So many years after Siri and Alexa, I’ve yet to get excited about most voice assistants. As an Android user, I find Google Assistant and Gemini particularly off-putting. Here’s why I prefer Samsung’s Bixby.
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Bixby’s Focus Is on Helping You Use Your Phone
Samsung is, first and foremost, a hardware manufacturer. Sure, Samsung is a massive conglomerate that makes virtually anything and everything, but at its heart, the company wants to sell you physical stuff. Bixby exists to make some of that stuff easier to use.
That means Bixby makes it easier to access deeply buried parts of your phone or perform specific tasks, like creating reminders and setting alarms. Bixby isn’t here to expand what your phone can do. Rather, it’s primarily a way to interact with your phone using voice instead of touch.
Google Assistant does much of this, too, but there’s a difference in the company’s focus. Google Assistant helps you use Google, as in Google services like Search, Calendar, Maps, and so on. The goal isn’t to help me use my phone better; it’s to gradually nudge me toward more Google services. And I personally am not that big a fan of most Google apps.
On the other hand, I make heavy use of the Samsung apps on my phone, and Bixby integrates well with those.
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And Your Other Samsung Gadgets
We have quite a few Samsung devices in our home. It wasn’t a conscious effort. We didn’t pick out our Samsung fridge, and we were gifted our Samsung TV. These both integrate well with Samsung SmartThings, a smart home ecosystem that Bixby manages quite nicely.
I can ask Bixby if the door on my fridge is closed after I hear one of my kids sneak off to grab a drink of water. I can tell Bixby to turn off the TV from another room.
SmartThings works with any Matter-compatible device, so I’m able to control non-Samsung products with Bixby, too. I have Umbra Cono smart lamps in various parts of the house that Bixby can turn on and off by room.
Plus, I have a Galaxy Watch 6 on my wrist, which keeps Bixby accessible at all times. I can hold down a button to have Bixby perform a task on my watch, my phone, the TV, or elsewhere throughout my home.
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Bixby Is Not Here to Replace the Web
Bixby isn’t particularly good at replacing a web browser. Rather, if you ask Bixby for general information, it will usually show you a web page with search results, much like Siri. Rather than replace the web, Bixby just performs web searches on your behalf.
To me, this is a good thing. The more a voice assistant tries to answer any and all questions, the more processing has to be done in the cloud, the more energy has to be used, and the more of our personal information we have to share.
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Bixby Isn’t a Great Friend
It’s easy to find critiques of Bixby centered around how bad Bixby is at making conversation. You have to ask questions directly, and it’s best to keep them simple. Bixby is not Gemini, and it’s not capable of fooling you into thinking you’re talking to a real person. At least, not for long.
Again, I consider this a perk. Creating cloud-based conversational AI chatbots wastes exorbitant amounts of clean water, takes up land for more data centers, and uses more energy than entire cities—all to produce programs that may be impressive but are more error-prone than what we’ve come to expect from computers. Performing a function in a calculator will deliver a predictable and consistent result. Doing the same with large language models will not.
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I Prefer Bots That Stay in Their Lane
I prefer for Bixby’s focus to be narrow and limited. I don’t want a robot friend. We don’t need to make small talk. Just help me with my stuff.
I have a robot vacuum, the Ecovacs Deebot X8 OMNI PRO, which I reviewed for MakeUseOf. The vacuum’s AI-related marketing initially put me off until I realized that the vacuum merely comes with a voice assistant that makes it respond well to voice commands. I’ve become a big fan of this feature. It’s easy to tell the vacuum to go clean the kids’ room while I walk toward my home office. It beats having to pull out the app.
Would it be nice if Bixby had the kind of third-party integrations that Google Assistant has? Maybe, but diving into other services tends to complicate matters. I’m content with Bixby being great at navigating various parts of the system and leaving the apps to me.
It’s understandable why Bixby isn’t for everyone. You need to be both using a Samsung phone and using Samsung apps in order for Bixby to be of much value. If you buy a Galaxy S25 but stick to Google apps or install alternatives, Bixby probably isn’t for you.
Still, I prefer a voice assistant deeply integrated with the device it ships on over one designed to be all things to all people. One feels limited and simple. The other feels omnipresent and creepy. The line between the two is fuzzy, but I rather err on the side of caution.
