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Google May Prevent Samsung From Adding Viv AI Assistant To Galaxy S8 (ibtimes.co.uk)
New submitter drunkdrone quotes a report from International Business Times: Samsung is reported to be equipping its upcoming Galaxy S8 flagship with all manner of technical marvels in its attempt to erase the Note 7 catastrophe from memory. However, Google may throw a wrench into the works by potentially prohibiting Samsung from imbuing the phone with one of its most compelling features (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternate source) -- its AI personal assistant. Reports have suggested that Samsung planned to load the Galaxy S8 with Viv, a smartphone-based digital assistant similar to Apple's Siri and Google Assistant. Because of an ongoing non-compete pact between Samsung and Google, however, Samsung may be forced to exclude Viv from its upcoming flagship as would challenge Google's digital helper. The report adds: "According to Recode, the restriction forms part of a patent-sharing agreement Samsung signed with Google in 2014. While the pact will allow the two companies to put up a stronger, united front against Apple, it may hinder Samsung's ambitions for independence and its attempts to differentiate itself from the wider Android crowd."
Now if Google could force them to use a stock android build I may actually buy one of their devices. I'm still holding on to my S4 with Cyanogenmod installed. Replaceable battery, micro SD card, still small enough to keep in your pocket... I'll miss this phone when it dies.
Well no one can say Samsung hasn't managed to do that quite well with exploding note 7s, quite the different phone. Reality though going the fixed battery et at showed them following along right with the rest of the crowd, nothing different what so ever.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Who is this the most compelling feature to?
It's for the best that they do IMO. I had a Note 4 and...damn...I'm never going with another Samsung phone again.
TouchWiz is complete crap, but I think material design is perhaps the best smartphone UI design language to exist. And, if every phone OEM kept their damn software up to date, Android would be perfect.
Samsung is reported to be equipping its upcoming Galaxy S8 flagship with all manner of technical marvels
I wish Samsung could figure out how to include such marvels like a removable battery and a microSD slot.
Keep the SD slot and headphone jack, and I'll upgrade from my S7 Edge. Nix the headphone slot, the S7 Edge will be the last Samsung phone I buy until/unless Samsung come to their senses.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
I'd actually like to remove the space wasted by the Samsung apps on my current device. Which Cyanogenmod won't run upon. I might have to hack the ROM myself.
Bruce Perens.
Provide timely updates and security fixes. But hey who am I kidding. This is Samsung we're talking about.
Because of an ongoing non-compete pact between Samsung and Google...
How is that not collusion and an anti-competitive trade practice?
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
Why can't we have both?
Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
The agreement which contains this clause is an agreement in which Samsung and Google allow each other to use their patented inventions. The agreement overall allows *more* competition, Samsung can offer many features they couldn't offer otherwise due to patents.
Agreements which include a clause not to compete in specific ways, for a specific period of time, are allowable when they are ancillary to, and reasonably necessary for, a larger agreement which is otherwise in harmony with public policy, if they are limited to only reasonably necessary restrictions.
The example which set the precendent in the US was a bakery. A baker sold his business. The buyer was buying the business, not just the equipment. The seller agreed not to re-open a competing bakery in the same area within 5 years. The seller broke the agreement, re-opening his bakery down the block, directly competing with the person who had purchased his business. The court ruled that the non-compete agreement was legal because:
It was part of a larger transaction, selling the bakery.
It was necessary to that larger transaction - you haven't really sold your business if you re-open it two blocks down.
The agreement was limited to a) that town only and b) five years. The seller was free to open a bakery somewhere else.
Leaving aside the fact that their handsets are overpriced (and have a tendency to explode) the big problem with Samsung phones is that they come with lots of inuninstallable bloatware.
Would I want Samsung Viv, when I could have Google Assist? I use Google services heavily. It's in my interest to use that service. Viv locks me into Samsung's walled garden, and that's much smaller. S Voice was useless. Renaming it to Viv isn't going to make it better.
"Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
I don't know about technicalities, but for me as end user the value of Android is a choice of great hardware with familiar, reliable software. And I have stopped buying anything from Samsung because of abundance of crap an difficulty of its removal. For the millionth time, I do not want to open a web link in e-mail with "Internet". OnePlus somehow manages to add customizations without shoving them into my face.
If your voice assistant is so great, offer it as a download and I might try it out. So long as you convince me that it's not trivially hacked to send everything I say to Putin like Yahoo mail. Whatever you say about the larger issues, in this particular case restraint is needed to save Samsung from itself.
Google's yanking the leash on phone vendors because they want to create a more consistent and uniform product experience.
In this case I suspect Google is "yanking the leash" because they want to mine as much data as possible from Google Assistant, and not having Samsung on board would put a noticeable dent in that data.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
And, if every Android phone OEM kept their damn software up to date, like Apple does with iOS, Android would be perfect.
FTFY.
It's this sort of behavior that has been responsible for many forks in the history of software engineering.
Am I the only one that think removing stuff I did not want in the first place is a compelling feature? It's becoming more and more clear that I am no longer in the target market for smartphones.
Actually I would say like what Google does with the Nexus lines. I also carry around an iPhone for work; I don't care how much updates they get, they still suck. And in fact, somehow their updates always manage to break shit even though I only have first party Apple apps installed.
Actually I would say like what Google does with the Nexus lines. I also carry around an iPhone for work; I don't care how much updates they get, they still suck. And in fact, somehow their updates always manage to break shit even though I only have first party Apple apps installed.
Ok, so for the .04% of non Slashdotters that have a Nexus (which are now being abandoned I hear), maybe Android is ok (but still statistically. Much less secure than iOS), but for the rest of the victims of Android, not so much.
Samsung needs to stop spending its customers' money on features the neither need nor want. It's absurd. They have created their own mobile payment, virtual reality, and now AI assistant platforms when all of the above already exist in Android and work just fine. It's ridiculous. This is why I will never purchase a Samsung phone. They are so obscenely expensive for a reason. They have to pay for the development of these features somehow.
if they want to spend that money, it should go into developing *open source* solutions, in collaboration with Google. Samsung is a broken company and will never get back it's (already poor) reputation in the smartphone world.
And Samsung/Apple doesn't? Don't delude yourself.