Samsung's Bixby smart assistant finally comes to Canadian Galaxy S8 phones

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

A long six monts after it was unveiled alongside the Samsung Galaxy S8, Gear 360' Camea and Gear VR, the Bixby smart assistant is finally coming to Canadian Galaxy S8 devices.

Bixby rollout was off to a shaky start. It was key differentiator for the Galaxy S8 (Samsung even built-in a proprietary button for the service) but didn't appear on devices until last month. While Samsung touts Bixby's capabilities and advanced assistant features it is currently only available for phones and only on Galaxy devices. Bixby is expected to transcend mobile devices and be integrated into other appliances. Samsung likely got Bixby out of the gate today because it will be included in the Galaxy Note8, which is the phablet they are launching this week and is the successor to the faulty and exploding Note7. 

Samsung announced today that, "Bixby Voice is now available in Canada, inviting Canadians to experience a smarter way to interact with their Samsung smartphones using an intelligent interface to help get things done faster and easier through enhanced smartphone productivity and personalization.

At launch, Bixby Voice is available in Canada in U.S. English and Korean on Galaxy S8 and S8+ devices, with more languages, features, and devices to come. Canadians can now activate Bixby by holding the dedicated button on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ phones, or by simply saying, “Hi, Bixby.”

“The expansion of Bixby’s voice capabilities is an initial step in the continued rollout of Bixby functionality. In the future, Bixby will have the learning power to offer more intelligent and personalized interactions and seamless connections across more devices.”

Samsung plans to continue expanding Bixby’s voice capabilities to additional countries, languages, devices, features and third-party applications. By further enhancing its mobile experience and solutions offerings, even more users can interact with their device and manage their apps and services more seamlessly and instinctively.

Starting today, Galaxy S8 and S8+² users can enable Bixby’s voice capabilities by pressing the Bixby button to begin onboarding. You can now activate Bixby by holding the dedicated button on the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ phones, or by simply saying, “Hi, Bixby.”

I'll take a closer look at Bixby in the coming days once I am able to procure a device featuring the service.