The Digital Assistant Thread: Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri, Bixby and More...

[Lily Adler]

Does anyone use these? I just started using Bixby (former Cortana user) and I'm not too keen on it. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I rather have the mediocre experience of Bixby than using either Assistant or Alexa due to Google and Amazon's lust for personal data and power and mistreatment of workers.

 

[Teelie]

I have an Echo Dot with Alexa but it is almost never used by anyone in the house. Most of the time it's just a timer or a weather forecast question.

 

[Gee]

I don't. I have a Samsung smartphone and even remapped the Bixby button to open the camera app instead.

I'd rather build my own voice assistant using open-source software.

Mycroft – The Open Source Privacy-Focused Voice Assistant - Mycroft

 

[Lily Adler]

Use Google Assistant on your 2020 Samsung TV

Welp sounds like a triopoly is forming here.

 

[ComicChick]

not a fan personally. my TV has bixby but i don't use it. i turned Siri off as soon as i got my phone

i know others are a fan and i can see legitimate ways in which they are helpful, i'm just not fond of them

 

[Lily Adler]

So I'm getting tempted to switch to Alexa and get an Echo Dot.

 

[Lily Adler]

Samsung weighs dropping Bixby as Google dangles new mobile apps deal

Yep so it looks like I'm going to Alexa after all. It's either Alexa or Google Assistant for Android now.

 

[Lily Adler]

Oh this is different.

 

[Lily Adler]

Ugh nevermind on Alexa she can barely interact with the phone at all and is just limited to phone calls. She can't SMS or read texts or take phone calls. Google Assistant appears to be the only fully-fledged one for phones.

 

[Lily Adler]

So a workaround for Alexa is to use another assistant to open the app to use her. Enable hands-free mode in the Alexa App. Then tell Siri, Google, or Bixby to open her and then you can use her. So she's still a secondary to the other three. So if you want a cohesive ecosystem then just stick with Google Assistant on Android and skip Echo for a Nest Home.

 

[psylockolussus]

Yeah I have biXby as well on my phone and just never used it. While the Google assistant, I have used it like Twice. But it is just odd to me, talking over the phone or speaker for the AI to do something... never appealed to me.

I'm just not into a digital assistant, as anything in the web can be searched in an instant. And I sit all day, so I don't mind turning off/on the lights by myself.