While several features will work on global versions, those that rely on voice activation and control won't operate, because Samsung apparently hasn't perfected Bixby's understanding of English yet. Samsung plans to add Bixby Voice support to the GS8 "later this spring".
The delayed release date of the full version of Bixby represents the mad dash that Samsung made to be able to prepare a digital assistant that will launch alongside the Samsung Galaxy S8, after the company acquired Viv Labs in October of past year.
Speaking to Silicon, a Samsung spokesperson said: "All Bixby functionality, bar the Voice Function, will be available to United Kingdom customers at launch".
In a statement, Samsung said that certain features of Bixby such as Vision, Home, and Reminder will be rolled out alongside the Samsung Galaxy S8 on April 21. Samsung is pretty much pushing its smart assistant by even putting a dedicated physical button for it.
Samsung's latest flagship smartphones - Galaxy S8 and S8+ are now available for pre-order across all four major carriers in the United States, along with BestBuy.
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Bixby, the digital, AI-based virtual assistant from the stables of Samsung, which was billed as the hallmark of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8, may be lacking in more ways than one when it does ship. Bixby Vision taps into the S8's camera to recognize objects and deliver information about them - the price of a book you're looking at, for example, or the rating on a bottle of wine you may be thinking about purchasing. And no matter how exciting Bixby might be, it still takes a backseat to Samsung's gorgeous design for the handset.
Yet the biggest differentiating factor between Samsung's software and Siri or Google Assistant is Bixby's ability to perform more manual tasks on your behalf, like lightly editing a photo or composing and sending an email.
The company provided no explanation as to why Bixby Voice was delayed.
Therefore, shipping the Galaxy S8 with a crippled Bixby makes the entire thing more confounding. Some rumors also say that Samsung may launch its upcoming phablet at the same time.
Samsung introduced the world to Bixby last month.
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