into their products, such as with Alexa and Google Assistant.

Voice enhancements

Samsung says Bixby 2.0 will have "enhanced natural language capabilities for more natural commands and complex processing." In addition, this will allow multiple recognition of users. Bixby 2.0 will be able to distinguish between users and adjust their responses according to the person speaking, a similar feature to the one introduced for Google Home earlier this year.

Bixby marketplace

Samsung also plans to allow users to use Bixby 2.0 to make purchases, saying it plans to "deploy various models revenue" so that developers can monetize the Bixby experience. It's unclear how this work works, but presumably it will be tied to Samsung Pay.

Samsung has finally given us the option to disable the dreaded Bixby button.

The Galaxy S8 and Note 8 phones include a button just below the volume that calls up Bixby when pressed. This can be a real nuisance and Samsung has finally responded to turn it off. You need to be on version 2.0.03.3 or later of Bixby Home to see this option, so if you don't see it, go to the Galaxy Apps store and update your apps. The update introduces a gear icon next to the overflow menu. Click on it and you will see a Bixby key button. Press once to disable the side button functionality. However, even if it's off, you can hold the button down for a second or so to bring up Bixby Voice.

Check your history

If you want to see the latest things you asked Bixby to do, you can find it on your personalized Bixby page. Go to Bixby Home, click the overflow menu and select My Bixby. This is where you'll see your activity, as well as a few settings shortcuts and tutorials. It looks like it contains a list of all interactions, so you can look through the entire conversation history to see how far it has gotten.

Setting up shortcuts

When you first start using Bixby, you'll be prompted to use pretty specific commands like "Open phone and call Chris." But as you use it, you'll quickly find that it can understand labels like "Call Chris" or "Message Mom".

In addition, you can add shortcuts to certain commands to shorten what you need to say. After you ask it to do something, you will see an Add command option below your request. Click it and you can give Bixby an alternate string for that command. For older requests, you need to set up your conversation history. Go to My Bixby, tap Conversations, and you'll see a Suggest a different phrase button under each previous request. Click on the one you want and you will be able to enter new way say it.

Enable dictation

Bixby Voice will transcribe your words, but only when using a Samsung keyboard.

In the Hello Bixby settings, you'll find a toggle for Keyboard Dictation. Turn it on and Bixby will transcribe your words in a command whenever you use the keyboard. You can activate it by holding the Bixby key or pressing the microphone button on your keyboard. But now you need to use a Samsung keyboard. To switch, click the keyboard icon to the right of the navigation bar.

Today we have prepared a short review bixby on Samsung, a fun voice assistant like Google Assist and Siri. We will talk about its capabilities, how Bixby works, and also make short review for this helper.

The Bixby button has finally found its way into the S8 series smartphones and has received an important function - voice support. At this point, this feature has been officially launched in the United States as early version, and Samsung promise to work hard on Bixby updates and release them frequently. And that's good - because Bixby functionality has a lot of flaws at launch.

There is no beta testing in Russia yet, but we did it with the help of our American colleague @AndrewBon and today we will talk about his experience.

At the very beginning of the launch, you will be shown tutorial, which will tell you how to launch the Bixby function and that the program will learn to recognize your voice.

Bixby can be activated by saying "Hi, Bixby" (hello Bixby), or by simply holding the Bixby button during a conversation, as if you were talking on a walkie-talkie. Then you can ask him the basics: the weather in London, the alarm clock. And right here, on the most basic functions, Bixby stumbles. No, he can talk about the weather, the problem is a little different.

First, it is very slow and sluggish compared to Google Assistant. Ask Bixby what time it is and it will launch the clock app first and then read the answer. Identifying the president of the US (a simple query for Siri and the US) is clearly a difficult task for him. It just takes you to Google. And in general, he quite often sends a request to the search, as if there is no knowledge base from where answers should be taken.

What Bixby does well is changing phone settings internally. Switch between call modes, open the application in a split screen, go to the settings - it does all this perfectly, since Samsung has added about 3000 commands for this part to the phone's database. Own Applications Samsung is better all work with Bixby, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Uber, Gmail, Google maps are also perfectly optimized. The list is rather big and the Bixby voice assistant copes well with all this.

To help Bixby identify your voice, you need to talk to it more often. Samsung has even introduced an experience system where you can level up and unlock new background colors for the assistant interface by interacting with your phone.

Samsung finally launched Bixby globally today. The voice assistant can now be used by Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ owners in over 200 countries. We will now walk you through the process of setting up Bixby on the Galaxy S8.

The official announcement from Samsung took place this morning, but Bixby is already starting to gradually roll out and there are first reports from countries where Bixby is already operating.

Press the Bixby button on your smartphone to see if it's already available to you. You may need to update the Bixby app from Galaxy Apps if you haven't already. Before doing this, do not forget to log into your account Samsung.

Bixby will greet you with a welcome screen in live on your device. The screen will appear when you press the Bixby button. Bixby Voice will guide you through the entire setup process.

Step 1. Choose language. Bixby Voice only supports US English and South Korean. Samsung plans to add other languages ​​in the future, but only two are available at the moment.

Step 2: Follow the instructions provided by Bixby Voice as you explore various ways interaction with an assistant.

Step 3: Help Bixby recognize your voice by providing some samples. You just need to speak a few sentences at a constant speed loud and clear.

Step 5: Teach Bixby your pronunciation by saying five sentences.

This is just in case you're already itching to try out Bixby's voice functionality on your Galaxy S8. Samsung recently announced a call for participants for the open beta testing of the Bixby Voice service.

And now we will briefly tell you what you need to do in order to participate in this exciting event.

As you know, the official page of the Bixby service on the Web, until recently, has consistently stated that “ new voice features are coming " (that is, voice control will be, but later). And, it seems, this most "later" did come. Almost.

Since yesterday, Samsung has been inviting those who want to test the new feature on their Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+.

So what do you need to install Bixby Voice on Galaxy S8

Of course, the very first condition for participation in the program is the presence of a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 + smartphone. Secondly, you will also need your account Samsung entry, plus you also need to register on a special beta test page. In order, then do the following:

• go to the page for Bixby Voice beta testers;
• scroll to the bottom of the screen and check the checkboxes " I Agree with the above Terms and Conditions » (« I agree with the terms and conditions...") and " I have a Galaxy S8/8+ » (« I have Galaxy S8/8+"), then…
• enter the address Email , to which your Samsung account is “linked” (if you don’t already have one, then first create it: "Settings" -> "Accounts" -> "Accounts" - "Add account" -> "Create an account");
• tap the button sign up .

It is worth noting here that Samsung invites, of course, invites, but not everyone. In accordance with the rules of the promotion, the number of participants is limited. Therefore, after registration, you just have to wait for a letter from Samsung confirming your participation. Participation is completely free - you just get access to Bixby Voice before anyone else.

The event promises to be interesting. With Bixby Voice, you can dial and send text messages, change smartphone settings and make calls. To do this, you just press the Bixby button and talk to your Galaxy S8 (albeit at the beta stage in English). Samsung promises that Bixby will understand natural speech. As you use Bixby Voice electronic assistant will learn and adapt to your voice and habits.

As for the official release of Bixby Voice, the information about Samsung's plans to release the Bixby voice by the end of June was previously considered the most relevant. True, as we can see, since only the beta is starting now, they may not be in time. Let's not guess though. Therefore, follow the news.