Bixby vs Google Assistant: Which One’s A Better Choice?
When it comes to voice assistants, many are more familiar with Google’s and Apple’s Assistant and Siri, respectively. However, these are not the only assistants in the market right now.
Did you also know that Samsung has its own voice assistant called Bixby?
If you only have a hint of knowledge about Bixby, then this article is for you. Here, we will talk about everything about Bixby, and compare it to the more popular Google Assistant.
Let’s go!
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What are virtual software assistants?
Before diving deep into the article, let’s first understand what a virtual assistant is and what it can do. A virtual assistant, also called an AI assistant or digital assistant, is an application program that understands natural language voice commands and completes tasks for the user.
Virtual assistants are typically cloud-based programs that require internet-connected devices and/or applications to work. Basically, they can read text or email messages aloud, look up phone numbers, schedule, place phone calls, and remind the end user about appointments.
We’ll now dive right into which is the best, Bixby vs Google Assistant?
Google Assistant
Google Assistant is Google’s voice assistant. Google Assistant offers voice commands, voice searching, and voice-activated device control, letting you complete a number of tasks after you’ve said the “OK Google” or “Hey Google” wake words. It is designed to give you conversational interactions.
Google Assistant in Nest devices forms the foundation of Smart Home Control. It’s compatible with a wide range of devices, so you can control heating, lights, and a lot more with just your voice.
Bixby
Bixby is an artificial intelligence system developed by Samsung to make device interaction easier. Bixby is Samsung’s very own virtual assistant and a new effort to offer an intelligent agent to compete with Google Assistant. It uses natural language processing to understand how we talk and what we mean.
Anyone with a Samsung smartphone or a Samsung TV will be able to use Bixby for a wide variety of tasks, queries, and capabilities, just like Google Assistant. Moreover, Bixby is available on Galaxy S20, S20+, S20 Ultra, Note10, Note10+, S10e, S10, S10+, Fold, Note9, S9, S9+, Note9, S8, and S8+.
Read: How to Connect Google Home to Samsung Smart TV-Best Ways
Google Assistant vs Bixby
Google Assistant is available on all Google Nest and Home products including Android TVs, wake-up lights, security cameras, speakers, and many more. Google Assistant is also compatible with your automobile, so you can use the virtual assistant to execute commands when you’re driving. The best part? Google Assistant is available on other brands’ smart devices too. What’s more? All Android devices are compatible with Google Assistant.
As search is one of Google’s main forte, Google Assistant excels in response time and handling internet search queries better than any other virtual assistant. Google Assistant is very quick to respond to queries such as turning on Bluetooth, making a call, and asking for traffic updates or weather information. Also, it has strong integration with third-party apps such as WhatsApp.
Google Assistant can be started by saying “OK Google” or “Hey Google.” Bixby starts when you say “Hey Bixby.” You can also access both digital assistants by using the power button or setting a shortcut to open the voice service in a single touch.
There are many things Google Assistant can control and this includes your smart home devices, set reminders, check your calendar, read out the news, play music, run Chromecast, send messages, make calls, perform online searches, and more.
What’s more? Google Assistant can control Samsung’s Bixby and can adjust your phone’s settings including changing the brightness, reading and sending text messages, launching apps, recording calls, taking photos and videos, operating YouTube, and more.
Samsung’s Bixby, on the other hand, is limited only to Samsung devices. It’s also limited only to the SmartThings app. Plus, it’s even more restricted. Furthermore, Bixby is only limited to newer Samsung devices, unlike Google Assistant, which tends to spread to all Android devices.
Bixby offers similar functions but tends to be better at phone-related tasks like changing Bluetooth settings, optimizing the device (by clearing trash), or delivering news. You can perform online searches on Bixby too but the results won’t be as good as Google Assistant.
There still are areas where Bixby needs to catch up. It only understands English, unlike Google Assistant which can support over 40 languages. Samsung’s Bixby also doesn’t understand your voice prompts as flawlessly as Google Assistant. It just doesn’t work for translation. It’s even quite slow and even needs to understand the context better.
So, if you want to use Bixby on your brand new Galaxy phone, perhaps you might want to consider these factors!
Final Verdict
While both Google Assistant and Bixby are pretty much the same in some aspects, there are other areas where they will differ. When it comes to basic functionalities like executing voice commands to perform a wide range of tasks, Google Assistant is tied to the Google Home ecosystem, whereas Bixby is limited only to Samsung.
Google Assistant also uses other services from the Google Company, as it provides access to Google’s ecosystem. Bixby does have an upper hand when it comes to understanding the context of the app you’re using.
We recommend giving both services a try. If both seem decent, use them together. Use them based on what works best for you, but in our opinion, the Google Assistant is the better of the two. If having two assistants seems like overkill, pick the one you use more often.
Also read:
- How to Get Rid of Google Assistant
- Users complain about Google Assistant’s white noise
- Samsung Galaxy S Series
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use both Bixby and Google Assistant?
Yes, you can use both Bixby and Google Assistant at the same time. Bixby is made specifically for Galaxy phones and has its own special features. So, if you own a Galaxy phone you can simultaneously use both virtual assistants.
Why should Bixby be your default AI assistant?
As amazing as Google Assistant and the other AI assistants are, Bixby is the only one that can access Samsung-exclusive services. For example, Bixby can control your devices in SmartThings and even make purchases in Samsung Pay. It can connect to your Spotify account to make finding songs easier.
And don’t forget Bixby’s key functions: Bixby Reminders helps you stay on track of your schedule. There’s also Bixby Vision for browsing, shopping, and doing so much more.
What can Bixby do that Google Assistant can’t?
Bixby can understand and execute complex commands better than any other digital assistant. For instance, you can ask it to “Call a contact using SIM 2” and it will do exactly just that.
