GoKawiilPaul Jones / Android Authority
TL;DR With One UI 9, Samsung’s Bixby feature moves the lift-to-talk concept closer to reality, enabling voice commands just by lifting the phone toward your face.
It aims to remove extra steps, such as wake phrases or taps.
The feature isn’t available in the latest One UI 9 beta yet, suggesting it’s still being refined.
A few months ago, we revealed that Samsung was working on support for a raise-to-talk gesture for activating its virtual assistant, Bixby. That early hint now appears to be taking shape in a more refined form, as a SamMobile report suggests Samsung is developing a new Gesture Wake-up feature expected to arrive with One UI 9.
Instead of relying on the usual “Hi Bixby” wake phrase or tapping a shortcut, you can simply pick up your phone, bring it closer to your face, and start speaking.
The convenience is pronounced — you could be walking with your hands full, glancing at your phone, and instantly fire off a command like setting a reminder, checking your schedule, or sending a quick message. It removes a step, and in theory, that’s exactly the kind of small friction AI assistants are meant to eliminate.
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But the real-world experience is where things get tricky. Phones are constantly picked up, checked, rotated, and brought close to the face, often for reasons unrelated to voice input. That raises an immediate question: how does Bixby know when you actually want to talk versus when you’re just checking a notification or unlocking your device?
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