Bixby voice feature rolling out to Galaxy S8 and S8+

Samsung has begun rolling out the Bixby voice assistant to Galaxy S8 and S8+ for users in the US who have signed up for its early preview programme.

Last week Samsung announced it would allow users to test Bixby's voice-based commands through a preview test.

If you are among those who have enrolled for the programme, you should receive the update within the next few days, reports Android Authority. Just ensure that all your Samsung apps are updated to the latest version in the Galaxy Apps Store.

Except the voice function, which allows users to command the phone to perform a task, other features of Bixby such as Vision, Home and Reminder were present when the new Galaxy smartphones were made available to the global market in late April.

The rollout was further delayed to June, as an internal test suggested that Bixby was struggling to understand English syntax and grammar.

Bixby is one of the selling points for the Galaxy S8 that Samsung is betting on to recover after its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 was banned worldwide due to battery issues.

"We see Bixby as an intelligent interface for your phone — an integral part of our connected ecosystem. From phones, to televisions, to refrigerators, we think that Bixby will provide users with a simpler, more intuitive way to control their favorite devices, and live a more connected life," Injong Rhee, CTO and head of R&D, Software and Services at Samsung Mobile, said in a statement last week.

Samsung earlier said it plans to update Bixby with support for additional language, features and third-party apps.