The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus arrived without Samsung AI Bixby despite the company’s promise this past Spring, but Bixby arrived three months late – and after the wait, was met with some hate. Not everyone appreciated Samsung’s efforts to launch a Google Assistant rival in the Android space. One user in particular launched a Bixby-killing case on Kickstarter for the Galaxy S8.
Samsung released an update to disable Bixby on the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8 Plus, and the Galaxy Note 8 back in September, but the update still allowed the Bixby button to wake up your handset or activate Bixby Home. This didn’t sit well with the anti-Bixby crowd, so Samsung has now released a new extension update.
The extension update builds upon the Bixby-disabling update in September to now disable Bixby Home and Service activation so that anti-Bixby advocates can finally breathe a sigh of relief that the “dreaded” AI is gone. This seems to be counter-intuitive, especially considering that Samsung is betting big on the future of AI, but the reason behind the disable updates is clear: to keep all users satisfied with the experience.
The new update is a small concession to anti-Bixby advocates, but Samsung has yet to concede on functionality for the new button. Sure, Bixby won’t appear anymore, but disabling the Bixby button only leaves an empty piece of hardware that doesn’t do anything. Sure, Bixby may have its quirks, but between 1) function-less and 2) quirkiness, perhaps software quirks and kinks are better than no function at all.
To go ahead and disable Bixby in its entirety, take a look at the video and then hit up the “via” link below for more info.
