Galaxy S8 faces delay on key feature release

DJ Koh, Samsung president of mobile Communications, shows the Galaxy S8 and S8 smartphones during the Samsung Unpacked event in New York City, U.S., March 29, 2017. Reuters/Brendan McDermid

Months after the release of Samsung flagship phone Galaxy S8, the phone is still missing a key feature: the interactive voice-powered assistant called Bixby. Unfortunately for its users, they might need to wait for some time in order to get it.

Updates on the feature were supposed to be rolled out to U.S. users this spring, but there has been no indication that the update would be coming anytime soon.

The company is facing some delays due to the lack of accumulated data, causing the development of the service for other languages to take longer than previously projected.

"Developing Bixby in other languages is taking more time than we expected mainly because it needs more accumulation of data," a source from Samsung told The Korean Herald. "More data is need to provide quality service and contents, and to increase the number of apps compatible. The service will have enough big data soon through the beta test we launched in June in the US," he added.

Bixby is Samsung's new voice-powered assistant software designed to make phone usage more seamless, and to open up new avenues of interacting with one's phone. It was announced during the launch of the Galaxy S8, which sports a dedicated Bixby button on its side. According to Samsung's website, Bixby is a completely new way to use one's phone: "You can use voice, text, or touch to say what you need since it understands all three. When you're lost for words, open the camera and Bixby will search for you."

The release of Samsung Galaxy S8 gave the world one of the most impressive smartphones to date. The stunning bezel-less, curved display, powerful camera, and top-notched overall performance easily put the flagship phone on top of the competitive smartphone market.

While the mobile phone giant continues to develop the long-awaited Bixby for other languages, users all over the world would be eager to get their hands on Bixby to complete their Galaxy S8 experience.

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