Samsung is starting the year of 2019 with a TV lineup that connects with other voice assistants besides Bixby.
Samsung has announced that users will soon be able to control its upcoming QLED sets with either Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant. However, you need to purchase or provide the voice assistant devices yourself, be it an Echo, Google Home, or other smart speakers.
According to Samsung, the new Samsung TV’s will understand and execute commands they received from Alex or Google assistant, but the only built-in voice helper will continue to be Bixby.
You can control the volume of the TV, turn your TV on and off, switch inputs, or launch select apps via Google Assistant and Alexa.
On the other hand, Bixby has deeper, more advanced capabilities since it’s woven into Samsung’s Tizen TV software. You can speak to Bixby with your Samsung TV remote control, but not the others.
It is still unsure if Samsung will be bringing Alexa or Google Assistant to support its older TVs but the company has a history of updating older models a few months after its latest sets hit the market, so it could be a possibility.
