Verizon's Galaxy S8 won't help you shop on Amazon
Bixby's image-based shopping isn't ready for Verizon S8 models.
Samsung already gave a heads-up that Bixby wouldn't be complete when the Galaxy S8 launched, but Verizon customers will have to make do with less than most... for a while, anyway. The American carrier has confirmed to CNET that its version of the S8 doesn't currently let you use Bixby Vision to find products on Amazon just by pointing your camera. You can find images of that book you're looking for, but you can't shop for it. A Verizon spokesperson didn't explain why the feature wasn't available right away (Amazon and Samsung didn't say either), but did promise that the network was "working with Amazon" to provide it in the future.
If you can't wait, Amazon's own app provides similar functionality -- it's just not baked into the camera app.
This probably won't be a deal breaker for Verizon's S8 buyers as a result. However, the omission is bound to leave people scratching their heads. Why leave out a feature that virtually everyone else has when there shouldn't be any technical barriers to including it? It's likely to just be a temporary loss, but it underscores the headaches that frequently come with carrier-specific phone variants -- you may not know if you're getting the best possible device until you already have something in your hands.
