Samsung's Galaxy Note 9 won't let you disable the Bixby Key

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Whether you love or hate Samsung's proprietary "Bixby" smart assistant, it's always nice to have the option to disable the AI's dedicated smartphone side button should you get tired of activating it with accidental presses.

Indeed, this is something Samsung seemed to understand with its previous flagship smartphones. By simply taking a trip to the Note 8, S8, or S9's settings menu, you could set the "Bixby Key" to do nothing.

However, as The Verge discovered, that doesn't appear to be possible with Samsung's recently-launched Note 9. The outlet noticed that, when searching the Note 9's settings menu, there wasn't a Bixby Key menu of any kind.

This is a small change, but certainly a noticeable one. By actively taking away its users' choice in the matter, Samsung has drastically increased the chances that Note 9 owners will interact with Bixby at some point, even if by accident.

Personally, I have relatively big hands, and I accidentally tap my Note 8's Bixby Key quite frequently. It's never a big deal since I disabled the function long ago, but it's unfortunate that anti-Bixby Note 9 owners don't seem to have the same luxury.

To be clear, Bixby is far from terrible in the realm of smart assistants. I've used it a few times myself, and it has some pretty neat features, like the "XP" system which earns you special rewards the more you use the AI.

The trouble is, it's just not as good as its competition. As The Verge notes, Google Assistant, Alexa, and even Siri have Bixby beat by a considerable margin when it comes to answer accuracy and human-sounding voices.

Regardless, Samsung's Note 9 smartphone is looking like a pretty solid device overall, and you can snag one for yourself via physical or digital retailers right now for a starting price of $1000.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/76134-samsung-galaxy-note-9-wont-you-disable-bixby.html

 
Samsung is getting full of themselves. I have an S8 and the Bixby button is a PITA, hate it. It's easy to accidentally press and makes holding the phone harder then it should be. I could care less about an assistant in general. Google already collects enough of my data, I don't need to be giving out more to anyone else.
 
Eh, annoying. One of my pet peeves is just moving the google search bar on android. I don't always want to actually disable it, I just want to move it. On many phones you can't unless you use another launcher.

Ok yeah, it's not a big deal and a mere niggle but why? Locking it to the home screen to try and convince you to use it seems unnecessary and petty.
 
Vulcanproject said:
Eh, annoying. One of my pet peeves is just moving the google search bar on android. I don't always want to actually disable it, I just want to move it. On many phones you can't unless you use another launcher.

Ok yeah, it's not a big deal and a mere niggle but why? Locking it to the home screen to try and convince you to use it seems unnecessary and petty.
Click to expand...

The move of the search bar is one of my favorite changes they've made to the Pixel launcher. I no longer have to stretch my tiny fingers to the top of the screen to use it. I get upset I can't get it to the same location on Nova launcher. I agree though you should be able to move it.

F@#$ the bixby button it's really the only thing I dislike about the Note 9. I installed an app that "Disables" it, but it still causes the screen to flicker if you press it.
 
I'm still on Bixby 1.x and have bxActions installed. I see that there's an update for bxActions to work with the Note9.

Does anyone know if bxActions will circumvent this and what exactly will be sacrificed when running bxActions with Bixby 2.0?
 
I don't know if they know but forcing things like this will deter people from using it.
 
When oh when will these companies ever learn. Forcing users to use a particular web browser, search assistant or whatever only serves to alienate customers and tarnishes their view of an otherwise excellent product. It's basic human nature to resist being told what to do/use when you know there are [often better] choices out there. More importantly though, it builds up resentment which can't be good for brand perception. Surely it's better to have a few willing exponents of your product than dozens of resentful and reluctant users.
 
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Wanna ask you guys your opinion: say, after each crap like this, would people in bulk contact Samsung (or other dipshit company) via social networks. And ask them plainly - what is in their mind? Do you believe it would make a difference?

so far, from what I can gather, their followers are usually a bunch of asskissers. Not just samsung, but every other company (google, huawei, etc.).
 
Vulcanproject said:
Eh, annoying. One of my pet peeves is just moving the google search bar on android. I don't always want to actually disable it, I just want to move it. On many phones you can't unless you use another launcher.

Ok yeah, it's not a big deal and a mere niggle but why? Locking it to the home screen to try and convince you to use it seems unnecessary and petty.
Click to expand...
hah, remember trying that with my old nexus 6p. Just struck me, I was doing my own icons adn widget arrangement and that sucker was taking space on my main screen and could not be moved on.
 
D3z4R1 said:
I'm still on Bixby 1.x and have bxActions installed. I see that there's an update for bxActions to work with the Note9.

Does anyone know if bxActions will circumvent this and what exactly will be sacrificed when running bxActions with Bixby 2.0?
Click to expand...

I installed bxActions last night and it "works" but the bixby screen still comes up for a split second (blink of the eye) and closes. You also cannot use the long press or multi press options within bxActions on Bixby 2.0.
 
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I have a otterbox defender case on my Note 9. The Bixby button is hard to press. Being a big KISS fan I asked Bixby how old is Gene Simmons is today It gave my weather for this week instead.
 
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Just got my note 9 hours ago and this is totally annoying. Went from S7 edge to this huge note is ok so far but I'm disgusted because all the money I've spent on games nothing transferred over, every game starts me from beginning. The Bixby button is like Rosie O'donnell I don't wanna see it or touch it keeps popping up.
 
petert said:
Wanna ask you guys your opinion: say, after each crap like this, would people in bulk contact Samsung (or other dipshit company) via social networks. And ask them plainly - what is in their mind? Do you believe it would make a difference?

so far, from what I can gather, their followers are usually a bunch of asskissers. Not just samsung, but every other company (google, huawei, etc.).
Click to expand...

I'm going to tweet them everyday in hopes enough people are doing it, but I've gotten responses from Note 8 people telling me I'm ret@rded for not knowing how to disable Bixby on my Note 9... The internet is great.
 
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