Samsung S Voice app pulled out of stock firmware, ready for installation on other devices [Updated]
Samsung's Galaxy S III may have some nice new hardware, but many of the devices new features were actually new software. This includes Samsung's S Voice application, a Siri clone (at least in terms of interface) made just for Samsung devices. Even though there are quite a few ways to get the same functionality through third party applications, some people still like to have the official version.
Thanks to those over at xda-developers, they can now have just that. After the official Galaxy S III firmware leaked over the weekend, users were able to extract the S Voice apk file from the leak and install it on other devices.
At first, it was posted only for the Galaxy Note, but others have since found it to work on other devices like the HTC One S. This means that the app will probably work on just about any Android device with current software, and isn't tied to some sort of Samsung software.
While some will likely find the app quite useful, I think it is more interesting to examine what this means for the Galaxy S III. If the S Voice app can be so easily extracted and used on other devices, what is to say that some of Samsung's other special software features can't be ported as well?
The Galaxy S III is certainly still a good device, but being able to get many of the device's software tweaks without a hardware update could change many buyer's outlooks. We've already seen how to get the S III's Pebble MP3 function without upgrading as well, which is making the S III look like just a slightly less appealing deal. It is still a great device, for sure, but I would reconsider spending the money for one if all you want are the software features, as it looks like you will be able to get many of those on your current device for free.
Update: Well, it looks like the fun is over, as AndroidCentral is reporting that Samsung is now blocking S Voice queries from non-Galaxy S III devices, making the app useless. It is still possible that developers will find a way to make it work again in the future, but for now the S III is once again the only device to run this completely not unique software.
[xda-developers]
