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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.
Haha, duly noted! I feel the same way about "could care less" so I do know the feeling.

You make a very good point, I always forget about using other launchers! Silly really as I have a cheap Lenovo tablet in the kitchen which we use for widgets / media controlling etc.. and that is running the Nova Launcher.

I have a Pixel at the moment so will wait for the S9 to see if that can lure me. The removal of headphone sockets is currently a deal breaker for me and so if they keep it that will be a major plus. It's a good idea about getting a cheaper unit, even if only for it to then go on to be an emergency unit to keep in the car.
 
Talking to your refrigerator is useful?

No, I said that it can do useful things... never said anything about a refrigerator.

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.

Really, so you know if its useful and have never used it? Amazon and Google I don't believe can automate features of the phone... maybe they can, but I don't think so. This is why I said that interoperability between the assistants is the next step. They each have strengths.

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.

Well great, then don't use it. I live in the US and its plenty useful here.

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.

I gave this as an example. On the Note 8 there are many ways to take a selfie. I can double click the power button to bring up the camera even if the phone is off, hit the button to switch it to selfie mode if not already set, then hold the camera and hit the shutter button. Or, maybe I'm doing something and can't easily do those steps so now I just need to worry about holding the phone in place. It takes a couple seconds, so no waiting on servers. But as I said, it was just an example. You can put together multiple functions into a "macro" and save them. For example, "good night" might include setting alarms, turning on DND, dimming the brightness, etc..

And I wouldn't give Siri as an example of "good" compared to any assistant.
 
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.:)

Well great, then don't use it. I live in the US and its plenty useful here.

I don’t have the choice because Samsung Pay isn’t even available in my country.

You know, there ARE other countries besides the US. Some of us even have electricity and running water.
 
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I don’t have the choice because Samsung Pay isn’t even available in my country.

You know, there ARE other countries besides the US. Some of us even have electricity and running water.
What argument are you trying to make? There are tons of services from multiple companies that are only available in the US or the US and a select few other countries. The services not being available to you in Canada doesn't make them any less great to others. As for Samsung Pay, it is available in other countries. Just not yours apparently. It's still great thou... for me at least.;)
 
so it can "really get to know and understand" who you are and who members of your family are.

Mmmmm.....
 
I don’t have the choice because Samsung Pay isn’t even available in my country.

You know, there ARE other countries besides the US. Some of us even have electricity and running water.

Right, well you have the benefit of having more modern credit card processing since you implemented Chip and PIN about 10 years ago. The US is a different story, so this is a useful feature for us. Not every feature is equally applicable to every user.

Just watched the video, looks pretty terrible. Why not just use Google Assistant? They wouldn’t have access to personal data?

I don't believe that Google Assistant can access deep features of the hardware the way Bixby can. Again... this is why having these assistants work together would be a good thing. They each have a different strength and if they could pass off things to other assistants the user would greatly benefit.
 
Before switching to a note 8, I thought Bixby was dumb too, especially the name Bixby... but having used it for a month, I actually find myself using Bixby regularly.

Use cases: Program custom commands!

When I get to work, I say: "Hi Bixby, work."

Bixby chains the following commands together
1. turns on WiFi
2. turns off Bluetooth
3. changes my phone to vibrate mode
4. turns on smart unlock - when it's in motion near me, the phone does not auto-lock after 1min
5. brings up stocks and my work calendar

Honestly, competition is healthy, and that's why I hop between ios and android back and forth when they come up with something that makes my workflow/life easier. I just don't understand the blind brand loyalty and all the nonsensical bashing with 0 knowledge of how the thing works. It just shows how ignorant/uneducated/stupid you are....

Edit: I drive a porsche cayman, but I honestly haven't seen anyone hostile on the porsche forums towards people who bring up other brands like Maserati, Mercedes-AMG, BMW..etc. Like, what's the deal with smartphones?
 
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Right, well you have the benefit of having more modern credit card processing since you implemented Chip and PIN about 10 years ago. The US is a different story, so this is a useful feature for us. Not every feature is equally applicable to every user.



I don't believe that Google Assistant can access deep features of the hardware the way Bixby can. Again... this is why having these assistants work together would be a good thing. They each have a different strength and if they could pass off things to other assistants the user would greatly benefit.

Makes sense. And yes I would imagine a unified approach would be best. I feel like multiple services on the same phone doing essentially the same thing is a little convoluted.
 
Before switching to a note 8, I thought Bixby was dumb too, especially the name Bixby... but having used it for a month, I actually find myself using Bixby regularly.

Use cases: Program custom commands!

When I get to work, I say: "Hi Bixby, work."

Bixby chains the following commands together
1. turns on WiFi
2. turns off Bluetooth
3. changes my phone to vibrate mode
4. turns on smart unlock - when it's in motion near me, the phone does not auto-lock after 1min
5. brings up stocks and my work calendar

Honestly, competition is healthy, and that's why I hop between ios and android back and forth when they come up with something that makes my workflow/life easier. I just don't understand the blind brand loyalty and all the nonsensical bashing with 0 knowledge of how the thing works. It just shows how ignorant/uneducated/stupid you are....

Edit: I drive a porsche cayman, but I honestly haven't seen anyone hostile on the porsche forums towards people who bring up other brands like Maserati, Mercedes-AMG, BMW..etc. Like, what's the deal with smartphones?
That's interesting to read, I actually use the Tasker app to perform similar actions but it is good to know. I also have Tasker setup so if my phone hits 10% battery, it automatically sends a message to my other half to let her know that my phone might be dead, so I don't get it trouble later on for not replying to a message... :D Might it be able to do something similar?

You are right as well about how tribal people get about their tech, it is a bit like those who cheer and celebrate a company when it makes record breaking profits. Unless you are a shareholder, that to me is just weird.
 
The world will be flooded with voice assistance's...

More comparisons ..... Still good. I wonder what the frustration was all about ,,,, The responses sound better then Siri anyway to me. Lack of english may only just be i dent. but no big deal
 
Bixby 1 barely works, now they want to do 2? Ok.

Yes that's how it works. It's called updates. You know how Apple maps was introduced as a safety hazard, then continual updates are needed for improvement. Or like iOS 11 needs update after update to fix what the previous update broke. I guess companies should never bother to offer and improve new features.
 
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