Reports surfaced that Samsung has blocked the ability to remap Bixby hardware button on Galaxy S8.
Samsung representative Phillip Berne took to Twitter to confirm that. Although he insisted that the function “never existed in the first place”.
https://twitter.com/philipberne/status/854018601258549248
https://twitter.com/philipberne/status/854019903468306434
https://twitter.com/philipberne/status/854022660858281985
https://twitter.com/philipberne/status/854020503908089862
According to ZDNet, a Galaxy S8 firmware update blocked the ability to remap the button to perform a variety of tasks. Before, the button could even be remapped to launch Google Assistant.
The Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus don’t launch until April 21, but there are units reportedly shipped. It was noted before this that Bixby on the Galaxy S8 won’t launch with voice support.
According to the tweets, it looks like Samsung might not ever support alternative functions for the Bixby button.
Bixby is Samsung’s artificial intelligence service, hailed to understand context. It’s integrated in the software and hardware launch button on the Galaxy S8. It eventual will come with voice support, so it’s set to compete with Alexa, Cortana, Siri, and Google Assistant.
