Four 1st world problems Samsung has solved with its new smart fridge
Samsung has finally unveiled its new Family Hub smart fridge at CES, and this appliance is truly impressive. The full-size two-door smart refrigerator comes with a giant touchscreen embedded in one of the doors, opposite to the water and ice dispenser.
The touchscreen can be used to control all of the fridge’s settings, including setting the desired temperature for each section in which food is stored. The touchscreen, powered by Tizen, can also mirror content from a nearby smart TV, and play music from Pandora and other providers,
While some may think this much technology might be overkill in the kitchen, let’s have a look at four problems Samsung has solved, rather brilliantly:
The endless gaze
We all have been there, with absolutely no idea of what we feel like eating. five minutes into our visual exploration of the contents of our fridge, wide open, a familiar voice snaps us back into reality: “Why don’t you just take a picture??”.
Whether it comes from mom, dad, or a spouse, the truth is, they have a point. For every minute that refrigerator door stays open, the power bill goes up.
Samsung’s Family Hub’s display is able to list and display all food within, and whether we are running low of a particular item, thanks to an array of cameras inside the fridge, keeping track of food supplies.By simply accessing the touchscreen, we are able to know what’s available, and cut down on the power bill.
No more guessing games
“How long have those eggs been in there?”, “That meatloaf smells funny.”, “Is that supposed to be green? And most importantly: what’s that??”. These questions have been the recurrent theme of a food-wasting trend that costs families thousands of dollars per year in spoiled groceries, not to mention a few food poisoning incidents.
By using the array of cameras inside the Family Hub, the software powering the touchscreen is able to keep track of when a particular food item was stored, and how long it’s been there. Depending on the type of food, the software is able to determine when the item in question is due to expire.
Let the grocery store come to you
Who else hates standing in line at the grocery store, staring with a disheartening look at the only two, out of ten open registers?
The Groceries app, which allows to order, pay and have groceries delivered, may not be practical for the occasional one or two items, but it does turn useful when planning monthly or weekly grocery shopping trips.
Guess who’s coming for dinner?
Using a dedicated app from any mobile device, family members can quickly post a note in the form of a post-it, on the fridge’s touch screen, to let everyone know if they are able to make it for dinner.
Conclusions
Of all smart refrigerators on the market, the Samsung Family Hub seems to be the smartest, with features that most consumers will actually use. The big Tizen interface on the touchscreen is clean, efficient and intuitive, and the operating system works very well with other connected devices, like smart TVs, and even wearables, making this appliance easy to interface with most devices, including laptops and tablets, enabling consumers to manage temperature, get updates on expiring or missing food items, even remotely.