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Comment by zmmmmm | Hacker News Reader

The bixby button is super annoying. At least on the Note 8 it is positioned such that in certain situations it's really hard not to activate it when trying to turn off the phone because it's directly opposite it on the other side. Pretty much the only times I have ever activated Bixby is when trying to turn off the device, and the result is that it immediately turns on and makes a loud noise - very annoying in meetings.

It's one thing to force something benign in front of your users, it's quite another to do actively hostile things to them.

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Same thing happened when a relative got an iPhone XR, the screenshot button is volume + power, so trying to lock it regularly has them taking screenshots.

The Siri button on touchbar Macs is another variant of this issue. And that “would you like to enable speech to text?” is another.

This is why I always remove Siri from the Touchbar first thing.

Same thing happens to me. Heinously annoying.

And siri instead of power down? How is that not more annoying than a dedicated bixby key that isn't in the place where you would expect a power button?

My brother literally couldn't figure out how to turn his phone off, how is this a two button combo???

Why would you dedicate a button to a function you hardly ever use???

Well, the button is already dedicated to turning off the screen and on previous iPhones, holding it down gave you the option to turn it off.

Now, holding it down brings up Siri, which now dedicates a button to a function I literally never use. I shutdown my phone at least once a month, whether that’s to do a simple restart, while at a no-phones event, or to save battery.

Now, you have to hold down the power button and the volume button to not only turn off the phone, but to access emergency SOS. If I’m in an emergency situation, I might not have the dexterity to do that with one hand or both hands free to do it with both. I have to use the latter considering how big the phones are now (iPhone X). My one hand is big enough to hold both buttons at the same time, but I need the other hand just to get the one in the right position.

I believe there is an additional SOS setting for pressing the ON\OFF button five times consecutively that has been around since at least my iPhone SE.

Not on the iPhone 8 and newer.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208076

Similar situation on the iPhone: I no longer use the physical volume button to take a picture (which is a shame) because, starting with the 6/6S it is exactly opposite the power button. As a result, the phone keeps turning off instead of taking a picture.

You can reassign the button in settings - mine opens up whatsapp, but you can easily configure it to open the camera.

You can't do that in Android on the S9+, nor on any variants that i know of on Android 8 or 9. All you can do is restrict it to a long press. If you have a link to reassignment, I'd like to see it.

Go to Settings, and search for Bixby Key.

I don't know how to guide you through the menus, sorry.

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