Samsung didn’t mention Bixby once throughout its entire Galaxy Note 10 event

Not once throughout Samsung’s Unpacked event for the new Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10 and did anyone on stage say the word “Bixby.” Samsung’s virtual assistant — positioned as an alternative to Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri — was ne'er directly said over the course of the Note’s introduction and a number of {other|and several other} other product sequences that include the Galaxy Watch Active two, Galaxy Tab S6, and different devices. Bixby wasn’t enclosed in any demonstrations of the Note 10’s several new package tricks, productivity enhancements, and options designed with convenience in mind.

It was an interesting exclusion from Samsung when years of making an attempt to determine Bixby as central to Samsung’s in-house package efforts and AI advancements. The absence was significantly noticeable since, at this point last year, Samsung was showcasing Bixby two.0 on stage within the exact same area, listing off all the enhancements it had created to the assistant’s smarts and voice command process. for sure a “Hey Bixby” voice command could’ve been squeezed into the presentation somewhere, right? It ne'er came.

There square measure different signs that Bixby can be less of a priority for Samsung in 2019. in contrast to its last many flagship phones, the Galaxy Note ten doesn't embrace a fervent Bixby button. Instead, users are ready to trigger Bixby with the facility button. however, you wouldn’t comprehend it, as a result of this was ne'er shown on stage.

By default, pressing and holding the facility button can state Bixby — in spite of however long you hold it down for. If you thought a standalone Bixby button was annoying before, this out-of-box behavior may be thought of even worse. If you would like to use the facility button too, you know, flip the phone off, you’ll disable Bixby altogether. There can be a power/volume button dance orchestra that enables you to close up the phone additional simply (Apple will this on the iPhone X and later), however, Samsung’s default goes to end in additional unwanted Bixby interactions and client frustration.

So Bixby continues to be alive and well on phones. It’s additionally on Samsung smartwatches, TVs, and refrigerators. however, the Galaxy Home (a Bixby-powered sensible speaker the same as the Amazon Echo, Google Home, and Apple HomePod) remained absent from the keynote a year when being introduced at Barclays Center in 2018. Samsung incomprehensible the Home’s April unleash target and last the corporate has claimed it'll ship someday within the third quarter of this year. Maybe so, however, this product is taking a protracted time to the purpose that it risks turning into Samsung’s AirPower. Having remained a no-show at the Note event, it’s potential we’ll finally hear additional concerning the Galaxy Home at next month’s IFA conference in Berlin. If nothing additional is understood by then, well...

Bixby was featured throughout the pre-event videos that were running within the arena albeit it didn’t earn a keynote mention. And in fairness, Samsung had a great deal of ground to cover: additionally to hardware and buzzy trade topics like 5G, the corporate mentioned variety of partnerships with Microsoft, underneath Armour, Discord, and even the international organization.

Does a scarcity of stage time mean Bixby goes anywhere? No, not at all. however it would indicate that Samsung’s assistant is taking a back seat and can become one thing that’s the simple style of there — once you free your Note 10’s power button from it, that is. The folks that truly relish mistreatment Bixby for its deep integration with phone settings and multi-step actions can still have it at their disposal. except for everybody else, Bixby has perpetually felt disposable. Today, it felt like Samsung got the message.

Other things Samsung didn’t mention on stage today:

Why it got to eliminate the earpiece jack on Note 10. Apple’s “courage” clarification didn’t re-evaluate alright, thus perhaps it’s best to merely avoid the topic underneath the stage lights.
The same Galaxy Home.
An exact unleash date for the Galaxy Fold.
“Android.”