Samsung’s own digital assistant, Bixby, may not be at par with the Google Assistants and Alexas of this world, but it does have its fans among Samsung users. But if you have a device that’s still running on Android 7.0 Nougat and Android 8.0 Oreo, your time with Bixby Voice is running out. Samsung has decided to discontinue support for those that are still on this version of Android to encourage users to upgrade to Android 9.0 Pie and experience Bixby 2.0.
As per SAM Mobile, the following devices that are still on Nougat and Oreo will not be getting Bixby Voice support anymore by January 1, 2020: Galaxy S9 and S9+, Galaxy S8, S8+ and S8 Active, Galaxy Note 8 and the Galaxy A9 2018. You won’t be able to use Bixby Voice and Bixby Briefing as soon as 2020 begins. Galaxy Note 9 owners who have not yet updated from Oreo will not be affected by this change.
But there’s one simple solution for you to still be able to experience Bixby. Just update your device to Android 9.0 Pie as all these smartphones are eligible for the upgrade anyway. The reason behind this is so you will be able to use the improved version of Bixby which is, of course, Bixby 2.0. It has a lot of changes from the original one which is still running on Nougat and Oreo, including a new interface and better language processing.
Bixby 2.0 is also more conversational so it’s much easier and more natural to use, and of course, the response time is faster. They also opened it up to third-party developers so their apps or services will be able to offer additional functionality through the digital assistant.
So if you have any of those devices and you’re still going “old school” but you’d like to keep using Bixby Voice, you have the end of the year to upgrade your phone to Android 9.0 Pie and join us all here in the Pie age. There are probably not that many out there who will be inconvenienced by this change anyway.
