SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the compared-to-natural-intelligence? dept.
Samsung plans to pitch a digital assistant as one of the main reasons customers should return to its Galaxy brand:
Samsung Electronics Co. plans to equip its next Galaxy S smartphones with a Siri-like digital assistant, seeking to make a strong comeback after the global debacle that precipitated the death of its flawed Note 7 lineup.
Samsung, which last month acquired U.S.-based artificial-intelligence software company Viv Labs Inc., said the Galaxy S8 slated for next year will come with AI-enabled features "significantly differentiated" from those of Apple Inc.'s Siri or Google, executive vice president Rhee In-jong told reporters. Those services now offer up potentially useful information from the weather to flight times based on user activity.
If it's "significantly differentiated" from Apple or Google, does that mean it's like Amazon's Alexa?
Also at Reuters.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Entropy on Monday November 07 2016, @07:04PM
Pretty much the only reason I buy Google's phones is because they haven't been "differentiated" from Android. No added spyware(just the stuff that's from Google), No UI garbage mucking everything up, No carrier spyware mucking everything up... And they don't tend to randomly explode.
Does anyone buy a phone because the vendor has added a bunch of stuff to it? Could be--I'm just amused it's completely opposite of my thinking.
(Score: 2) by arslan on Tuesday November 08 2016, @03:09AM
your "no added soft/spyware" is a valid point... but you do realize that Google's phone is still manufactured by the other major players like HTC, LG, moto, etc. Maybe not samsung yet, but the other major players have their fair share of problems though not as bad as exploding phones yet.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Tuesday November 08 2016, @06:19PM
"Just the stuff that's from Google" is a pretty big part of the phone, it IS spyware, and it ISN'T stock Android.
Cyanogenmod is gonna get you closer to "just Android" than buying a Google phone anymore...
Here's some of the non-Android components you're getting with that Google phone. Even the goddamn *clock* isn't standard anymore:
AndroidPay - To Exclude/Include Android Pay [Super]
Books - To Exclude/Include Google Play Books [Super/Stock/Full]
CalendarGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google Calendar [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro]
CalSync - To Exclude/Include Google Calendar Sync (installed ONLY when Google Calendar is NOT being installed) [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro/Nano/Pico]
CalculatorGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google Calculator [Super/Stock/Full/Mini]
CameraGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google Camera [Super/Stock]
Chrome - To Exclude/Include Google Chrome Browser [Super/Stock/Full]
ClockGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google Clock [Super/Stock/Full/Mini]
CloudPrint - To Exclude/Include Google Cloud Print [Super/Stock/Full]
ContactsGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google Contacts [Super/Stock]
DialerFramework - To Exclude/Include Dialer Framework [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro/Nano/Pico]
DialerGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google Dialer [Super/Stock]
DMAgent - To Exclude/Include Google Apps Device Policy [Super]
Docs - To Exclude/Include Google Docs [Super/Stock/Full]
Drive - To Exclude/Include Google Drive [Super/Stock/Full]
Earth - To Exclude/Include Google Earth [Super]
ExchangeGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google Exchange Services [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro]
FaceDetect - To Exclude/Include FaceUnlock [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro/Nano]
FaceUnlock - To Exclude/Include FaceUnlock [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro/Nano]
Fitness - To Exclude/Include Google Fit [Super/Stock/Full]
GCS - To Exclude BOTH Google Connectivity Services AND Project Fi by Google [Super] OR To Include Google Connectivity Services [Super]
Gmail - To Exclude/Include Gmail [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro]
GoogleNow - To Exclude/Include Google Now Launcher (requires Search) [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro]
GooglePlus - To Exclude/Include Google+ [Super/Stock/Full/Mini]
GoogleTTS - To Exclude/Include Google Text-to-Speech [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro (6.0 also Nano/Pico)]
Hangouts - To Exclude/Include Hangouts [Super/Stock/Full/Mini]
Hotword - To Exclude/Include OK Google Hotword Enrollment [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro/Nano]
Indic - To Exclude/Include Google Indic Keyboard [Super]
Japanese - To Exclude/Include Google Japanese Input [Super]
Keep - To Exclude/Include Google Keep [Super/Stock/Full]
KeyboardGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google Keyboard [Super/Stock]
Korean - To Exclude/Include Google Korean Input [Super]
Maps - To Exclude/Include Google Maps [Super/Stock/Full/Mini]
Messenger - To Exclude/Include Google Messenger (not installed on tablet devices) [Super/Stock]
Movies - To Exclude/Include Google Play Movies & TV [Super/Stock/Full]
Music - To Exclude/Include Google Play Music [Super/Stock/Full]
NewsStand - To Exclude/Include Google Play Newsstand [Super/Stock/Full]
NewsWidget - To Exclude/Include Google News & Weather [Super/Stock/Full]
PackageInstallerGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google Package Installer [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro/Nano/Pico]
Pinyin - To Exclude/Include Google Pinyin Input [Super]
PixelIcons - To Exclude/Include Google Pixel Icons [Super/Stock]
PixelLauncher - To Exclude/Include Pixel Launcher (requires Search and Wallpapers) [Super/Stock]
Photos - To Exclude/Include Google Photos [Super/Stock/Full/Mini]
PlayGames - To Exclude/Include Google Play Games [Super/Stock/Full]
PrintServiceGoogle - To Exclude/Include Print Service Recommendation Service [Super/Stock]
ProjectFi - To Exclude/Include Project Fi by Google [Super]
Sheets - To Exclude/Include Google Sheets [Super/Stock/Full]
Slides - To Exclude/Include Google Slides [Super/Stock/Full]
Search - To Exclude Google Search AND Google Now Launcher AND Pixel Launcher [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro/Nano] OR To Include Google Search AND OK Google Hotword Enrollment [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro/Nano]
Speech - To Exclude/Include off-line Speech files (For Voice Dictation Offline) [Super/Stock/Full/Mini/Micro/Nano]
StorageManagerGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google Storage Manager [Super/Stock]
Street - To Exclude/Include Google Street View [Super]
TagGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google NFC Tags [Super/Stock/Full/Mini]
Talkback - To Exclude/Include Google TalkBack [Super/Stock/Full]
Translate - To Exclude/Include Google Translate [Super]
VRService - To Exclude/Include Google VR Services [Super/Stock]
Wallpapers - To Exclude/Include Wallpapers [Super/Stock]
WebViewGoogle - To Exclude/Include Google Webview [Super/Stock]
WebViewStub - To Exclude/Include Google Webview Stub [Super/Stock] (Placeholder for Google WebView, on 7.0+ automatically used instead of WebViewGoogle if Chrome is installed)
YouTube - To Exclude/Include YouTube [Super/Stock/Full/Mini]
Zhuyin - To Exclude/Include Google Zhuyin Input [Super]
- https://github.com/opengapps/opengapps/wiki/Advanced-Features-and-Options [github.com]
(Score: 2) by Entropy on Tuesday November 08 2016, @06:41PM
Excellent point. As with all things we say, it takes quite a bit more words to narrow down the exact meaning. I run a rooted phone, with a custom ROM. I used to actually use the rom that came with the google phone, but ever since it began phoning home to "allow" tethering I gave that the boot.(Also it would label tethered traffic as...tethered) It has very few things on your list.(Maps, Calendar, ..somewhat minimal other things)
When I said stock Android I really meant the OS, and not the OS how Microsoft means it in that it includes Internet Exploder. The OS is entangled with undesirable things(Calendar does some wacky phone home stuff) but it's about as good as we can get and still have a smartphone.