A Savvier Google Gemini
Samsung bills the latest edition of Google Gemini as a more capable, in-your-pocket personal assistant, integrated across your phone. Just hold down a button on the right side of the device, and, like a genie, Gemini appears as a glowing chat bar at the bottom of your screen—at which point you can type or ask a question, request certain actions, or even chat with it conversationally, in Gemini Live mode.
During my trial run, Gemini was often genuinely helpful, sparing me from opening multiple apps or typing out some tedious directive. I sent it a link to a YouTube video of someone sharing favorite books from 2024 and it quickly summarized the video, and, upon request, turned the list into a well-formatted note. Neat!
I then sent a photo attachment of a flyer promoting an event at my local library. Gemini pulled details from it and created an event on my Samsung calendar. Handy!
At other times, though, Gemini wasn’t quite up to the job. I asked it to analyze a photo of my fridge’s contents and offer dinner suggestions, a task demonstrated by Samsung. Instead of helpful recipes, Gemini spit out random meal ideas that didn’t align with the ingredients I had on hand. Maybe my fridge was too cluttered.
Gemini also stumbled when asked to make simple changes in my settings, like turning on Dark Mode or adjusting the font size, things that Samsung suggested Gemini is now capable of doing. (If there’s some setting I need to turn on for Gemini to reach its full potential, I couldn’t find it.) But Bixby—the Samsung assistant that has now taken a back seat to Gemini—is able to complete some of these requests.
These issues aren’t exclusive to Samsung, of course. AI tools are still evolving, leaving them imperfect and unreliable—which is why we question the need for an AI PC and recommend double-checking any advice that comes from AI chatbots.
