Samsung is getting ready to launch its new smartwatch. While big question marks still remain over the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, new info suggests that the watch will offer support for both Google Assistant and Bixby.
Samsung may drop the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic at its Samsung Unpacked event, which is scheduled for August 11. Both of the new smartwatch models are the first from the Korean firm to use Google’s Wear OS.
According to popular leaker SnoopyTech, Samsung will let users choose between either AI assistants when using the new smartwatches, rather than exclusively tieing the wearables' owners into one setup.
Right now, we’re very much in the lurch until Samsung officially confirms the news, but 9to5Google has spotted a line of code in the Wear OS app that could throw weight behind the claim. Rifling through the APK for the app, the online Google experts spotted an entry of code that heavily points towards the presence of 'alternate' AI assistants.
Also: Google Assistant or BixbyAugust 2, 2021
Being able to choose which of the assistants is active would be a real boon to the best smartwatch users, and it could mean that Google is receptive to letting third-party assistants run on Wear OS on the watch. Again, only time will tell.
On the best Samsung phones, the UI lets users choose between Google Assistant and Bixby as the default. Transferring this functionality over to the new range of Samsung smartwatches seems like a no-brainer to us, even if we take into consideration Bixby's patchy track record, in which it can sometimes be completely useless like in our review of the Samsung Galaxy Watch.
Wear OS has encountered its fair share of issues in the past, too, so hopefully with a rebooted Wear OS 3 on the way, Google Assistant can get itself into shape for a new generation of Wear OS users. Users will always have their smart assistant preferences, so letting them indulge in these choices is never a bad thing, even if it means more work from the developer side.
