The Samsung Galaxy Watch series just got better for music fans, thanks to Bixby
Samsung’s Bixby is not one of the most well-loved voice assistants, so if you have a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 or Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 you may well have chosen to use Google Assistant with it instead, but a recent Bixby update on Wear OS might tempt some users to switch back.
SamMobile (opens in new tab) reports that the latest version of Bixby Voice release (version 3.0.09.12) adds a music recognition feature, which allows you to ask Bixby “what music is playing right now?”
Do so, and if said music is playing on your connected phone, it will instantly tell you, equally if the music is playing through external speakers, Bixby will instead listen, and attempt to identify what it hears.
9to5Google (opens in new tab) has put this feature to the test and found that when Bixby needs to listen, it can sometimes be slow to identify the music, but hasn’t failed to do so in the site’s initial tests.
As such, it’s basically like having Shazam built into Bixby, and while we suspect results will be better when using Shazam or a similar service on your phone (due to better microphones), there will be times when it’s convenient to be able to do this from your wrist.
Easier adjustments
This isn’t the only change that’s come to Samsung’s assistant on Wear OS either, as there’s also now a settings cog at the bottom of the screen when you activate Bixby. Tapping on this gives you easy access to language and voice settings.
This isn’t a huge overhaul then, but it might be enough for some Samsung Galaxy Watch owners to give Bixby a second (or first) chance. Note, however, that it only seems to be available for Galaxy Watch models running Wear OS, so the Samsung Galaxy Watch 3 and earlier are out of luck.
For those who already use Bixby, this update could inject a bit more excitement into your Galaxy Watch 4 or 5, though probably not enough to tempt you away from the upcoming expected Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, if you were considering an upgrade this year.