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Phones Samsung Galaxy S8

Michael Goff said:
Sadly, I don't have another BT device handy. I might buy one if I can find a pair of BT eadbuds I think are great, but that'd be buying something for potentially no reason and I'm skeptical.

Probably will anyway.



I can't say I've ever factory reset the phone. Think I should?
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It may help, but you have to set it back up again. You can use smart switch on your computer to backup apps, files, settings, etc. It works well but you'll just have to sign back in to all your apps. May be worth a shot, but not 100% sure if it'll help.
 
co.ag.2005 said:
It may help, but you have to set it back up again. You can use smart switch on your computer to backup apps, files, settings, etc. It works well but you'll just have to sign back in to all your apps. May be worth a shot, but not 100% sure if it'll help.
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Most of my stuff is in the cloud. That being said, if I do reset it will be the final thing I do to fix the problem. If the problem isn't gone with that, I'm going to have to decide how important the problem is.
 
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I signed up for the Bixby Voice Beta and looks like it's live today (with some saying a full roll out on June 28 to the USA). REDDIT Link

Here's some screenshots I grabbed going through the tutorial: IMGUR
 
noobinator said:
I don't have gsam installed. I did realize last night though that I forgot to turn on AoD so in my screenshots, I did NOT have AoD on. I have auto brightness on and it's pretty dark at my work so I'm guessing my brightness is low. I also have the screen resolution on WQHD+ and the screen timeout on 2 minutes. I do not let my phone sit idle with nothing going on just for the sake of showing high battery screen on numbers. The idle time is high because it was idle while I slept. If it makes you feel any better, when I woke up and woke up my phone it immediately went down to 99% and is down to 98% already since I used it for a bit while lying in bed.

I understand if you're skeptical but I've been around here a long time and I have no desire to mess with anyone. It's fine if you don't believe me though. I use my phone when I need it and maybe I just have good conditions? I also don't use FaceBook, which I believe is the root of many battery related issues. I mainly use Samsung internet browser, messages app, gmail, twitter, skype, and reddit. It is what it is. I'm happy with my battery life. I'm sure my battery life won't be as good today but it definitely does not go down overnight at all (or 1% upon waking up) and I am getting about 6-7 hour SoT average with plenty of battery left.
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Im skeptical but ill take your word for it 🙂 I get 7-10 hours SOT on my S8 plus, but my standby drain is more in line with 99 percent of android devices.
 
torana355 said:
Im skeptical but ill take your word for it 🙂 I get 7-10 hours SOT on my S8 plus, but my standby drain is more in line with 99 percent of android devices.
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My battery life today is much worse. I turned on AoD in the morning but I can't imagine that's the sole reason. I must have had a good day yesterday. I'm at 50% right now with about 3.5 hours SoT. I was in a worse area at work for signal so I'm sure that plays a role too.
 
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noobinator said:
My battery life today is much worse. I turned on AoD in the morning but I can't imagine that's the sole reason. I must have had a good day yesterday. I'm at 50% right now with about 3.5 hours SoT. I was in a worse area at work for signal so I'm sure that plays a role too.
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Another thing i just thought of is signal strength, i only get 2 bars at my house so that would play a big part in standby drain, i dare say having full bars would help out. There are many variables in play when it comes to battery life, one day ill get 10 hours SOT and the very next day ill get 7 with similar usage patterns. Ive noticed the past few days Google play services has been using alot of battery, it must be doing stuff in the background. If there is one thing i think most people will agree on its that the S8's battery life is pretty damn good.
 
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noobinator said:
My battery life today is much worse. I turned on AoD in the morning but I can't imagine that's the sole reason. I must have had a good day yesterday. I'm at 50% right now with about 3.5 hours SoT. I was in a worse area at work for signal so I'm sure that plays a role too.
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That's very good already. I seldom get 7hrs like when I first got the phone - mostly 5.5 to 6.5 hrs SOT over 20 hrs. AOD is always on.

S8+ joins my R9s+ as the only phones I have used that dont need to top up charge in daily use. That's pretty great battery life, imo.
 
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LIVEFRMNYC said:
Does it work for you? So far, the "Hi Bixby" voice command just sends me to the Bixby cards panel.
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It's live for me as of earlier this afternoon. I think Bixby stands to be far more useful that Siri. I think half of Bixbys problem is that everyone was pissed about the delay in launching it. I used it several times this evening to turn screen brightness up and down and the like. Settings integration for me is a win. I never thought I'd be that crazy person walking around talking to phone but today... I'm questioning myself LOL.
 
blaine07 said:
It's live for me as of earlier this afternoon. I think Bixby stands to be far more useful that Siri. I think half of Bixbys problem is that everyone was pissed about the delay in launching it. I used it several times this evening to turn screen brightness up and down and the like. Settings integration for me is a win. I never thought I'd be that crazy person walking around talking to phone but today... I'm questioning myself LOL.
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I saw demo in youtube. What's very interesting is that you can customize and define your (short) phrases to perform certain user-defined tasks. I think this would be very useful. I think it is quite seldom that we really need need adhoc commands. I am just waiting to use it for predefined scenarios when holding the phone is not practical.
 
blaine07 said:
It's live for me as of earlier this afternoon. I think Bixby stands to be far more useful that Siri. I think half of Bixbys problem is that everyone was pissed about the delay in launching it. I used it several times this evening to turn screen brightness up and down and the like. Settings integration for me is a win. I never thought I'd be that crazy person walking around talking to phone but today... I'm questioning myself LOL.
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Damn, I guess I have to wait for another update. Cause "Hi Bixby" just opens the Bixby panel. If I say it again, it closes the panel. I do hear the Long press for doesn't work for me neither.

One thing that works good is the dictation typing when you hold down the Bixby button. I actually like that better than the one built in the keyboard.
 
Okay, finally got Bixby Voice to work. I had to go into setting/apps then uninstall update and delete data. Then go back to Galaxy app store and install the update again. Voice works fine now, and so does the Bixby button. 😀

Now to see if it's actually useful.
[doublepost=1498126471][/doublepost]So far Bixby Voice seems pretty damn good. You can enable/disable pretty much every settings on your phone. I have tried almost every settings so far and no problem. Bixby learning process actuallly good, but still has a good ways to go.

The Wake Up command is still hit or miss, and a little slow to respond. But the Bixby button(long press for voice) works very well, and responds near instantly. I'll be using the Bixby button, until they get the Wake Up command straightened out.
 
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Looks like CPW in the UK are the ones getting the Coral Blue S8.
That means the UK is now only missing the gold (?) colour option, so nearly there!

The gold was my least favourite, so I'm not too bothered, but nice that the colour options are becoming readily available.

Still love that Arctic Silver though. Delicious.
 
Had a strange (and wonderful) Bluetooth experience on Monday.

Was walking around house listening to podcast with bluetooth headphones in. Then went upstairs into every room.

Didn't realise I'd left my phone downstairs but it never cut out! Bluetooth 5.0 has clearly improved things, this wasn't the case using the same headphones pre-S8.
 
epicrayban said:
In combination with facial unlock, I'm having no issue unlocking my device quickly and effectively. Under the right conditions, I'll let facial unlock do its thing; it's fast and reliable. If I'm under conditions I know isn't ideal, I go for the FPS. Once you get used to it, it feels great pulling it out of your pocket and having it already unlocked as you bring it up.
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I hope you're right! 🙂

epicrayban said:
Congrats. Hope you enjoy.
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Thank you! I'm sure I will.
 
LIVEFRMNYC said:
Okay, finally got Bixby Voice to work. I had to go into setting/apps then uninstall update and delete data. Then go back to Galaxy app store and install the update again. Voice works fine now, and so does the Bixby button. 😀

Now to see if it's actually useful.
[doublepost=1498126471][/doublepost]So far Bixby Voice seems pretty damn good. You can enable/disable pretty much every settings on your phone. I have tried almost every settings so far and no problem. Bixby learning process actuallly good, but still has a good ways to go.

The Wake Up command is still hit or miss, and a little slow to respond. But the Bixby button(long press for voice) works very well, and responds near instantly. I'll be using the Bixby button, until they get the Wake Up command straightened out.
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Glad you got it working. I haven't tested Bixby much, some things have been useful and work well, but this morning, I had a "Bixby fail" so to speak. I was driving to work and wanted to call my wife, I said (with the screen off and phone connected to BT)... "hey Bixby, call <wife's name> mobile"... Bixby churned for a while and finally brought me to my wife's contact card inside the dialer app, but never actually dialed her number. I just reached up and touched the "call" button next to her name to call out, but thought it was weird it didn't actually dial out. I'll have to try again later to see if this was a one off scenario or standard for dialing contacts... but this is also still in beta, so we'll see.
 
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co.ag.2005 said:
Glad you got it working. I haven't tested Bixby much, some things have been useful and work well, but this morning, I had a "Bixby fail" so to speak. I was driving to work and wanted to call my wife, I said (with the screen off and phone connected to BT)... "hey Bixby, call <wife's name> mobile"... Bixby churned for a while and finally brought me to my wife's contact card inside the dialer app, but never actually dialed her number. I just reached up and touched the "call" button next to her name to call out, but thought it was weird it didn't actually dial out. I'll have to try again later to see if this was a one off scenario or standard for dialing contacts... but this is also still in beta, so we'll see.
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IMO, when Bixby matures, it's going to be great. I like it more than I thought I would.

One thing Samsung needs to work on is natural commands. Often you have to be specific in your commands, especially when telling Bixby to go into an app and performing a task. Another thing is, voice recognition is not on par with Google Assistant yet, but it's still good so far. 1000x better than crappy S-Voice.

I personally thought Bixby was being held back due to major bugs. But it's obvious now Bixby was nowhere ready for prime time when the S8 was released.

I see Bixby being fully mature probably when the S9 is released. Maybe sooner.
 
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Sounds Good said:
Hey guys, what do you use in place of iMessage? What is your favorite alternative?

Thanks.
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I still mainly rely on SMS/MMS and use Textra for that. For non-SMS apps, I use Allo (with my brother) and WhatsApp with a few other folks (mainly to share a quick video file). I also use Duo for video calls or FaceTime on my iPad.
 
Thanks. iMessage will be my biggest obstacle. Everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) I know has an iPhone, not Android. Family, friends, co-workers... everyone. I'm not as concerned with co-workers since it's mostly just text, but I send and receive lots of pictures and videos with family and friends. I'm not looking forward to how that might work (or not work!) if I'm the only one with an Android phone.
 
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