Samsung’s old S Voice assistant will shut down in June
Back in 2012, Samsung introduced its S Voice assistant as it sought to keep up after Apple went all-in on Siri. It was a notable addition for the Galaxy S III, along with the phone’s massive 4.8-inch display, powerful quad-core CPU and TouchWiz interface. Of course, now AI assistants are a dime a dozen, and after S Voice failed to keep pace with the competition Samsung acquired Viv to use its tech for a replacement, Bixby.
Bixby hasn’t made that much of a mark either, but now Samsung is pulling the plug on S Voice. SamMobile points out a notice from the company indicating that S Voice service will end as of June 1st.
The note also mentions that wearables like the Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Active already have an update with Bixby available, while the Gear S3 and Gear Sport will get one after S Voice shuts down. The feature never really worked well enough to suggest that many people are still using it, but it’s possibly an issue for someone making use of hands free features on older hardware who can’t afford to upgrade. Still, on those older phones or even cheap modern devices, features like Bixby, Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa are widely available now.
(28)
