Samsung is working on a new AI experience for its devices that will help you use your phone without ever accessing the Settings menu.
I hate Samsung and ai in general but this is such a dishonest click bait title. From what I read, they are working on an ai feature which can change some settings dynamically based on usage. I don’t see a need for it but as long is not forced on everyone, I don’t mind it too much. I don’t see any mention that this will completely replace settings menu either. Speculation is fine but mark it as such.
And that’s how they get clicks. And now you’re talking about it. And me. So it’s working
what could go wrong with samsung changing your settings for you
I can’t wait for Bixby Settings to gaslight me about the option to pick another on-screen keyboard than the official Samsung one…
This is a non-article.
They’re not just going to delete the settings menu.
They’re trying to improve the UX the same way they’ve been doing since the first phone. Improve settings, make some predictive depending on your usage. Not a big deal.
Gross, awful, terrible. Buuuuuut…
Hard to swallow pill: This will probably get tweaked and eventually be very successful. Most people do not like or know how to mess with settings on their phones. You, on this website, are probably an exception but deep inside you know that. How many friends and family members have you had to explain how to change something on their phones? How many have you noticed that NEED to change something on their phones but didn’t even know it, much less think to ask? Now think of all the people whose phones you’ve never even seen.
Of course I’d love to see it go the way of touchscreens in cars where consumers reject it, but I just don’t see it. Assuming they can get it to where it does the 5 or 10 tasks the average user would want to do, this will probably be the new norm moving foward. Don’t believe me? Look at modern macs or windows and how many settings they hide.
Did consumers actually reject touch screens in cars? Like android auto and Apple CarPlay are pretty popular in the US
I can see this being useful if executed well and if it just looks for specific settings. I often can’t find certain settings and google what the name is (first Android phone). I think it has potential when used as a sort of smart fuzzy finder.
“Oh cool what are they thinking of?”
Samsung is working on a new AI experience
Fuck…
I was thinking that every app would have deeper settings embedded (which seems worse) but I guess the idea here is to bake settings into the OS so only AI can access them. Would this allow for a lot more settings or a lot more nuanced settings?
Gut reaction to AI in 2024 is very bad but I guess a part of me is still curious what they are thinking of doing here.
This is also interesting because like it or not these companies already have a ton of knowledge about you and how you use your device and this may be a way for that data to be served to us in a useful way. I’d prefer they didn’t have the data in the first place.
Frustratingly, every second they save us is counterbalanced by a 30 second ad or some other negative. I’m planning for a potential future where I might be using a dumb phone to avoid what they’re putting together.
I too am curious, morbidly so.
The day they roll out this update is the day I stop updating my Samsung phone.
I don’t want Bixby on my phone. That’s a start.
What is the best Android phone manufacturer after we count out Samsung?
Motorola (technically owned by Lenovo now, but even some of the Lenovo phones are great).
Depends what you mean be best. I choose FairPhone
Google?
Yes, obviously, I could Google this, but I’m looking for real peoples’ opinions. I’ve owned OnePlus and LG android phones previously to my current Samsung. I loved my OnePlus phones, but my current provider doesn’t support them.
Edit: LOL. I just realized you were suggesting Google as an android phone manufacturer.
Edit: LOL. I just realized you were suggesting Google as an android phone manufacturer.
Indeed. Get a pixel. Load some other de-googled OS onto it like GrapheneOS.
Unfortunately using a custom OS like GrapheneOS or LineageOS breaks Play Integrity API checks, and some important apps like banking apps use that.
Fuck Google for closing Android.
Awful hardware and value proposition in my area. I still had to get one because no one else let you degoogle on day 1 and grapheneos is excellent. It’s insane I had to buy a google phone to get away from google.
Can confirm that Graphene is easy as hell to get up and running and is an excellent OS.
God please kill me.
According to ET News, the company plans to implement an AI feature on its devices “that can predict what consumers want in advance by improving the performance of ‘touch points’ such as keyboard and camera.”
Every one of the ‘features’ results in the exact opposite of what I want the thing to do. I have become a grumpy old man yelling “Stop fucking helping!” at hardware and software that tries to be ‘intuitive’.
Samsung devices already let you change various settings without opening the Settings menu using Bixby. However, this implementation requires users to trigger Bixby and issue a voice command. In contrast, the AI-powered solution could automatically change settings based on usage patterns.
I want it to be consistent dammit!
User, I noticed you weren’t sharing telemetry data, location data,and all your photos with Samsung. I corrected that for you and locked the settings…you’re welcome.
I want it to be consistent dammit!
YES.
In tech terms, “intelligent” or “smart” usually means inconsistent and unpredictable. It means I need to do extra work to verify that the computer didn’t “helpfully” do something I never told it to do.
I understand autocorrect on phones, because phone keyboards suck very hard. I am still shocked that both Apple and Microsoft have decided to enable it by default on desktops and laptops with full keyboards. No, Apple, believe it or not, the username field in web sites is not supposed to have a capitalized first letter. If I wanted that, I have three whole keys on my keyboard that I could have used to do that. STFU and let me do my own typing. (Why usernames are case-sensitive in certain places is a whole other matter, one that’s far outside my control.)
It
usuallyalways means “stupid”.FTFY. AI has become such a buzzword that companies are desperate to throw as much money as they can at the concept, no matter how wildly misplaced their understandings or hopes are.
The absolute most infuriating one is dynamically placed menus, like how all the stupid video conferencing that move the menu bar to the top of bottom following seemingly arbitrary rules. Why does a nearly full screen window have the menu at the top and a full screen at the bottom? What does moving from top to bottom accomplish?
I fully hear you and agree.
Every 5 days there’s a software update, for something that just changes one or two things slightly - but rarely if ever is it an improvement.
Oh, you want to do this simple thing you were able to easily do 3 days ago?
Now you have to change 4 nondescript settings, use 3 separate hotkey commands, watch a YouTube video, and troubleshoot for hours to get a once basic function to preform correctly.
I’d bet that the AI system will be used exclusively to identify + paywall things you’ll want/need to use your phone.
seems like you want volume control, based on your history you want 1% volume. Subscribe to" basic functions" package to unlock a volume option. Upgrade to “basic functions premium” for up to 5 volume adjustments a week!
Still not enough AI control? The “basic functions unlimited” fully unlocks both volume buttons and for a limited time unlocks the spacebar for 5 minutes an hour from midnight to 6am!
Most of the software updates you see are a result of CI/CD processes. The industry claims it makes good design patterns to get features our faster and more reliably. In reality it is just a rushed shitstorm that results in half-assed Friday releases that aren’t fixed until the following week.
I’ve long turned off auto update of my apps. Too many times I’m on a trip or other scenario where my tool is meant to be a tool and not some tech bro’s rented wet dream, and the tool is broken.
But here’s the kicker. CI/CD exists for another reasons or so:
- Frequent updates tend to reset review rankings in app stores. Not only does it offer plausible deniability to the app company, but it also screws with the review scores in their favor, as well as other rankings.
- Great way to help nudge along planned obsolescence. All that pointless rewriting of flash storage on a daily basis.
- Psychological manipulation, it gets notifications in your face to try and increase app engagement, which ensures it is fresh and running gathering user telemetry to sell as a side-hustle, as well as direct-interaction telemetry and getting more ads in your face.
It’d be better if we all just went back to landline phones some days. Modern tech is too noisy, abusive, and intrusive.
CI/CD processes.
What does this stand for, and what are these (in layman’s terms anyway, not expecting a deep dive)?
Continous integration/ Continous delivery basically they keep pushing the latest developments as soon as it’s avaliable and passes the tests.
You guys do tests (meme, I’m just too lazy to make)
My favorite podcast app, Overcast, recently had a huge overhaul and it went from working perfectly to being utter broken garbage for a couple months.
They definitely didn’t do tests. I think they just rushed it out to meet some deadline.
It’s usable now, but it was really gnar for a while.
Yeah, no thanks.
Samsung can go fuck themselves when i cant change what my phone does I’ll just use my fucking steam deck as phone.
Yeah honestly i have previously considered just taping a raspberry pi to a portable touch screen and a powerbank and use that instead of a phone with how shitty phones are getting. Fairphone + Calyx is what stopped me from going down that route tho.
Tbh, im currently using a Pixel, they are… Actually quite good, even without another OS, wich you can install.
I even controlled what it uploads, it doesn’t send data when i don’t agree to it (living in EU) so im fine with it and a custom launcher (the normal one sucks).
I can concur the Pixel 8 Pro has honestly been pretty good, for whatever it’s worth. Granted I’m not in the EU, so I don’t get the benefits of GDPR, but it’s the best of a bad set of options.
Is Pixel, ironically, the only device with unlocked bootloader and seemingly with most control, i.e. ability to easily install another OS?
Correct. Look at CalyxOS and GrapheneOS and what they support.
Okay. Thanks, guys. 🍻
I’ll think about it for my next phone when the time comes.
Yes, at least from what i know, maybe there is some DIY phones or maybe Nokia pulles some great phone out of their ass somehow, but currently i know only about the Pixels being actually good at what they do.
So if it misconfigures shit which it will 100% do will Samsung be liable for legal claims?
This is going to be hell for those with disabilities.
Hell for all of us my friend, ai doesnt think ai ia just some overhyped bullshit
