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Samsung Announces 'Bixby 2.0' Designed for Smart Home Products Like Refrigerators and TVs

deanthedev said:
Typical Samsung, always throwing crap at the wall hoping some of it sticks.
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Actually they are creating things that have real use. Bixby controls the internal functions of the phone, so it can be quite useful. Siri seems to be more of a party gimmick to ask it stupid questions and see what it says.

Uofmtiger said:
It’s a competitor to Siri? How do I get it to work with Apple Music, Apple Watch, and CarPlay?
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Very intelligent.

deanthedev said:
You mean if you ignore the things it can’t do but only use the ones it can? Sounds pretty amazing. /s
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If you try to use Microsoft Word to create a spreadsheet, it isn't go well. You use a tool for what it was intended. No, you can't be a moron and expect it to help you.
 
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69Mustang said:
Nope. Nope. Nope. Let people remap that dang button.:mad: Sammy, you really don't need an option for every Google service. Samsung Pay? Yeah, that's great. Really great. Murders Android Pay... murders all Pay's actually. Bixby? Give it the Elsa treatment: Let it go.
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How is Samsung Pay better than the other "Pay" services? I'm genuinely curious.

As for Samsung bringing its own versions of each feature, that's to keep people in its ecosystem and monetize them as much as possible. It's the same approach that Google and Apple take.
 
coolfactor said:
How is Samsung Pay better than the other "Pay" services? I'm genuinely curious.

As for Samsung bringing its own versions of each feature, that's to keep people in its ecosystem and monetize them as much as possible. It's the same approach that Google and Apple take.
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Samsung Pay has MST in addition to NFC. With MST, it can work with nearly any terminal that has a card slot. It uses a patented technique to create a magnetic field around the slot to make it think a card swipe occurred, using a secure token. So just as secure, and works with old terminals. If the terminal has NFC, it will also use that.
 
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coolfactor said:
How is Samsung Pay better than the other "Pay" services? I'm genuinely curious.

As for Samsung bringing its own versions of each feature, that's to keep people in its ecosystem and monetize them as much as possible. It's the same approach that Google and Apple take.
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You can use it on regular terminals without NFC. ;)
 
I love tech, I love competition. But in this case I think this sums Bixby up very well:

19227683_114376659167194_116891907237347328_n.jpg


I already use my Echo Dots and Google Assistant a lot, I am not going to start trying to get to grips with a third one. I might of moved across to Bixby but until Samsung get rid of Touchwiz I will not be able to bring myself to try one of the Galaxy devices which is a shame as I would really like to give the S8 a whirl. That said, even the Gear S3 Frontier feels horribly bloated compared to the Moto360 I had before. They seem to be like Sony, insisting on doing things slightly differently. It's annoying.
 
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Digital assistants are a massively overhyped as tech trend. Get back to me in 5-10 years with
evolving ai technology that can tell a joke or make a culture reference
 
coolfactor said:
How is Samsung Pay better than the other "Pay" services? I'm genuinely curious.

As for Samsung bringing its own versions of each feature, that's to keep people in its ecosystem and monetize them as much as possible. It's the same approach that Google and Apple take.
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As others have already mentioned, MST capability. MST + NFC makes Samsung Pay much more useful.

Oh I understand why they have their own versions. I just think they don't need their own versions of everything. I think they'd be better served highlighting their versions that offer something that Google doesn't... like Samsung Pay.
 
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convergent said:
Actually they are creating things that have real use. Bixby controls the internal functions of the phone, so it can be quite useful. Siri seems to be more of a party gimmick to ask it stupid questions and see what it says.
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Talking to your refrigerator is useful?
 
convergent said:
Why, have you used it?
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No and I don't want to. In my opinion that is Samsung's problem with Bixby, in my current ecosystems it cannot compete with Amazon or Googles offerings as it doesn't provide any significantly differentiating benefits.
 
69Mustang said:
As others have already mentioned, MST capability. MST + NFC makes Samsung Pay much more useful.
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I can’t use MST because Samsung Pay isn’t available at any bank where I live. Doesn’t matter if MST works at older terminals if you can’t even sign up because your bank hasn’t added support. Samsung lags behind when it comes to supported banks.

MST is a dead-end technology that’s only really useful in the US, where they lag behind the rest of the world in contactless payments. As more and more retailers adopt NFC it becomes less useful.
 
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WBRacing said:
I might of moved across to Bixby but until Samsung get rid of Touchwiz I will not be able to bring myself to try one of the Galaxy devices which is a shame as I would really like to give the S8 a whirl.
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Have. You might have moved across to Bixby... Sorry, that one bugs me just a wee bit less than the use of 'then' when it should be 'than'. Mind you, that's a me problem not a you problem. Anywho...

Touchwiz should never be an impediment to trying a Sammy. It's one of the reasons my phone choice is Android: choice. My S7 currently sports ADW Launcher. My wife likes Apex on her S8. Best part, we can still access the parts of Touchwiz that make sense for each of us. If you want test Sammy without much skin in the game, maybe an inexpensive J Series (less than $200) can be an entry point.
 
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rowspaxe said:
Digital assistants are a massively overhyped as tech trend. Get back to me in 5-10 years with
evolving ai technology that can tell a joke or make a culture reference
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I disagree about them being overhyped. I absolutely love both my Alexa devices and Assistant devices. They really do become part of your everyday life and my family and I definitely use them daily. But I will agree that in 5 to 10 years they will be even better.
 
In addition to smartphones, Samsung makes many home appliances. Voice integration across its line of products could be a game changer. Imagine asking your phone how much milk is in the refrigerator.
 
convergent said:
Each of the assistants has a different strength, and what is needed is interoperability. Google is better for search. Cortana is better for planner integration. Alexa is better for shopping. Bixby is better for device functions. Siri... not better at anything.

Once I realized Bixby's thing was device functions I've been using it and liking it. Like I can hit the button and say "take a selfie" and it does it. You can also create multi step functions. This is like a voice macro engine for the device. It would be great if you could use any one assistant, and if they didn't know how to do something they could ask the other. I believe that Microsoft and Amazon are working on this.
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I'm not sure I need to press down a button to ask my phone to take a selfie for me when I can force touch on the camera app on my iPhone to do the same thing. In fact, I'll bet that it's much faster for you to force touch and take a selfie than press and hold to invoke Bixby, ask to take a selfie, wait for the servers to come back with a response and open the camera app for you.

You see what I'm getting at right? The whole "ask my phone to [insert feature]" for me is more of a gimmick than actual usefulness. I would say that Google and Amazon are really good with their assistants in that they can perform search features very well and that Siri needs to be upgraded to do more meaningful things. But siri in iOS11 has become significantly more responsive.

I just wish Siri can perform smarter searches and is able to grasp the context of the things I say better. Then it will become truly useful.
 
deanthedev said:
I can’t use MST because Samsung Pay isn’t available at any bank where I live. Doesn’t matter if MST works at older terminals if you can’t even sign up because your bank hasn’t added support. Samsung lags behind when it comes to supported banks.

MST is a dead-end technology that’s only really useful in the US, where they lag behind the rest of the world in contactless payments. As more and more retailers adopt NFC it becomes less useful.
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It's available at plenty of banks where I live. Heck, it's available at plenty of banks period.

MST may be a dead-end technology that is only really useful in the US. I'm in the US. So yeah. Considering the slow adoption of NFC, I'd say I'm all good. And as more and more retailers adopt NFC, guess what I can use? NFC.:)
 
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SeattleMoose said:
This does poke at something that has been at best, only partially functional since its release...SIRI. This is the worst Apple product there is...period. If Bixby works as well as in the commercial, then kudos to Hamstrung. But from all accounts, it does not. My question is..why not? Apple has had 6 years to improve SIRI. Yet it is still crap. Is it now part of BEATS? Why can't tech companies get voice assistants to the point where "it just works". Coz right now....:(
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Tell me about it. Today I left work to pick up my wife for lunch. I say “ Hey Siri, tell (wife’s name) I’m leaving the office now”. Siri says “which number, work or mobile”. I say “ mobile”. Then Siri says “ I don’t know who (wife’s name) is”. WTF??? You just recognized the name because you asked which number. Now you don’t know who that is??? It’s crap like this that makes people hate on Siri so much.
 
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