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Months late, the Samsung Galaxy S8 finally has its signature feature

Published Jul 19th, 2017 3:09PM EDT
Galaxy S8 Bixby Voice
Image: Zach Epstein, BGR

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It’s been a long wait for Galaxy S8 users eager to start using one of the signature features of Samsung’s new flagship phones, but Bixby Voice is finally here.

Samsung on Wednesday announced that Bixby is ready to “expand” its Voice capabilities to the US, as US English is finally supported. So far, Bixby Voice only worked in South Korea, as Samsung had to delay to US launch after running into Bixby Voice issues.

Bixby Voice will let users “seamlessly navigate their phones and easily switch between voice commands, touch, vision, and text,” Samsung’s announcement explains.

Bixby Voice works with core Samsung apps, the company says, which will let you do by voice anything that you could do with touch or type. In the future, support for third-party apps is also expected:

Users can ask Bixby to complete simple tasks, like turning on the flashlight or taking a selfie, or complex tasks, like “remind me to pick up milk at the grocery store,” or “find photos I took in Spain and create an album called ‘Vacation.’”

To start using Bixby Voice, you’ll have to update the application to the latest software version. Once that’s done, you can invoke the assistant by saying “Hi Bixby,” or by pressing that hardware button that you hardly used so far — it’s the one on the side of the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+.

If you need to learn more details about how to master Samsung’s voice assistant, head on over to Samsung’s Bixby portal at this link.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.