Samsung so how to set up voice bixby. Bixby camera is a handy tool for everyday activities

It happens that technologies or opportunities appear that at first you do not pay attention to or simply ignore, because it seems that they are not needed. It is firmly in your memory that for some reason (or rather without one) something did not suit you. And so it drags on from year to year, when a powerful tool lies at hand, and you are looking for crutches, because you don’t know anything about it. Let's try to reveal the possibilities of the Bixby camera, so that you know exactly what it can do and why it's interesting.

In any Samsung flagship of recent years, you can see the Bixby button in the camera, it is impossible to miss it, but at the first start you must accept the terms of the user agreement. Many people simply ignore this opportunity, are too lazy to climb up and see what it is. In vain, since the Bixby camera provides a whole set of tools, each of which is interesting in itself, and together they are extremely useful. For example, I often have to search for certain images, and these can be both goods and something else. The usual way to do this is straightforward: take a photo, upload it to an image search and scroll through the lists until you come across something similar, then look at the text description. To some extent, this is yesterday, since the camera can immediately determine the object you are looking at, a kind of AI algorithm that determines in real time what is in front of it. As I write these lines, I point Bixby at my laptop, and the name of the model pops up on the screen in less than a couple of seconds. The search is carried out using the Pinterest social network, and a tag cloud is also selected. There are interesting discoveries that are completely unobvious. In some ways, this is entertainment, but it is also a powerful tool that allows you to evaluate what is in the public space and what associations the object you are looking at evokes in AI algorithms. Useful skill to filter things popular and not so popular.

Yes, very simple. You point the camera at the text, take a picture, and then this text is recognized, and you can use it as you like. For example, copy to a letter or messenger, save to notes, this is an electronic copy of what you just saw. The quality of text recognition is excellent, and for any of the world's languages, as the engine from Google is used. Translation is also available to any and from any language that Google Translate knows. Machine translation is not as good as the work of a live translator, but it gets better every year.

When traveling, for example, to Japan, the Bixby camera is a lifesaver, you instantly get the translation of menus, ads, and whatever. And exactly the same in all the countries where you can visit, the camera swallows any printed text in order to immediately give an electronic version and translation. Conveniently? Not that word. For me, this is one of the features that make Bixby a tool for everyday use, the integration of familiar services with the Samsung camera gives a new quality that is pleasant and convenient to use. Of course, you can do exactly the same thing the old fashioned way, but this is a lot of unnecessary gestures, and having tried the Bixby camera once, you don’t want to live the old fashioned way.

The next opportunity is interesting for those who often travel to other cities or countries. I forgot when I used 4square for the last time, the service was forgotten, having lost its gaming component, nevertheless, it has a huge number of interesting places. In the Bixby camera, you can look at them, just move the camera and see individual points on the map. Then you can see the description, see the distance to the point, and so on. Of course, you can lay a route, maps will immediately open.

For most, this will be a toy, but it is interesting, because I have already found places that I missed a couple of times. So, I found the Dickens House Museum in London, although I lived nearby several times and did not notice it on the maps. Plus, you can choose from a variety of filters, making your search personal. Someone will say that this is not a very useful thing in everyday life, and they will be right, for me it is always travel, and it is in them that I look at the world through the lens of the Bixby camera.

As in the old joke about logic and Vasily Ivanych, you need to move on to the next option, namely the assessment of wine. Yes, Bixby is integrated with Vivino, a service for wine enthusiasts to record, rate wine, and save the varieties you still want to try. You can easily find me in Vivino, my name is Eldar Murtazin. But for those who have not joined this social network, do not want to register, there is still the opportunity to search Bixby for a description of wine, the search is easy, accurate and uncomplicated. And this is again the possibilities of the camera, which are not at all obvious, this is the analysis of the picture and the binding of the labels found to the huge database, which is collected by a specialized service.

There is also an important bookmark in the Bixby camera where you can read QR codes. The thing is popular and useful, such codes are often used in advertising, you must have come across this. There are thousands of programs that can decipher codes, this is no surprise today. But there is a small problem that users of inexpensive smartphones face, which is the quality of the camera.

When a QR code is perfect, made big, then you are guaranteed to read it. But what if for some reason the QR code is small? For example, in Spain I came across such a leaflet, the QR code is very small, and most phones / programs simply cannot read it.

There is no such problem in my device from Samsung, it took a little longer to read, but the code was read, the link immediately opened in the browser. This is a question of the fact that a combination of both hardware and software is important in a modern smartphone, one does not work without the other.

Separately, Bixby camera functions may not be needed, someone is not interested in wine, someone is not looking for objects in photographs, and someone is sitting at home and does not stick his nose anywhere. But all together it gives a tool that will be useful to a modern and active person, I think that such people for the most part use the flagships from Samsung, because this is a conscious purchase. It's nice that Samsung did not try to reinvent the wheel and integrated the Bixby camera with existing, popular social networks and services, tying everything that people like into one shell. An excellent camera from Samsung plus popular services is a win-win bunch.

There are many people in my circle who have purchased Samsung flagships and use the camera in their daily activities, but very few who have mastered Bixby. The reason is that people simply do not get to this point, leave it for later. But when you show how it works, or when people see what you're doing on your phone, they instantly dive in and start using the Bixby camera. Cause? It is banal - it is convenient and simple, and most importantly, useful. I advise you to try it too, so that you form your own opinion about the Bixby camera and what it can do.

A worthy competitor to Siri and Google

One of the distinguishing features of the latest, revolutionary device Galaxy S8 from a South Korean company Samsung was an innovation that had not previously been seen in more than one solution from the giant. Meet Bixby, a voice assistant that will simplify the use of your smartphone and help you solve problems associated with it.
Bixby was developed at Samsung not from scratch, but based on the technologies of the previous assistant. You probably do not know about it, because few people used it. But it was installed in almost all "smart" devices from the company, even in watches. It can be said that S Voice(that was the name of the first voice assistant on the devices of the South Korean company) became a great help for Bixby, which the world saw recently. However, this is not a continuation of the S Voice idea. Only help was taken from the old technology, in essence, the novelty surpasses both it and its competitors from Google in everything.

Bixby voice assistant features

Unlike analogues, the new project from Samsung will not be limited to dwelling only on smart devices such as Android and watches. No, the South Korean company plans to go much further. In their ambition, they see Bixby embedded in almost all household appliances, which in theory should make them easier to use. The platform for the new voice assistant will be the Tizen operating system, implemented in some refrigerators from the giant company.

These innovations will take technology to a whole new level. If you can't imagine how this will be used, then here's an example for you: you own a smartphone with Bixby, at the same time you have a new refrigerator from Samsung at home. Instead of writing lists of things to buy, you can simply ask your smartphone what's out of the fridge, what you usually buy, and what you need to buy now. Also, a photo of the content will be provided. But for now, this is just a theory.

Bixby on smartphones

To activate the voice assistant, a separate button is highlighted. This makes its use as convenient and fast as possible. On the other hand, a wave of incomprehensible statements poured out on Samsung. Why have a separate button on your Bixby device when you can use a simple and accessible voice command? Probably, this was done to popularize the new technology. It's hard to disagree: if your smartphone has some kind of button, then you will undoubtedly want to know: what does it do? Thus, more and more people will get to know Bixby. It is likely that when the use of a voice assistant becomes commonplace for Samsung gadget owners, the company will abandon the button in favor of a convenient voice call. Do not discard the ability to activate Bixby with a gesture familiar to the user.

Main functions

Its only function is to simplify the management of the smartphone as much as possible. It can go as far as not having to use the screen - just say out loud what Bixby needs to do and it will do it. Such opportunities, in the form of working with applications, menu items, photos and audio, cannot be offered by any competitor on the market. This makes the new product from Samsung interesting and popular. On the other hand, while the Galaxy S8 smartphone, like the voice assistant itself, is relatively new, it is impossible to fully judge the relevance of using Bixby functions in applications that are not standard. By the way, the need to walk through the menu items is not such a useful thing, because it's faster to do everything with your fingers than to ask Bixby for help out loud. On the other hand, it is an extremely useful thing for people with disabilities.

Bixby was endowed with a feature that was previously implemented in applications from well-known marketplaces. Its essence lies in scanning a specific object, searching for it on the Internet. Thus, a user of a smartphone with Bixby has the opportunity to view information about the thing he is interested in, as well as find it on the open spaces of Internet sites and stores, and find out about the average price. But, unlike applications, the voice assistant perceives and searches not only for goods, but for any object that turns out to be of interest to the smartphone user. It can be a house, a monument, whatever.

The voice assistant perfectly understands natural speech. For example, take Siri - if you want to learn something from her, then you need to contact her according to a certain list of phrases. With Bixby, everything is much easier, at least if you refer to your smartphone in English. And of course, where without an instant translator. The novelty is equipped with this function, so you can forget about third-party applications. Just dictate the text, and Bixby will translate it into the desired language.

Bixby is an extremely forward-thinking creation from Samsung that just needs time for a few things:

firstly, the South Korean company must bring all Bixby functions to stable operation;
secondly, to settle down with their fans, who will undoubtedly appear soon.

When both of these events happen, we will see this technology on other devices of the Samsung brand, but for now, only S8 and S8 users have the opportunity to test it.

Bixby's current language pack supports: English, Korean, Chinese (Mandarin), French, German, Italian, and Spanish. There is no support for the Russian language. However, Samsung is actively working on new languages, which it regularly announces during its presentations.

Useful features of Bixby

Save the new contact: Hi Bixby, add "Username" as a new contact with his number "User Number"
Listen to SMS and notifications: Hi Bixby, read me my last text message
Working with confidential information. You can ask Bixby to delete all messages containing certain information. For example, your passwords are: Hi Bixby, delete all messages that contain the word “PIN number.”
Automatically take a screenshot and send to another user: Hi Bixby, take a screenshot and text it to "Username"
Download apps and games from Google Play: Hi Bixby, download Instagram from the Google Play Store
Share photos with friends. The assistant is deeply integrated into the One UI system, so it can select the desired file and send it to your friends: Hi Bixby, post the last photo I took on Facebook
Enable videos on YouTube and other popular services: Hi Bixby, play a funny cat video on YouTube
Set an alarm, timer or stopwatch: Hi Bixby, set a timer for 27 minutes
Taxi order: Hi Bixby, get me an Uber to the airport
Scanning text from photographs and translation. To do this, just take a picture of the document and, without leaving the Camera application, ask Bixby to translate it: Hi Bixby, scan this text (with the camera) and translate
Take a selfie: Hi Bixby, take a selfie
Working with the file system: Hi Bixby, show me my vacation photos from France
Setting Reminders: Hi Bixby, remind me to pick up milk at 11:00.
Checking geolocation, linked devices: Hi Bixby, remember where I parked
Smartphone battery status check: Hi Bixby, how long will my battery last?
Flashlight activation: Hi Bixby, turn on the flashlight
Delete browser history: Hi Bixby, delete my browser history
Opening apps: Hi Bixby, open the Gmail app
Activity check: Hi Bixby, how many steps have I taken today?
Find the nearest cafes and restaurants: Hi Bixby, find the nearest pizza place
Play music from any music service: Hi Bixby, play dance music on Spotify/ Google Play Music/ Deezer
Navigation: Hi Bixby, navigate to Oxford street
Weather check: Hi Bixby, what’s the weather like?
Checking your personal schedule: Hi Bixby, show my schedule for today
Putting "order" in the smartphone. You can delete unwanted photos, videos, audio recordings and messages: Hi Bixby, delete the last two images I took

Their flagships Galaxy S8 and S8 +. Both smartphones received a new Bixby voice assistant.

But, in fact, what Samsung says about Bixby:

Bixby is no ordinary voice assistant, but rather an intuitive and comprehensive interface that uses contextual awareness to learn the user's habits and respond accordingly.

It looks like a really new way to interact with your smartphone.

Other assistants such as Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa and Cortana receive information on request from the Internet, and then convey it to the user. Bixby is different in that it's not a search engine. It is an assistant aimed at simplifying the user experience when using the phone, applications and services.

To call Bixby, just say his name out loud or press a special button. The assistant performs 4 main functions:

Bixby Voice

Bixby recognizes natural speech. Through voice control, the user can perform various tasks related to their smartphone. We are talking about calls, gallery, settings and so on. Bixby will initially support English and Korean, but other languages will follow.

Bixby Vision

Bixby Vision uses an augmented reality camera to determine the surroundings. In general, you can find out all the necessary and useful information about everything around you. The functionality also allows you to translate text, scan QR codes and determine the location.

Bixby Reminder

Based on routines and user location, Bixby provides a contextual reminder. Users can create job alerts at a specified time or location. Further more, Bixby Reminder can remind you on which page you finished reading your book.

Bixby Home

This is a collection of everything you need in one place. Everything that the user needs: applications, services, routine obligations and much more appears on the screen.

Bixby is an ambitious project from Samsung. But so far, it only works with about 10 Android apps from Samsung. At an event dedicated to this innovative assistant, the manufacturer assured that Bixby will work with third-party applications and with Samsung Connect (smart connection of home devices).

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, there will be voice control, 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 Samsung account, 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 E-mail address , 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 type 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 the Bixby Voice feature, the 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.