Why trying to power on the Galaxy S10+ after a long time confused me

I pulled out my Galaxy S10+ from my desk drawer recently after not touching it for a long time. When I tried to turn it on, I kept pressing the wrong button. I was hitting the Bixby button instead of the power button, and it took me a moment to realize why.

For many years, the volume buttons and the power button have all been on the same (right) side of Samsung's smartphones. Naturally, my hands have gotten used to that layout. So when I picked up the S10+, I instinctively reached for the button on the below the volume keys. But that's the Bixby key. The power button is on the right side.

That little moment of confusion brought back memories of how much drama surrounded that dedicated Bixby button. Samsung introduced it with the Galaxy S8, and some users almost immediately wanted it gone while others wanted the option to remap it.

Samsung's initial response was to block remapping entirely. It eventually gave in and allowed users to assign other apps to the button, but it still wouldn't let you use it to bring up Google Assistant. You could launch almost anything else, just not the best virtual assistant on Android.

It was, frankly, a petty restriction. It felt like Samsung wasn't confident Bixby was good enough to attract users on its own merits. So it decided to force them into opening it, even if just accidentally. The decision was probably also influenced by the fact that more people using Bixby would have meant more data that Samsung could use to improve it.

The button disappeared after the Galaxy S10 series, or rather, it became the power button on the Note 10. For that one flagship, Samsung put all the buttons on the left side of the phone before settling on putting everything on the right.

What makes it a little ironic is that Bixby has gotten better over the years. On One UI 8.5, it can handle a wider range of device settings and toggles without any fuss. It can also answer questions directly instead of just sending you to the browser.

But the Bixby button is gone, and Gemini is now the default assistant on Galaxy phones. And no button is needed: Samsung — and many other manufacturers — decided the power button can handle assistant duties, turning it into an industry standard.

You could argue a dedicated shortcut key would be a nice thing to have on a phone. But if Samsung didn’t keep one around for Bixby, I don’t think a generic shortcut button is going to happen.