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Comment by jimmaswell | Hacker News Reader

You can remap it right in the settings by default on my S10+. I can't imagine returning such a great phone over it having a button you don't have to press though, especially for an iPhone.

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Perhaps they want a phone that doesn't irritate them. A button with no purpose but annoyance that is easily pressed by accident and cannot be disabled (until recently apparently) is reason enough not to buy a phone.

Yeah, if you're worried about not being able to disable or remap things according to your preferences iOS is totally the phone OS for you...

It's a remapable button.

A quick search indicates the iPhone 8+ is a couple years old so perhaps the Samsung phones at the time didn't have that ability. The main thing I've heard about Samsung phones from the people I know is complaints that the Bixby button is useless and cannot be remapped.

On older Samsungs, you have to install an app to remap the Bixby button. Slightly inconvenient, but after 5 minutes effort I have a Google Assistant button which is handy

Yeah and for newer software which has rolled out to all bixby equipped phones by now it lets you use it as a trigger.

I have mine set to open the Google Camera whenever I want, never have any issues with it.

Sorry, that's just adding another "feature" to the button. It's still tied to Bixby if you hit it twice. (Or once if you set things the other way.) While technically this is mapping, it's not what I would be looking for in a remarkable button.

Note that while this might not be a smooth UX, you can remove/disable Bixby via ADB without root and install your favorite button remapped from the play store in a few minutes to remap single, double and long press.

It's a remapable button through some random shady apps from Play Store. My wife has S9, we opted out of remapping it precisely because we don't trust random apps on Play Store that answer a popular demand[0], and I have no time right now to write one myself.

EDIT: So it seems that it is remapable without third-party apps now because of a recent update. That's better.

[0] - Not without someone I trust vouching for it, at least.

When you say you're passing on a Samsung for that reason and you get an iPhone there is another primary reason.

I can - I have a Note8, and I was constantly accidentally pressing the Bixby button, until I paid for a little app on appstore to disable it. Not even usefully remap it, just make it go away.

I don't even want to think what else the app might be doing in the background. But that's what they're forcing us to do by having such ridiculous un-disablable behaviour. (note - it was not disableable through any easy let alone delivered means 14 months ago; things may have changed for the better?)

Voting with their wallet is a noble thing to do and is the only outcome that would actually force the company to reconsider such shenanigans in the future.

Wow cool can you do that on an S9? I'm gonna try right now. I'm of the same opinion, Bixby is useless...

Edit: looks like I can't on my S9, or don't have the latest version...

Its buried in Bixby settings, so the classic way with BxActions is still more reliable if you're not on the exact update of Android Pie (OneUI) that has bixby button options.

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