Does anybody actually use Bixby? - Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Guides, News, & Discussion

I recently Upgraded from a iPhone 7 to a Galaxy Note 9 and I've been wondering.. How many people unironically use Bixby. I've noticed in my 4 month's of owning my phone I've never really used Bixby and she's seemed like more of a nuisance rather than any help. And I find the concept of talking to any kind of virtual assistant kinda cringe. Thoughts?
Also if anybody could recommend a good Non Root Bixby button remapper I would greatly appreciate it!

last1youlove said:
I recently Upgraded from a iPhone 7 to a Galaxy Note 9 and I've been wondering.. How many people unironically use Bixby. I've noticed in my 4 month's of owning my phone I've never really used Bixby and she's seemed like more of a nuisance rather than any help. And I find the concept of talking to any kind of virtual assistant kinda cringe. Thoughts?
Also if anybody could recommend a good Non Root Bixby button remapper I would greatly appreciate it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just realized I created this thread in the wrong place. Apologies!

You know you can actually remap the button now to command any app you want now?
Didn't use it before but now its my go to to check my camera at home.

Yep, mine is remapped to launching Pandora music app...

last1youlove said:
I recently Upgraded from a iPhone 7 to a Galaxy Note 9 and I've been wondering.. How many people unironically use Bixby. I've noticed in my 4 month's of owning my phone I've never really used Bixby and she's seemed like more of a nuisance rather than any help. And I find the concept of talking to any kind of virtual assistant kinda cringe. Thoughts?
Also if anybody could recommend a good Non Root Bixby button remapper I would greatly appreciate it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Bixby everyday. In the morning I have a command where I simply say good morning and she runs preset tasks for me, including giving me weather alerts(rocky mountains) and read top headlines for the day. Also got one for when I arrive to work, and ones depending on what type of work I'll be doing that day.
Example, when I'm building print server queues, I like to keep my screen Timeout higher, bluetooth with some music, do not disturb on, and some other settings. Instead of me going through and doing all that, I just tell her "Print Queues," and she changes everything.
I do have the one button click remap to a command for Google Assistant but that's for searching for anything weirdly internet related.
I used to hate the idea of Bixby because I was so used to Google, but when I realized all the things I can use her for if I just took the time to learn it, I've been hooked ever since. ??
Sidebar: I even got one for my kid for Netflix whenever she wants to watch Little Einsteins!!! ?

Hi...
I'm using Bixby on daily basis and to be honest from the beginning I was almost hating that"button" but later I start using more and more... Home, in work places...

I don't since it shows me some panels for apps that I don't have them installed that I can't get rid of.

NO! I do not use it all, I have remapped it.

last1youlove said:
I recently Upgraded from a iPhone 7 to a Galaxy Note 9 and I've been wondering.. How many people unironically use Bixby. I've noticed in my 4 month's of owning my phone I've never really used Bixby and she's seemed like more of a nuisance rather than any help. And I find the concept of talking to any kind of virtual assistant kinda cringe. Thoughts?
Also if anybody could recommend a good Non Root Bixby button remapper I would greatly appreciate it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, they even removed 2/3 of the features/commands with bixby 2.0 that were presented in bixby 1.0 and the funny part is that they are still listed in the manual. Useful things like "split screen" command/etc. All the phone control is removed and this was the only real useful part of bixby. Removing the deep integration is leaving the assistant with nothing over google one, just a 1/10 features copy that will fail to understand you 2/3rds of the time.

high_voltage said:
Nope, they even removed 2/3 of the features/commands with bixby 2.0 that were presented in bixby 1.0 and the funny part is that they are still listed in the manual. Useful things like "split screen" command/etc. All the phone control is removed and this was the only real useful part of bixby. Removing the deep integration is leaving the assistant with nothing over google one, just a 1/10 features copy that will fail to understand you 2/3rds of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's because of the changes to Android? I don't really see them bringing those features back though. I got mad when I first saw that they removed a lot of the device control features.
Conspiracy me thinks, they removed them from Bixby because of the permission changes to Android Pie, and they want people to keep buying their devices, they nuked Bixby as a whole instead of having the Pie folks having less stuff than Oreo? Don't know....conspiracy.?

Jammol said:
It's because of the changes to Android? I don't really see them bringing those features back though. I got mad when I first saw that they removed a lot of the device control features.
Conspiracy me thinks, they removed them from Bixby because of the permission changes to Android Pie, and they want people to keep buying their devices, they nuked Bixby as a whole instead of having the Pie folks having less stuff than Oreo? Don't know....conspiracy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dunno why, but the fact is that 2.0 can't do a lot that 1.0 can... instead of improving and integrate it even deeper into the system, they stripped it. Android is open source project... there are some restrictions, but I am pretty sure non effects bixby functionality or atleast samsung can be transparent on why. On some of them bixby says "I don't support that yet, but I am learning constantly new things", so there is that - it recognise the old commands, but refuse to execute them.

It was killing me that it couldn't recognize the spelling of my old lady's name and on my note 8 it had a bad habit of not immediately recognizing my voice but getting triggered by random audio from my TV.
Since then I moved away from bixby and I alternate between Samsung and something else so GA has always been my go to since it's not OEM specific.

Nope my alexa is my main ***** and google is my doorbell chime. Bixby is awful and needs dropping.

I use bixby to make phone calls.... I really don't know what to say to Bixby to take it usable.... the only thing I need is send WhatsApp messages but seems that doesn't work with it.

Bixby is alright. She's definitely smarter than siri, but waaaaay slower.

I don't use Bixby. Might start using it when I get my Bsc in how to use Bixby.
Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

I used it for a couple of weeks when I first got my Note 9. I was impressed with the complex phone tasks I could trigger with just a few words that I programed for them. Something GA cannot come near to doing. But for other areas where GA shines, that's where Bixby falls short.
After those short weeks I started using bxActions because I found that having extra abilities through remapping of the Bixby and volume buttons was more valuable than using Bixby for me.

bixi command can set an alarm past 24 hours. google assistant cant.. still not stopping me from using bxactions pro and reassigning to assistant and google now.

No issues with bixby here.

Related

[Q] Galaxy S5 vs Iphone 5s thoughts.

Hi,
I have been an IOS user for quite a while, with brief excursions into Android land usually without much success. I am trying hard this time because I actually prefer a lot of things about Android (specifically the S5) ... less restrictive, removable battery, storage etc..
However some of the things I really struggle with and wonder if anybody has any answers before are listed below !
Lock screen preview of mail and txt's , I have downloaded an app called NILS but it seems to be such a hack and is not very seamless, anybody else have a better suggestions?
Bluetooth, when I get in my car , the phone starts playing the last thing i was listening to , that's fine & is similar to the iPhone, however the iPhone knows the difference between a call and music and if I turn the car off and get out , it switches off the music (but does not hang up calls). The S5 just carries on playing whatever i was listening to. I cannot find any way of changing this behaviour (any ideas ?).
Quick access to search, with the iPhone you swipe from the top and type the first couple of letters of an app to run it , sometimes this is really useful. The closest i have found is to go into the pull down notification bar and click sfinder... yeuch , any better ideas?
Memory and CPU usage, the phone gets quite laggy and I cannot find a specific reason ... other than having to installs NILS and the call blocking app (see below). I have installed task killer now , not sure if this is the correct approach.
Do not disturb mode, (blocking) , well its crap on the S5 compared to the Iphone. None of the functionality that i am used to such as letting repeated calls through and setting specific schedules is available. I have downloaded an app called do not disturb which does most of this stuff but i am sure this is also contributing to lag and memory usage. Also annoyingly it does not return the phone to the state it was in before it activated do not disturb. What do i mean by this ? I am the kind of person that has my phone on silent 99% of the time with vibrate, when do not disturb is active i want all vibrations and screen alters disabled (it does this) , but when coming out of do not disturb it switches the phone to full sounds on.
I am trying not to be down, there is a lot to like with this phone and if I could resolve some of the above I would be much happier with it.
Hope to hear some of your suggestions.
Acdisplay for lockscreen. Used it on on RAZR Maxx but not yet on my s5
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app
zero66 said:
Acdisplay for lockscreen. Used it on on RAZR Maxx but not yet on my s5
Sent from my SM-G900V using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I will try that.
Download Apex launcher or any other launchers for lag problem, put in mind that Android uses more ram and cpu processing than IOS, that's why they keep on increasing ram, also turn off as much bloatware (apps came with phone) as possible, another very useful tip is to turn of your phone every day for few mins like your computer this will clear ram.
Welcome to the future
Don't use task killers. They don't help. Android will automatically kill off apps when it needs to. Task killers will kill off apps that will be autostarted again and this becomes a loop leading to lag and battery drain.
Hellscythe said:
Don't use task killers. They don't help. Android will automatically kill off apps when it needs to. Task killers will kill off apps that will be autostarted again and this becomes a loop leading to lag and battery drain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh thanks for this , I will try that.
Lockscreen preview of text and mails is already in touchwiz you just have to switch it on so it will show you the preview via settings.
For quick access to applications long press on the home button will bring you google now and from there you can open your apps easily.
noideaforusername said:
Lockscreen preview of text and mails is already in touchwiz you just have to switch it on so it will show you the preview via settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes for the messaging app, however I use a third party app for email, (nine), this does not seem to support this. Anyway my use case is that when my phone is lying on the desk and mails / sms etc come in , I would like it to wake up briefly and display a preview so that I can decide to ignore it or continue on with whatever it is that i was doing. NILs does this quite well, but seems like a bit of a hack.
noideaforusername said:
For quick access to applications long press on the home button will bring you google now and from there you can open your apps easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This works fairly well.
mah123 said:
Hi,
I have been an IOS user for quite a while, with brief excursions into Android land usually without much success. I am trying hard this time because I actually prefer a lot of things about Android (specifically the S5) ... less restrictive, removable battery, storage etc..
However some of the things I really struggle with and wonder if anybody has any answers before are listed below !
Lock screen preview of mail and txt's , I have downloaded an app called NILS but it seems to be such a hack and is not very seamless, anybody else have a better suggestions?
Bluetooth, when I get in my car , the phone starts playing the last thing i was listening to , that's fine & is similar to the iPhone, however the iPhone knows the difference between a call and music and if I turn the car off and get out , it switches off the music (but does not hang up calls). The S5 just carries on playing whatever i was listening to. I cannot find any way of changing this behaviour (any ideas ?).
Quick access to search, with the iPhone you swipe from the top and type the first couple of letters of an app to run it , sometimes this is really useful. The closest i have found is to go into the pull down notification bar and click sfinder... yeuch , any better ideas?
Memory and CPU usage, the phone gets quite laggy and I cannot find a specific reason ... other than having to installs NILS and the call blocking app (see below). I have installed task killer now , not sure if this is the correct approach.
Do not disturb mode, (blocking) , well its crap on the S5 compared to the Iphone. None of the functionality that i am used to such as letting repeated calls through and setting specific schedules is available. I have downloaded an app called do not disturb which does most of this stuff but i am sure this is also contributing to lag and memory usage. Also annoyingly it does not return the phone to the state it was in before it activated do not disturb. What do i mean by this ? I am the kind of person that has my phone on silent 99% of the time with vibrate, when do not disturb is active i want all vibrations and screen alters disabled (it does this) , but when coming out of do not disturb it switches the phone to full sounds on.
I am trying not to be down, there is a lot to like with this phone and if I could resolve some of the above I would be much happier with it.
Hope to hear some of your suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally if it were me I would try another company. I have a 5s and tried the s5. The s5 is just not a good example of what android is. Hardware to software the s5 is not done very well at all. Good luck with your choice.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
thegrants82 said:
Personally if it were me I would try another company. I have a 5s and tried the s5. The s5 is just not a good example of what android is. Hardware to software the s5 is not done very well at all. Good luck with your choice.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Completely disagree. I love my S5 and the HW integration.
But each to their own.
mah123 said:
Yes for the messaging app, however I use a third party app for email, (nine), this does not seem to support this. Anyway my use case is that when my phone is lying on the desk and mails / sms etc come in , I would like it to wake up briefly and display a preview so that I can decide to ignore it or continue on with whatever it is that i was doing. NILs does this quite well, but seems like a bit of a hack.
This works fairly well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install Push Bullet and be amazed. It mirrors any notifications on your phone onto your PC via chrome. That way you don't been to look at the phone. I work at a desk all day and can leave the phone where ever and always know if I have an SMS, call, email or anything else. Don't forget Google now also works with Chrome.
thegrants82 said:
Personally if it were me I would try another company. I have a 5s and tried the s5. The s5 is just not a good example of what android is. Hardware to software the s5 is not done very well at all. Good luck with your choice.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree a bit with your response. And that's why I am also checking out the Xperia Z1 Compact. Once you go from the Galaxy S5 to the Z1C you will notice a huge difference in speed for opening and closing apps. I am even using Nova launcher, google calendar and avoiding any TouchWiz apps, but still the lag is disappointing.
mah123 said:
Memory and CPU usage, the phone gets quite laggy and I cannot find a specific reason ... other than having to installs NILS and the call blocking app (see below). I have installed task killer now , not sure if this is the correct approach.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For lags, you should try to put off the opening of S voice with the home button, because when you press it, it wait for second press for opening s voice app... or not. My S5 is really smooth now, hope this gonna help you.
HitMile said:
For lags, you should try to put off the opening of S voice with the home button, because when you press it, it wait for second press for opening s voice app... or not. My S5 is really smooth now, hope this gonna help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this , yes I did this , made a difference.
@mah123 First step, do whatever you can to separate yourself from Apple products, for good this time. Just messin, but I'll continue on:
I see that you have a lot of little details you don't like about the S5/Android. Luckily, you're on the Android platform, where you can tweak just about anything you want. For what you're interested in you'll want to have a look at Tasker, the mighty automation app from Play Store. It's $3.49 but if you don't want to pay that just download the apk from Google search. Just make sure to get it from XDA or one of the apk blogs. With Tasker you can fix your bluetooth issue by detecting when bluetooth is detected and then use command pause music. Tasker should help you fix all your other issues as well. For email the easiest fix is to use a special color on your notification LED or specific vibrate pattern to know when you have email. You can also show an overlay using a "scene" (Tasker's definition of a popup or app window) on top of the lockscreen. Handy :thumbup: But if you need help using Tasker you can do a lot of things: there are plenty of guides all over the Internet, you can google search your problem with the word "tasker" at the end, you can PM me (yes, I'm friendly), you can ask a question over at the Tasker Noob thread here on XDA (I also monitor this thread and I will answer your questions there). Welcome to Android and have fun!
--
Say thanks if I was of help!
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app
aarongillion63 said:
@mah123 First step, do whatever you can to separate yourself from Apple products, for good this time. Just messin, but I'll continue on:
I see that you have a lot of little details you don't like about the S5/Android. Luckily, you're on the Android platform, where you can tweak just about anything you want. For what you're interested in you'll want to have a look at Tasker, the mighty automation app from Play Store
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.
Fantastic thanks !
I own both phones. In the last few years I have owned the latest Samsung and Apple flagships (iPhone 4 and Galaxy S2, iPhone 5 and Galaxy S4, and iPhone 5S and Galaxy S5).
Both platforms are great and they have their cons and pros.
I am an iOS Developer. I have my name in both Cydia tweaks and App Store. To be honest I felt in love with iOS when I used it for the first time. I like Android, but not as much as iOS yet.
I find the quality of iOS blows Android out of the water. Third app quality is much better on iOS than on Android, based on what I have seen. In terms of software in general, I think iOS is much better. It may be restrictive, but nothing that can't be beaten with jailbreak. Android's big plus is freedom and yes, I like customizing my phone.
In terms of hardware Samsung blows Apple out of the water. I love the camera and that it is Water Resistant. Design wise the iPhone looks prettier, but personally I don't care about those aesthetics.
The one thing I absolutely hate about most Android phones are the hardware buttons. When I type in landscape I keep hitting the sensitive buttons accidentally, many times this result in losing a wall of text I just typed (my palm hits the back button accidentally all the time). I wish these could be disabled when typing or that they could be replaced with software buttons.
Sent from my SM-G900H using XDA Free mobile app
There are many things that iOS does 'better' than android, or at least, its a mix of what people of become accustomed too and some are just better. So, when people do make the switch to android, or indeed WP etc, it can be an uphill struggle as those things that are 'better' are maybe less intuitive over on the android side.
However, you have to look at the bigger picture. Android is far far more customisable, even as stock. With the addition of TouchWiz and Sense etc, they bring a lot of features that in themselves are 'better' than iOS.
There are many people that go the other way (Android to iOS) and struggle with some of its inability to control and customise.
What I'm saying is.... give it time, and do not judge android on its lacking in one or two areas, try and look at it from a bigger perspective.
**When I say 'better'... I mean its what each individual sees as better, I'm not saying that it is**
aarongillion63 said:
For what you're interested in you'll want to have a look at Tasker, the mighty automation app from Play Store. It's $3.49 but if you don't want to pay that just download the apk from Google search. [ / QUOTE ]
Tasker is an excellent program. It should be paid for and not stolen.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a very good discussion. I find that generally programmers favor Android because of it's similar OS structure to a PC (I'm talking about the coding behind it all and C/Java), and common consumers and Apple computer owners favor iOS. This is a generalization and personal opinion. I know there is the outlier of Apple programmers, I've tried to get into it myself, but my problem I've ran into is that Objective C is overly complicated, just to accomplish simple things. Anyway, even if you don't develop apps, you may favor Android as a coder thanks to Tasker. I've found myself addicted to Tasker as far as tweaking/programming goes, without the need to use Android SDK. Then, you can still export Tasker projects to apks if you want. Tasker can make a good visual-sdk app creation tool.
iresq said:
Tasker is an excellent program. It should be paid for and not stolen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True. :thumbup:
Sent from my HTCONE using XDA Free mobile app

[Q] OK pebble now!

I'm not an experienced programmer. Or in that way inclined but would I'd like to develop or would want helping. An app that would activate the google now voice search from a pebble application.
1. Activate pebble and access the OK pebble now app.
2. Would activate the google now voice search on your phone.
2.5 speak your request through your headset (if wearing a headset) (hands free).
3. Speak your request through the microphone through your phone.
4. Does the request in your pocket. Shows task complete on the pebble.
5. Show message sent to recipient.
Thanks in advance. if an experienced pebble developer decided to take on the project. i'm willing to pay them £10 through paypal once the job is finished. all i want to see is the project complete.
Vibrate on task complete.
I tried my hand at the application and couldn't do it.
UI is very simplistic.
I've just found an application that has functionality like what I'm asking for. Its called tasker and it works in conjunction with pebble tasker. So commands and apps can be open from the watch and to be opened up on the phone itself without even touching your phone. But its so long winded.
There's so many more options that you can do with the tasker/pebbletasker but I just want a google now voice search launcher.
No with the pebble receiving an update that allows you to have shortcuts to the apps that you assign them buttons too. This is a perfect opportunity to have a google now voice search launcher or a siri launcher so it covers both platforms.
Don't forget, I am willing to pay someone that will develop this idea. I will be creating images that I would like the UI to be.
Sent from my LG-D802 using XDA Free mobile app
Update With Proposed UI design
Here's pictures that i've designed that i would like for some to develop this app.
as you can see it's very minimalistic and it's very simple.
Somebody make me an offer and i will pay them to develop this app, it will be benefical for those working at an office and those working in retail that would like to reply back to family/friends whilst working.
$12 USD really isn't worth the time for any real development. We need people interested in this and create a bounty.
Kickstarter URL
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/417577635/ok-pebble-now?
Here's the link for the kick starter project, I've set up for this particular application.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/417577635/ok-pebble-now?
Did you ever get any traction on this? I just got my first pebble and this is the first thing I went looking for. I downloaded tasker and bought pebble tasker but I seem to lack the patience to figure out how to make that work. I agree that a shortcut would be perfect so I could operate google now in my pocket. All I use it for is to set reminders and save voice to text notes in evernote but it's a pain in the rear to get myphone out every time. I tried an app that listens for okgoogle even while the screen is off, but it triggered intermittently for no reason and other times would refuse to work at all. This would be the ideal solution. Count me in for $20.
kfreels said:
Did you ever get any traction on this? I just got my first pebble and this is the first thing I went looking for. I downloaded tasker and bought pebble tasker but I seem to lack the patience to figure out how to make that work. I agree that a shortcut would be perfect so I could operate google now in my pocket. All I use it for is to set reminders and save voice to text notes in evernote but it's a pain in the rear to get myphone out every time. I tried an app that listens for okgoogle even while the screen is off, but it triggered intermittently for no reason and other times would refuse to work at all. This would be the ideal solution. Count me in for $20.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly i didn't get anywhere with this application. I would have easily loved something like this and like yourself i couldn't be bothered to go through the tasker app and setting it up. Just a install an install and go app i wanted.
If you know any developers out there that are willing to give this a shot.
When you say 'Count me in for $20', do you mean you are a developer that will be willing to develop this application?
techguy276 said:
Sadly i didn't get anywhere with this application. I would have easily loved something like this and like yourself i couldn't be bothered to go through the tasker app and setting it up. Just a install an install and go app i wanted.
If you know any developers out there that are willing to give this a shot.
When you say 'Count me in for $20', do you mean you are a developer that will be willing to develop this application?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly, no. I can't develop anything but film. But I'll put $20 in for the developer who puts it together.
There is someone who created a nice dashboard app that lets me find my phone if lost, control wifi, lock the screen, and a number of other things. I think I'll email that developer and see if they can just add that. I really want this and I want it to work. And with the new Pebble coming out soon I think I'll be picking one of those up as well so I'm committed to the platform. This is the one thing I feel I'm missing.
Not really what you are after, but I very easily set up a Tasker task to wake up my phone (but keep it locked) so I could give it "OK Google" commands. This way I can send texts or navigate home without taking my phone out. Pebble Tasker makes it only a click away.
imaginaryenemy said:
Not really what you are after, but I very easily set up a Tasker task to wake up my phone (but keep it locked) so I could give it "OK Google" commands. This way I can send texts or navigate home without taking my phone out. Pebble Tasker makes it only a click away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this as well, but now, every time I launch PebbleTasker on my phone, Voice Search begins opening repeatedly and I can't even get to it to try to add additional tasks. Have you run into this? Did I do something wrong? Al I did was create a profile, then a task to launch the VoiceSearch App. It came up on my pebble fine and works flawlessly. It wasn't until I went to add somethign else to the PebbleTasker that I ran into this. Since then I've deleted the task from PebbleTasker and it still does it. Very odd. Any ideas?
I didn't do mine this way because your phone needs to be awake for the Voice Search app to open. However, I just set it up to see if I had the same issue as you, and I didn't. Everything worried as it should. I don't know why it isn't working for you.
My task is just to wake up my phone, then I give my "OK Google" voice command.
imaginaryenemy said:
I didn't do mine this way because your phone needs to be awake for the Voice Search app to open. However, I just set it up to see if I had the same issue as you, and I didn't. Everything worried as it should. I don't know why it isn't working for you.
My task is just to wake up my phone, then I give my "OK Google" voice command.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. I'm setup a little different. I installed the Xposed mod which lets me do this without a task to wake the phone. I simply set a task to launch VoiceSearch, and when I press the button on pebble tasker, the app launches without even lighting up the screen.
Here's the link to it. forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/mod-secure-google-search-t2606688
I think there's something else going on here though. It was working fine Sunday. I'm having general issues with Google now it seems. Reminders aren't getting set to notes and instead are getting sent to alarms. Even if I say "remind me to get cheese the next time I'm at walmart", it tries to set an alarm then it stops because it's waiting for me to set a time. I installed Keep thinking that might fix it...no joy. I cleared the cache and all data, uninstalled google app and the launcher, restarted to clear the cache partition, rebooted in safe mode, went back to regular mode and still get the same problems. Kind of stumped right now. I can't delete older cards and if I go directly into reminders and try to push the plus sign button to add a reminder, it correctly identifies my words and they go on the screen and it just stops there. it's not locked up or anything. It just won't go any further. So something is really wrong with google. just dont' have a clue what it could be at the moment.
Yeah, it sounds like like the Pebble task is the least of your worries. I read here that someone else was having a similar reminders issue. I have no idea if he is rooted or not, so I don't know if it is Xposed related. Good luck.
imaginaryenemy said:
Yeah, it sounds like like the Pebble task is the least of your worries. I read here that someone else was having a similar reminders issue. I have no idea if he is rooted or not, so I don't know if it is Xposed related. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The plot thickens. I have a Nexus 7 mounted on my refrigerator basically for Google now and the way I can just say "make a note" and it will save a note in evernote for me. It's stock and with the latest auto update is running 4.4.4. A power cord is connected perpetually. I haven't touched the thing physically in MONTHS. But apparently in the last 3-4 days it has developed the same problem with reminders not working. It gets stuck just like my phone does when I'm manually trying to make a reminder. It's like the entire reminder function was removed and my phone just grabbed onto alarms as a last resort rather than not do anything at all. I've googled it and haven't found anyone else with the issue (or they haven't noticed yet). but to have it on two different devices at the same time - one of which I haven't even touched indicates that there's a conflict with an update and probably a common app between the two devices.......now to figure out what it might be.......
kfreels said:
The plot thickens. I have a Nexus 7 mounted on my refrigerator basically for Google now and the way I can just say "make a note" and it will save a note in evernote for me. It's stock and with the latest auto update is running 4.4.4. A power cord is connected perpetually. I haven't touched the thing physically in MONTHS. But apparently in the last 3-4 days it has developed the same problem with reminders not working. It gets stuck just like my phone does when I'm manually trying to make a reminder. It's like the entire reminder function was removed and my phone just grabbed onto alarms as a last resort rather than not do anything at all. I've googled it and haven't found anyone else with the issue (or they haven't noticed yet). but to have it on two different devices at the same time - one of which I haven't even touched indicates that there's a conflict with an update and probably a common app between the two devices.......now to figure out what it might be.......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know, a lot of voice-initiated command will become available with Pebble-core's connection to Alexa
Currently, the pebble is also capable of doing such with 'snowy' commands. See mydogsnowy.com
I have no stake in that product whatsoever, and in fact I struggling a bit with its voice-recognition ... I'm dutch, so perhaps my english is not adequate for the recognition. So... your mileage may vary, but from what I've tested and seen described it's really promising
kfreels said:
I did this as well, but now, every time I launch PebbleTasker on my phone, Voice Search begins opening repeatedly and I can't even get to it to try to add additional tasks. Have you run into this? Did I do something wrong? Al I did was create a profile, then a task to launch the VoiceSearch App. It came up on my pebble fine and works flawlessly. It wasn't until I went to add somethign else to the PebbleTasker that I ran into this. Since then I've deleted the task from PebbleTasker and it still does it. Very odd. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where to buy such a gadget

Bixby or Google Assistant

What has your experience been?
Does one do something better or different than the other?
There should be an expansive list of instructions for both!
Maybe it's just personal preference....
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
skinnytoo2 said:
What has your experience been?
Does one do something better or different than the other?
There should be an expansive list of instructions for both!
Maybe it's just personal preference....
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use both. Bixbie is good for system stuff, Google assistant is good for everything else like looking up stuff or things on the internet
I wake up screen with Bixby and for most of the other stuff use ok google
Can you reprogram the bixbi button to
Single press open bixbi
Double press open Google assistant
Press and hold take a photo?
Here a decent video :
https://youtu.be/R3OOsNZ7Y-g
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
I suggest you to watch this video. It shows what Bixby can do that Google Assistant can't, and at beginning clearly states that you really shouldn't compare them.
Of course Google Assistant will be better finding information from web, but Bixby kills it when controlling the phone. Two different assistants for two differed jobs.
I vote for Bixby AND Google Assistant
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Dz3QNy-gU
Using the phone. Bixby. When it comes to looking up just about any bit of information: Google Assistant. The only thing Bixby is good for is if you ask it to search the internet for a specific set of keywords or a phrase. And even then, it's only about equal with Google Assistant. But it won't answer simple, direct questions like GA. I don't know why these two things are being directly compared.
I'm hopeful that Bixby will be able to do what GA can do, though. But I think Google has quite a huge advantage there considering the data it has about how people search for information.
I compare them because one stop shopping beats two stop shopping. It would be nice just to deal with one AI especially in consideration of the fact that they are increasingly becoming trainable and they are also massively invasive in terms of privacy. I figure the latter horse is already out the barn but there is no reason to sell yourself out more than necessary.
All in all I see little need for a lot of what Bixby does well, I'm never going to use it to swipe right for instance or any of its other similar capabilities, on the other hand voice commands I actually do use like setting timers and alarms work just fine with GA and it's much faster. Right now I see that button going unused and eventually getting remapped until Bixby becomes a more compelling choice.
So I still don't really understand if Bixby can pull stuff up on the web?
I was hoping for one assistant that can do both . Hopefully Bixby development will enable that for us Note8users
skinnytoo2 said:
What has your experience been?
Does one do something better or different than the other?
There should be an expansive list of instructions for both!
Maybe it's just personal preference....
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use both.
Ryland
gingi999 said:
Can you reprogram the bixbi button to
Single press open bixbi
Double press open Google assistant
Press and hold take a photo?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can by using bx actions and bk disabler (Samsung variant)
in BK disabler search bixby and disable everything except bixby voice (some reason this needs to be running )
once you do that go onto bx actions and set it up (you do need to use ADB but it tells you exactly what to do on first run)
ive got mine set to single click nothing long click google assistant and double click camera
personally i see no real use to bixby had a play with it and in reality for how i use my phone it does nothing that google assistant don't already do (each to their own on this, its just how i personally use my phone)
hope this helps
I'm using both, they work well together.
harveydent said:
I'm using both, they work well together.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same. Using both is working pretty well for now.
Still wish Microsoft would take the training wheels off Cortana for Android. She's the main thing I miss from my Lumia Icon.
Screw it. I'm gonna roll with Bixby for the next week and see how things go.
roaduardo said:
Screw it. I'm gonna roll with Bixby for the next week and see how things go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
At the very least, use Bixby to get free money from Samsung Pay.
The way I see it, Bixby is good for controlling your phone without the need to touch it (basically another form of input other then touch). Everything else GA dominates for now. I've been using both. Bixby is great for handsfree control while driving. Also a handy backup if you breaK your screen and lose touch input until you can have it repaired.
Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
I've found they work great as a team together.
I use Bixby to control things inside the phone. Things such as making calls to contacts, changing settings, setting reminders and alarms, and controlling my music.
I find Google to be great at handling things that happen outside my phone. Calling businesses that are not in my contacts is a big one. Also most of my street navigation, shopping, and search needs.
They both seem to excel in thid manner for me working as a team. I'm new to Bixby and still watching some YouTube to find out more what it can do.
On a final note, I am still not comfortable talking to my phone as much as others. It's great when I'm alone in my car or home; but, I just feel silly talking to my phone with my family or coworkers around. Also, it seems to me it would annoy others for me to be using my voice to do things I can do quietly.
I love Bixbys idea when it works. A lot of times I have to repeat myself and only works when I hold down the Bixby button. When I try to use the "hi bixby" command it always end up with connection error.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Well something is buggy on my end. I've created 5 quick commands and for some reason one of them gets stuck after the first or second item in the list of commands it needs to execute. I have a "car mode" type of thing where when I'm about to head out my WiFi turns off, BT turns on, screen brightness turns up to 100%, AOD turns on and finally screen locked. It does this just fine but then when I get home the quick command to basically do the opposite of this gets stuck. Like the Bixby icon shows and the list appears but nothing happens. My other quick commands work fine but this one in particular is acting all wonky.
I'll keep playing around with Bixby but right now I'm not seeing a large improvement to my daily habits. I seem to be able to do things that I want to do much quicker than the speed Bixby performs at. I think eventually I'm just going to go back and keep Google voice search (not Google Assistant) as my default. That can open apps and can launch navigation destinations which is all I need whilst I'm in the car. For every other time I'm good just performing the actions myself instead of relying on Bixby.
Capzlawk said:
I've found they work great as a team together.
I use Bixby to control things inside the phone. Things such as making calls to contacts, changing settings, setting reminders and alarms, and controlling my music.
I find Google to be great at handling things that happen outside my phone. Calling businesses that are not in my contacts is a big one. Also most of my street navigation, shopping, and search needs.
They both seem to excel in thid manner for me working as a team. I'm new to Bixby and still watching some YouTube to find out more what it can do.
On a final note, I am still not comfortable talking to my phone as much as others. It's great when I'm alone in my car or home; but, I just feel silly talking to my phone with my family or coworkers around. Also, it seems to me it would annoy others for me to be using my voice to do things I can do quietly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same way I use mine.
And I also don't want to be the douchebag talking at his phone in public, so I usually hold the phone up to my head as if I'm making a call, hold the Bixby button and quietly/softly say the commands. Works almost all the time as long as I don't dial it down to a whisper. What's more embarrassing is when it answers back in public.

Things I don't like so far

In order from most annoying:
Cannot whitelist k9 mail (and other things) from power saving (this is a deal breaker, I'm taking it back)
Long press to select text instead of double click (vanilla android allows both) (almost a deal breaker)
Media volume cannot be increased without acknowledging warning when BT connected
Can’t disable bixby button without samsung account
No root (needed to run webserver on 80 and change iptables)
Fingerprint sensor hard to find, hard to touch (compared to nexus 6p)
Default phone app sucks and can’t be changed
-Notifications for blocked numbers calling
-Hard to block numbers
-Hard to add recent calls to contacts (uses wrong account or something)
Volume buttons hard to find, on wrong side of phone
Samsung sms app is ugly and horrible (replaceable)
Samsung calendar app does not allow multiple default reminders (replaceable)
Lock screen time is on multiple lines with no way to change it
Thats nice. Enjoy.
swooperstar said:
bleh bleh bleh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where is the question? Wrong forum, maybe you should tell someone who cares?
Um, what phone is this, half the things you complain about can be done by the note 8, so must be another phone. Maybe he got the wrong forum...
Sent from my Galaxy Note8 using XDA Labs
Incorrect, but whatever. Pixel2 XL coming next week to replace this samsuck. This site used to be more help less fanboy.
...more help less fan boy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not about fanboys, you didn't ask for any help, just listed complaints. No one cares about personal complaints.
lol once again the user is the problem not the device... you can do all of those things either with an app from the play store or with root. maybe stick to something more simple? try iOS.
Not sure how moving to another Android device will help you. :laugh:
Being that the OP has a total of 9, count them 9 posts and is a junior member, I'm guessing he's referring to the old days on the site when we were more help and less fanbois
Mr.Ash.Man said:
lol once again the user is the problem not the device... you can do all of those things either with an app from the play store or with root. maybe stick to something more simple? try iOS.
Not sure how moving to another Android device will help you. :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He is already using IOS!
Ryland
Now we know from authoritative source that volume button is on the wrong side all those years, imagine that.
There are ways to adjust pretty much all of these points. Some are android specific - assume you are new to Android??
Did you even review the phone/play with it before spending on something you have chosen to dislike? To be fair you've come to a forum where 99.9999% of people are note enthusiasts so you will be whacked with a great big stick with a post like this :silly:
Ok how do you whitelist from power saving in a way that actually works? The settings interface for that is much different than stock android and doesn't actually let stuff run all the time like it does on my 6p. k9 always says syncing disabled (and works fine on 6p with stock nougat or oreo).
How do you get double-tap to select a word in text? Works by default in stock android.
After asking twice before to confirm increase volume while BT connected, it didn't ask this last time I increased it. I guess it is magically ok now.
How do you disable bixby button without creating a samsung account? There is an app that used to work using accessibility but no longer works in latest update.
How do you get root? The rooting page itself says "2.Enable OEM Unlock from developer option (Currently no workaround for those who doesn't have this option)" and I don't have this option.
How do you change the phone app? I tried downloading and installing one from apkmirror and got an error when installing.
How do you prevent notifications when blocked callers call?
How do you get normal time on the lock screen? Not the always on screen.
swooperstar said:
Ok how do you whitelist from power saving in a way that actually works? The settings interface for that is much different than stock android and doesn't actually let stuff run all the time like it does on my 6p. k9 always says syncing disabled (and works fine on 6p with stock nougat or oreo).
How do you get double-tap to select a word in text? Works by default in stock android.
After asking twice before to confirm increase volume while BT connected, it didn't ask this last time I increased it. I guess it is magically ok now.
How do you disable bixby button without creating a samsung account? There is an app that used to work using accessibility but no longer works in latest update.
How do you get root? The rooting page itself says "2.Enable OEM Unlock from developer option (Currently no workaround for those who doesn't have this option)" and I don't have this option.
How do you change the phone app? I tried downloading and installing one from apkmirror and got an error when installing.
How do you prevent notifications when blocked callers call?
How do you get normal time on the lock screen? Not the always on screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A respectful suggestion if I may.
Your first post was..... confrontational? Not the way to have your teething problems answered or supported.
Many of us, in all forum's, experience teething problems. I suggest you ask questions preferably one at a time so a peer can offer you some advice.
I have yet to ask for help here and not receive it. You will find there are some amazingly smart guys and gals here who will help IF you ask a palatable question. I am afraid what you have done is cause bad feeling and that's not the way to get help with your problems. Just food for thought. :good:
Ryland
I agree with the fingerprint sensor placement, for me being left handed, I have ot align it perfectly for it to work. Luckily the iris scanner is fast.
One issue I am coming across is my phone would random reboot and some settings would be changed to stock. For example, the font size would be change to default instead of everything tiny. My quick shortcuts layouts are stock and I have to re-login into some apps.
It happened about 3 times since i got the phone the first week of September. Hopefully I'm not alone. Sucks if I am though...lol
There is no help for those issues. That is why there is no response, and why the phone is going back. I am surprised anyone can stand the samsung interface and that is why it might sound confrontational. The apps that samsung replaces default apps with are really awful.
swooperstar said:
There is no help for those issues. That is why there is no response, and why the phone is going back. I am surprised anyone can stand the samsung interface and that is why it might sound confrontational. The apps that samsung replaces default apps with are really awful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only issue or possibly even an advantage is Samsung is edging it's own ecosystem in more and more. , basically it encourages one to buy another Sammy device and stay on board with them.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
UberPishy said:
Where is the question? Wrong forum, maybe you should tell someone who cares?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I care. Thanks to the original poster for critical analysis.
Anybody can fan-boy and circlejerk, that takes no skill.
It takes skill to spot issues and courage to speak out on them.
Every phones has its issues, these do not make Note 8 useless, but buyers can more easily decide if it is for them, when they know its particular failings.
vasra said:
I care. Thanks to the original poster for critical analysis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So which of the OP's claims do you really care about, because most are false, many are non issues for the majority and a few are valid. But the point remains that they were posted in the wrong forum.
vasra said:
I care. Thanks to the original poster for critical analysis.
Anybody can fan-boy and circlejerk, that takes no skill.
It takes skill to spot issues and courage to speak out on them.
Every phones has its issues, these do not make Note 8 useless, but buyers can more easily decide if it is for them, when they know its particular failings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a critical assessment...it's a misleading one.
A few observations.
The volume button on the left side is the more ergonomic position and also makes it less likely you will drop the phone while changing volume making it an objectively better placement. The fingerprint scanner? Yeah, it's poor ergonomics at best and your complaint there is well justified.
Root is something you knew going in you wouldn't have, if it mattered you should have bought something else. I do agree in general that the trend toward taking root access from us is one I hate. That's why I bought an international version and rooted it.
The Samsung calendar app is less well featured than the stock app but it uses no resources when not used and you can always use the google app or one of the several better than stock google calendar apps on the play store. You don't get to complain about not having an app you can put on you phone in seconds which isn't even close to the best app of its kind anyways. I BTW didn't use the stock app on my 6P, didn't meet my needs.Samsung's stock SMS app is awful, IMO someone should be fired there because it falls below even a minimum level of functionality. But then while Googles does manage to get to at least a minimally functional feature set it isn't much better and both are a long way from what can be had in seconds for free that work better than either on the market. You don't get to complain about this one either though, the stock google app is a few clicks away and a few seconds will give that stock google experience if that is your preference.
Same number of clicks with Samsung to add a recent callers to contacts. Hard to do so is dismissed.
Hard to copy because you have to long press instead of double tap? Seriously? lol That's a fairly lame complaint without even taking into consideration the S-pen which opens up a whole world of options that you don't have on the 6P, one of which is using the S-Pen in the first place.
I like the default dialer and it has features which Google's does not. Regardless it can be changed as well as which dialer is the default, where did you get the idea you couldn't change dialers?
I don't have the media volume warning with my phone unless I'm on headphones, not sure why you do?
The Bixby button can be disabled, it can be disabled without signing into Samsung. Just an FYI, it can also be slaved to another function. All without root.
You can white list any app from power saver, just takes a few clicks, assuming of course you know which clicks. You have in an oblique way a real gripe here, Samsung's menus are getting better but they are still too bloated. The search menu function is your friend in pursing hard to find settings.
Who uses lock screens in this day an age? You've get bio-metrics and AOD, leaving the lock screen as an artifact of what was once the best we could do but isn't anymore. Think of it this way, I'm a pathetic old man and I've been able to understand that lockscreens are now just an extra step. Your complaint in this regard reminds me of my friends who cant handle new tech and are still trying to hang on to their flip phone.
At this point you probably think I'm busting your balls a little bit and you're right. On the other hand your complaints are largely groundless. The only real objective gripe you have is the fingerprint sensor location. Your assessment of the volume button location is subjective, not objective, and objectively is incorrect. Your complaints about the stock apps can be applied to google apps in the same way and most of which I changed on my 6P just as I have here. The impression I get is that the main problem you have is you need to learn how to shop better. There is no reason to buy a phone that does not have root if you know you want root. There is no reason to buy a phone well known for it's rather overbearing GUI and menu bloat if you know you are going to hate it. Why do that to yourself?

Considering Note 8, Coming From Google Ecosystem, Have a Few Q's

Hi Everyone,
I currently have the Huawei Nexus 6P and have been using the Google ecosystem (mainly Google Assistant, Google Drive and Google Keep) and have a few questions.
- I use Google Keep on my 6P and also my MacBook to take notes and they sync without problems. Can Samsung Note also work on my Mac and also offer the same synchronizing experience?
- Pretty much, I want to stay within the Google ecosystem as much as possible and the stock Android experience.... I don't want to switch to Samsung's ecosystem (or even their cloud) ... Is there a way to do so with Note 8?
- Bixby has its own screen when you swipe to the left. Is there a way to disable this and replace it with Google Assistant?
- Is there a way to completely disable Bixby if needed?
- Is there a way to get rid of the Touchwiz experience and replace it with stock Nougat theme?
Thank guys, it's a beautiful phone and winning me over the Pixel 2 XL.
boba7523 said:
I currently have the Huawei Nexus 6P and have been using the Google ecosystem (mainly Google Assistant, Google Drive and Google Keep) and have a few questions.
- I use Google Keep on my 6P and also my MacBook to take notes and they sync without problems. Can Samsung Note also work on my Mac and also offer the same synchronizing experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't use Samsung Note so I can't comment on that, but there is no reason why you can't continue using Google Keep. It's what I've always used, no matter what phone I have.
- Pretty much, I want to stay within the Google ecosystem as much as possible and the stock Android experience.... I don't want to switch to Samsung's ecosystem (or even their cloud) ... Is there a way to do so with Note 8?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You still will be within the Google ecoystem and can continue using Android the way you always have. No need to start using any of Samsung's services.
- Bixby has its own screen when you swipe to the left. Is there a way to disable this and replace it with Google Assistant?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so but I could be wrong. Maybe with the Google launcher? Someone else might have to answer this.
- Is there a way to completely disable Bixby if needed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I have bixby disabled and have even remapped the dedicated bixby button to bring up Google Assistant with a long press and the flashlight with a double tap. There's an app called BX Actions that makes it easy to do.
- Is there a way to get rid of the Touchwiz experience and replace it with stock Nougat theme?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's ways to get it close but not exact. Install the Google launcher from the play store, download one of the many stock-ish themes from the theme store, install icon packs, etc... You'll get used to any remaining small differences. My last phone was stock Android and it took a bit for the Note 8's UI to grow on me but it has. I really like the way it looks with the theme I'm using.
The Note 8 is a truly amazing device. You won't be disappointed.
If you don't want the Samsung experience , why not get a Pixel 2 XL or a lg V30? Is there a specific need that the Note satisfies? Pixel will be a vanilla android experience for sure. Seems it would be easier to stay on the Google phones if that's what you are used to.
Sent from my Galaxy Note8 using XDA Labs
_MetalHead_ said:
I don't use Samsung Note so I can't comment on that, but there is no reason why you can't continue using Google Keep. It's what I've always used, no matter what phone I have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply.
Is the s pen fully compatible with Google Keep though? And for off screen memo, is that a separate app or is that Samsung Note?
And also, when I pull out the S Pen, can I configure it to open Google Keep instead of Samsung Note?
Ideally, I'd like all the note taking stuff (including off screen memo) to be under one notes app, which is Google Keep. I just don't want to use so many apps just for note taking and having to share it to my email or something in order to view it on my Macbook... I want to be able to work on the notes on my GN8 and finish them off on my Macbook.
_MetalHead_ said:
I don't use Samsung Note so I can't comment on that, but there is no reason why you can't continue using Google Keep. It's what I've always used, no matter what phone I have.
You still will be within the Google ecoystem and can continue using Android the way you always have. No need to start using any of Samsung's services.
I don't think so but I could be wrong. Maybe with the Google launcher? Someone else might have to answer this.
Yes. I have bixby disabled and have even remapped the dedicated bixby button to bring up Google Assistant with a long press and the flashlight with a double tap. There's an app called BX Actions that makes it easy to do.
There's ways to get it close but not exact. Install the Google launcher from the play store, download one of the many stock-ish themes from the theme store, install icon packs, etc... You'll get used to any remaining small differences. My last phone was stock Android and it took a bit for the Note 8's UI to grow on me but it has. I really like the way it looks with the theme I'm using.
The Note 8 is a truly amazing device. You won't be disappointed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nuclearrage said:
If you don't want the Samsung experience , why not get a Pixel 2 XL or a lg V30? Is there a specific need that the Note satisfies? Pixel will be a vanilla android experience for sure. Seems it would be easier to stay on the Google phones if that's what you are used to.
Sent from my Galaxy Note8 using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a Note 2 way back in the day and loved it for its uniqueness. This was back when the Android UI was just butt ugly. My Note 2 had a bunch of bloatware from AT&T and also Samsung, and TouchWiz was horrific.
That deterred me from even consider any of the Note series phones...... Until recently.
I was very excited about the Pixel 2 XL and even pre-ordered it... But excitement quickly died down because of the price and features I'm getting out of it...
Both phones are around the same price, but the GN8 has the S Pen, BEAUTIFUL screen, and a larger display.
If there was a perfect phone for me, it'd be stock Android experience with GN8's beautiful infinity display and display size.
boba7523 said:
I had a Note 2 way back in the day and loved it for its uniqueness. This was back when the Android UI was just butt ugly. My Note 2 had a bunch of bloatware from AT&T and also Samsung, and TouchWiz was horrific.
That deterred me from even consider any of the Note series phones...... Until recently.
I was very excited about the Pixel 2 XL and even pre-ordered it... But excitement quickly died down because of the price and features I'm getting out of it...
Both phones are around the same price, but the GN8 has the S Pen, BEAUTIFUL screen, and a larger display.
If there was a perfect phone for me, it'd be stock Android experience with GN8's beautiful infinity display and display size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You wont be able to get s-pen functionality on keep. Samsung notes is pretty awesome though. To be honest Samsung it a pretty full fledged ecosystem all its own so your concerns are legitimate. There will be compromises. I would suggest buying it and trying it out within the 15 day return policy time and if it doesn't gel just grab the pixel xl 2.
I don't use any of Samsung's services and not using them in no way impacts the google experience, the phone is Android, all it's services work just as expected in the same way they work on any Android phone. Samsung has greatly improved their apps making them worth a look if you're of a mind. I find I like the dialer better than Googles for instance, the calendar less, and so on.
I also use Keep but use Samsung notes as well. It's not quite as wacky as you might think. Long term notes and a few I share with Mrs crab go into keep. Shorter term stuff I do in Samsung. For example take a shopping list. I'll do this by writing on the AOD, minimize it, and later on when I get to the store maximize it. Then my list is up without even turning the phone on. When I'm done I double tap the garbage can and it's gone. Longer term stuff that will often be more typing I simply open Keep and go that way. This works out pretty well because where Samsung notes and the S-pen really excel in comparison to Keep is at jotting down something quickly with the pen which in turn tends to be things you will use quickly and discard. On the other hand keep has more options that can be leveraged and make it the long term choice. The end result is that you spread the workload out using Samsung notes for one thing, Keep for another.
boba7523 said:
Hi Everyone,
I currently have the Huawei Nexus 6P and have been using the Google ecosystem (mainly Google Assistant, Google Drive and Google Keep) and have a few questions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I am not completely in Apple or even Google's ecosystem (I see myself somewhere in the middle of a Venn diagram between those and a number of others), I may try to suggest some things.
boba7523 said:
I use Google Keep on my 6P and also my MacBook to take notes and they sync without problems. Can Samsung Note also work on my Mac and also offer the same synchronizing experience?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I personally prefer using Evernote Plus, what I can say for what you sad is a no. Samsung Notes can only sync with a Samsung account, and is only available on Galaxy phones. Your best bet would to install SideSync on both your phone and laptop, and use your phone on your laptop.
I do use Samsung Notes, but primarily for the "screen off memo" feature.
Even then, I understand why some people don't use Evernote, because they used to allow unlimited devices for free, but later increased that limit to up to 2 devices for free, which means I'm stuck paying for a Plus subscription if I actually want to use the service.
Also, go to the full editor here on XDA, if you want to use other markup features like the bullet points, instead of hyphens. I corrected that for you.
boba7523 said:
Pretty much, I want to stay within the Google ecosystem as much as possible and the stock Android experience.... I don't want to switch to Samsung's ecosystem (or even their cloud) ... Is there a way to do so with Note 8?
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Click to collapse
Well, I do use some of Samsung's services, but mainly because I also have a Galaxy Tab A.
(Yes, 2 out of my 3 Androids are Samsung devices, both on stock software)
Even then, if you want to get the closest to stock Android while staying on the stock Samsung Experience* software, I'll link to what I use.
This theme, (though I wish it would theme the Android "DeviceDefault" theme, but it doesn't). There's also another theme called "Pixel UI", but there are many variants of that. I don't use that or Samsung's default theme because I'm not a fan of unified icon shapes, and I'm also not a fan of ultra-white UIs.
"Navbar Apps" (to force the navigation bar to be black, instead of Samsung's white)
Nova Launcher (but I'm sure there would be something more suited to you, like "Lawnchair")
A bunch of apps from the Play Store that are published by Google themselves. Not counting the Google apps already installed as part of Google Play Services, I only have Gboard, Google Calendar, and Clock. (For other apps, I am already using non-Google apps, such as QuickPic (in addition to the stock Samsung gallery), and Pale Moon + Firefox Focus (web browsers))
*It was called TouchWiz, but with the release of 8.0 on the Galaxy S8, Samsung renamed it to "Samsung Experience". Even then, they have improved since TouchWiz Nature UX 3.5 on my Galaxy Note3 I used to have years ago.
boba7523 said:
Bixby has its own screen when you swipe to the left. Is there a way to disable this and replace it with Google Assistant?
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Click to collapse
That is only in the stock Samsung launcher, which I don't use, because it's a little hard to use, has wasted screen real estate (in my opinion), and I'm also more of a stock Android person, but by that I mean stuff like LineageOS, rather than Google Nexus and Pixel devices.
I use Nova Launcher Prime instead. Even if you use Samsung's own launcher, Bixby Home can be disabled, but can't be replaced with the Google app.
The only real downside of not using Samsung's launcher on their phones, besides Bixby Home, is the fact that the fancy Weather widget can only be used within their launcher. I haven't had time to buy this from the Play Store, but I'm sure I can just add a clone of the Samsung weather widget, and have that be linked to open the Samsung weather app, assuming the setting to add the icon to the launcher is enabled.
boba7523 said:
Is there a way to completely disable Bixby if needed?
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Click to collapse
I don't need to answer that, because MetalHead had already done so.
Even then, I do use Bixby, but only because I don't use Google Assistant due to privacy concerns. (This is actually in contradiction to me completely ignoring S Voice on my Note3)
boba7523 said:
Is there a way to get rid of the Touchwiz experience and replace it with stock Nougat theme?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bad news: You would have to root the phone, install a custom recovery, and a custom ROM based on stock Android, which gives you a number of consequences, including, but not limited to:
Voided warranty
Samsung Knox security killed off, which means you would never be able to use its features, including Samsung Pay
A number of Samsung features won't work in ROMs based on stock Android (at least on my Note3 many years ago)
Battery charging only up to 80% (based on some rumours I read)
boba7523 said:
Thank guys, it's a beautiful phone and winning me over the Pixel 2 XL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------- Post added 23rd October 2017 at 12:02 AM ---------- Previous post was 22nd October 2017 at 11:45 PM ----------
Oh! I forgot to mention something! My customisations unfortunately can't cover up the really hard to read Samsung emoji font.
Gee, I wish I had the right contacts to start a petition against Samsung's mobile device division, asking them to give users the option to use stock Android emoji, and also to use free fonts as UI fonts (instead of being restricted to Monotype's ecosystem for the font choices).
krabman said:
I don't use any of Samsung's services and not using them in no way impacts the google experience, the phone is Android, all it's services work just as expected in the same way they work on any Android phone. Samsung has greatly improved their apps making them worth a look if you're of a mind. I find I like the dialer better than Googles for instance, the calendar less, and so on.
I also use Keep but use Samsung notes as well. It's not quite as wacky as you might think. Long term notes and a few I share with Mrs crab go into keep. Shorter term stuff I do in Samsung. For example take a shopping list. I'll do this by writing on the AOD, minimize it, and later on when I get to the store maximize it. Then my list is up without even turning the phone on. When I'm done I double tap the garbage can and it's gone. Longer term stuff that will often be more typing I simply open Keep and go that way. This works out pretty well because where Samsung notes and the S-pen really excel in comparison to Keep is at jotting down something quickly with the pen which in turn tends to be things you will use quickly and discard. On the other hand keep has more options that can be leveraged and make it the long term choice. The end result is that you spread the workload out using Samsung notes for one thing, Keep for another.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Have you attempted to just do everything on the Samsung Note? Do you know if there's a way to use Samsung Notes on my Macbook (or any OS in general) and have it auto save to Google Drive? Trying to keep my workflow continuous..
krabman said:
I don't use any of Samsung's services and not using them in no way impacts the google experience, the phone is Android, all it's services work just as expected in the same way they work on any Android phone. Samsung has greatly improved their apps making them worth a look if you're of a mind. I find I like the dialer better than Googles for instance, the calendar less, and so on.
I also use Keep but use Samsung notes as well. It's not quite as wacky as you might think. Long term notes and a few I share with Mrs crab go into keep. Shorter term stuff I do in Samsung. For example take a shopping list. I'll do this by writing on the AOD, minimize it, and later on when I get to the store maximize it. Then my list is up without even turning the phone on. When I'm done I double tap the garbage can and it's gone. Longer term stuff that will often be more typing I simply open Keep and go that way. This works out pretty well because where Samsung notes and the S-pen really excel in comparison to Keep is at jotting down something quickly with the pen which in turn tends to be things you will use quickly and discard. On the other hand keep has more options that can be leveraged and make it the long term choice. The end result is that you spread the workload out using Samsung notes for one thing, Keep for another.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kbhasi said:
While I am not completely in Apple or even Google's ecosystem (I see myself somewhere in the middle of a Venn diagram between those and a number of others), I may try to suggest some things.
While I personally prefer using Evernote Plus, what I can say for what you sad is a no. Samsung Notes can only sync with a Samsung account, and is only available on Galaxy phones. Your best bet would to install SideSync on both your phone and laptop, and use your phone on your laptop.
I do use Samsung Notes, but primarily for the "screen off memo" feature.
Even then, I understand why some people don't use Evernote, because they used to allow unlimited devices for free, but later increased that limit to up to 2 devices for free, which means I'm stuck paying for a Plus subscription if I actually want to use the service.
Also, go to the full editor here on XDA, if you want to use other markup features like the bullet points, instead of hyphens. I corrected that for you.
Well, I do use some of Samsung's services, but mainly because I also have a Galaxy Tab A.
(Yes, 2 out of my 3 Androids are Samsung devices, both on stock software)
Even then, if you want to get the closest to stock Android while staying on the stock Samsung Experience* software, I'll link to what I use.
This theme, (though I wish it would theme the Android "DeviceDefault" theme, but it doesn't). There's also another theme called "Pixel UI", but there are many variants of that. I don't use that or Samsung's default theme because I'm not a fan of unified icon shapes, and I'm also not a fan of ultra-white UIs.
"Navbar Apps" (to force the navigation bar to be black, instead of Samsung's white)
Nova Launcher (but I'm sure there would be something more suited to you, like "Lawnchair")
A bunch of apps from the Play Store that are published by Google themselves. Not counting the Google apps already installed as part of Google Play Services, I only have Gboard, Google Calendar, and Clock. (For other apps, I am already using non-Google apps, such as QuickPic (in addition to the stock Samsung gallery), and Pale Moon + Firefox Focus (web browsers))
*It was called TouchWiz, but with the release of 8.0 on the Galaxy S8, Samsung renamed it to "Samsung Experience". Even then, they have improved since TouchWiz Nature UX 3.5 on my Galaxy Note3 I used to have years ago.
That is only in the stock Samsung launcher, which I don't use, because it's a little hard to use, has wasted screen real estate (in my opinion), and I'm also more of a stock Android person, but by that I mean stuff like LineageOS, rather than Google Nexus and Pixel devices.
I use Nova Launcher Prime instead. Even if you use Samsung's own launcher, Bixby Home can be disabled, but can't be replaced with the Google app.
The only real downside of not using Samsung's launcher on their phones, besides Bixby Home, is the fact that the fancy Weather widget can only be used within their launcher. I haven't had time to buy this from the Play Store, but I'm sure I can just add a clone of the Samsung weather widget, and have that be linked to open the Samsung weather app, assuming the setting to add the icon to the launcher is enabled.
I don't need to answer that, because MetalHead had already done so.
Even then, I do use Bixby, but only because I don't use Google Assistant due to privacy concerns. (This is actually in contradiction to me completely ignoring S Voice on my Note3)
Bad news: You would have to root the phone, install a custom recovery, and a custom ROM based on stock Android, which gives you a number of consequences, including, but not limited to:
Voided warranty
Samsung Knox security killed off, which means you would never be able to use its features, including Samsung Pay
A number of Samsung features won't work in ROMs based on stock Android (at least on my Note3 many years ago)
Battery charging only up to 80% (based on some rumours I read)
---------- Post added 23rd October 2017 at 12:02 AM ---------- Previous post was 22nd October 2017 at 11:45 PM ----------
Oh! I forgot to mention something! My customisations unfortunately can't cover up the really hard to read Samsung emoji font.
Gee, I wish I had the right contacts to start a petition against Samsung's mobile device division, asking them to give users the option to use stock Android emoji, and also to use free fonts as UI fonts (instead of being restricted to Monotype's ecosystem for the font choices).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your thorough reply, I appreciate it.
So there's no way to have the Google Now cards (I think that's what they're called) to be on its own screen kind of like how the 6P and Pixels have them? I was hoping I can replace Bixby's card screen with Google Now.
boba7523 said:
So there's no way to have the Google Now cards (I think that's what they're called) to be on its own screen kind of like how the 6P and Pixels have them? I was hoping I can replace Bixby's card screen with Google Now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could, if you do not use the stock Samsung launcher.
I think Nova Launcher has an extension to have Google Now in there, but I think that's only in the upcoming 5.5 version. I think Lawnchair is also the only the only other launcher to support that, but I can't remember.
Another way is to sideload the Pixel Launcher, but some features don't work unless it's installed as a system app, which requires the phone be rooted, but again, that results in the consequences I stated.
boba7523 said:
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Have you attempted to just do everything on the Samsung Note? Do you know if there's a way to use Samsung Notes on my Macbook (or any OS in general) and have it auto save to Google Drive? Trying to keep my workflow continuous..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it's not something I've tried. Maybe someone else can chime in on that. Keep does the things I do with it seamlessly, I've no reason to change for the sake of change. There is also the question of going back. Who knows what my next phone will be and I've gone back and forth frequently between various Sammy devices, Nexus, Pixel, and a smattering of others. I've found that getting into Samsung is easier than getting out of Samsung whereas the Google services just work across the board. As I said the killer feature of the Note for me is the S-pen. I use it at work to annotate pictures with dimensions and so on and in general use it's excellent for that quick throwaway note jotted down with the pen. The ability to pin to AOD makes the feature a standout for things like shopping lists that can be used from the AOD. For me it is an excellent augment to Keep used in that way because it gives me the use it's best for and leaves the majority of my data in Keep where it will be no matter what device I move to next.
I use Action Launcher, probably the most underrated launcher in the business and one that allows you to set up a swipe to Now screen if you wish. I find it's easier just to have a shortcut set for google as this allows the swipe left to access a widget screen. Another widget screen to the right and you've got all the widgets up most people will need. With AL you can then set up the dock in pages and bury multiple shortcuts under covers. Almost everything I do is directly underneath the main shortcuts in the dock and accessible with a swipe. The ability to set shortcuts that can open the widget or app depending on what you want is a bonus. I could go on for a while but can sum it up in that I was a die hard Nova man but would never consider going back, the covers feature is a killer one that takes a little time to fully get because its quite powerful and creates many options you never had before.
So there is no way to get the S-Pen to activate Google Keep instead of Samsung Note?
There are a lot of good responses in this thread. I have Pixel, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2XL phones, in addition to Galaxy S6, S7, S8 and Note 8 (and a few older devices like Nexus 5x/6P and samsung Note 5/S6 Edige Plus, and older..)...
I basically install a few apps from the Play Store that are not pre-installed...
Google Drive
Google Photos
Google Docs
Google Calendar
Gboard The Google Keyboard
Google Maps
Contacts
Android Messages (I use this for SMS/MMS instead of Verizon’s Messages+ or the Stock Samsung Messages app)
Hangouts
Google Cloud Print
Calculator
A few extra I get and install to make my Galaxy S7/S8/Note 8 more “Nexus/Pixel” Like. These are NOT from the play store, so you have to allow 3rd party installs, and “side load” these (download to your phone, use a file manager to visit your downloads, and tap the APK file, and let it install)....
Rootless Pixel Launcher (gives you the Pixel launcher, rather than Samsung’s TouchWiz UI) I use the 2.1 version.
Patched Google Phone (gives you the same phone app used on the Nexus/Pixel phones). NOTE: I use 12.0.167196395 which is no longer listed in the thread's OP, but the APK is in the thread... I haven’t tried the newest one yet.
Instead of using the Rootless Pixel Launcher, you could use either of the following...
Google Now Launcher
Rootless Pixel 2 launcher
Because I use Verizon branded Samsungs, there is some bloat I disable... (have to view system apps to see a few of these so they can be disabled).
Caller Name ID
Cloud
DT Ignite (re-check this one after each android update, as the android/phone updates might re-enable it)
Hancom Office Editor
Message+ (Unles you’d rather use this for SMS/MMS Messages. I use a different app for SMS/MMS messages)
Support & Protection
Look at an old app called Note Buddy. Might have some useful features for the SPen. (haven't used it since Note 3)

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