Skip to main content

Samsung unveils new range of smart home appliances at European Forum

Samsung first introduced connected home appliances to its consumer range in 2014, with the Crystal Blue washing machine. At the firm's European Forum, held in Monaco, the South Korean manufacturer displayed its newest line of smart appliances, including washing machines, vacuum cleaners and fridges.
Elen Corvoisier, marketing director for Samsung appliances, outlined the brand's aim to bring connectivity to products in a beneficial way, improving user comfort and facilitating new uses. "All of these products are easy to use, connect and set up. They need to be able to blend into the décor," she went on. Here's a look at some of Samsung's connected appliances on show at the European Forum.
AddWash washing machines
Samsung-smart-washing-machine
Samsung's new line of smart washing machines still uses the firm's Eco Bubble technology, which injects a small amount of air into the water and detergent to make a fine, soapy foam that's gentle on laundry. For 2016, the washers get another exclusive new feature, in the form of a second little door for adding extra items of laundry at any moment during the wash or rinse cycle. AddWash machines connect to Samsung's SmartHome application, which can be used to manage all of the brand's smart appliances. From here, users can start, change or stop a wash, while also viewing feedback such as energy use data. The app even sends notifications to remind users to empty the load once they get home.
Samsung's new AddWash washing machines are expected to launch in Europe at the end of February 2016.
Powerbot Turbo WiFi vacuum cleaners
Samsung-smart-vaccum-cleaning-bot
This connected robot vacuum cleaner comes with new mapping capabilities to help it analyze and chart its surroundings when entering a new environment. This allows Samsung's smart vacuum cleaner to make a floorplan of an entire home, on which individual rooms can be named. This makes cleaning easier to manage, as specific rooms or areas can be selected for the robot to clean. Plus, this can be done at home or remotely thanks to Wi-Fi connectivity. The vacuum then automatically returns to its charging station once the job is finished.
Samsung's new range of Wi-Fi robot vacuum cleaners is expected to launch in Europe in March 2016.
Family Hub fridges
Samsung-smart-refridgerator
With a 21.5-inch touchscreen replacing traditional notepads and stick-on reminders, Samsung turns the humble fridge into a high-tech tool for interaction, entertainment and sharing info in the family home. It can even interact with other connected devices from various brands thanks to onboard support for "SmartThings" technology. This turns the fridge into a control hub for all the home's smart appliances. It even recognizes voice commands for hands-free control when cooking, for example. This new generation of smart fridges can show users exactly what's inside without opening the door and can manage the use-by dates of products stored inside.
Samsung's Family Hub fridge range is expected to launch in Europe this summer (prices are unconfirmed but expect €2,500 to €3,000 for the standard fridge/freezer and around €6,000 for the American-style model).

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Virtual reality set to transform filmmaking

Chris Milk stepped onto a TED Conference stage and took the audience on an awe-inducing trip into the future of movies. While much of the early attention on virtual reality has focused on use of the immersive technology in video games, Milk and his US startup Vrse are using it to transform storytelling and filmgoing. "We have just started to scratch the surface of the true power of virtual reality," Milk said. "It's not a video game peripheral. It connects humans to other humans in a profound way... I think virtual reality has the potential to actually change the world." He had everyone in the Vancouver audience at TED , which ended Friday, hold Google Cardboard viewers to their eyes for what was billed as the world's collective virtual reality experience. Google Cardboard gear is literally that -- cardboard
Continue reading »

Explained: Camera Improvements in the New HTC 10

With the HTC 10, the Taiwanese company is promising to undo the past wrongs in the cameras of its previous flagship phones. The camera has long a weak point in HTC devices. At first, HTC sacrificed image resolution in the M8 and made the size of individual pixels larger to capture more light (what HTC called Ultrapixel). But the resulting 4 megapixel images were often fuzzy, especially when cropped or enlarged. To fix the issue, in its next flagship - the M9 - HTC went with smaller individual pixels in a 20-megapixel camera last year, but it still underperformed in extreme situations, such as indoors and close-ups. In the HTC 10, the company attempts to strike a balance with larger individual pixels (1.55µm), but not as large as before and a 12 megapixel sensor in its camera coupled with a ƒ/1.8 lens. HTC accepts that in the imaging performance in the M9 was not up to the kind of spec of what they really like to see in a flagship. HTC is giving a slight boost to the selfi...
Continue reading »

Freedom 251: 30,000 Units Sold, Components for Up to 2.5 Million Will Be Imported

Ringing Bells, the makers of the Rs. 251 smartphone - the Freedom 251 - confirmed to Gadgets 360 on Tuesday that it has still only accepted payments for 30,000 units of the phone. It also added that the components for these phones will be imported, and only assembled in India, not made here. Ringing Bells stopped accepting orders on February 19, and claims to have received over 70 million registrations. The company President and Director both repeatedly stated that the price of the phone would be made possible through economies of scale, and making the phone in India to cut out import costs. Economies of scale? However, in a discussion with Gadgets 360 the company revealed that it had only sold 30,000 units of the phone on day one. The company has now confirmed that it has not sent out the payment emails to anyone else who registered - "we were working out details of cash on delivery, which we are announcing now, so we will be sending emails to the first 2.5...
Continue reading »