CES 2016: Samsung reveals SmartThings products
Samsung will also add Australia to its smartphone payments system as company shows off latest products in Las Vegas.
Samsung has announced it will add Australia to its smartphone payments system at a launch event where it announced “bezel less curved” TVs, the connected home, smart watches and a refrigerator that can order groceries.
At CES in Las Vegas, the Korean manufacturer said all of its 2017 TV models would be “IoT” (internet of things) ready, which means the TV will be a focal point for controlling devices in the home. Users of its SUHD (super UHD) TVs can manage them with the remote control.
To get the process moving, Samsung will offer 2016 TV customers who buy its latest SUHD TVs a free USB device that gives them that capability this year. The device will be free-of-charge.
Samsung said there were 20,000 developers working on SmartThings, the connected home automation platform it now owns, and more than 200 devices were now connected to it.
It said it would add Australia, Singapore and Brazil to its road map for Samsung Pay which was used at five times the locations that NFC (Near Field Communication) technology was harnessed for smartphone payments.
Executive vice president of Samsung Electronics America Joe Stinziano said this year’s high-end TVs would include a “bezel less curved” design and range in size from 49 to 88 inches. All would have cadmium-free “quantum dot technology” which supported up to 1 billion colour variations. Its premium TVs would be less than one tenth of an inch (2.54mm) wide.
But the biggest development around TV is with its Tizen software ecosystem. Samsung said it would soon be possible for viewers to swap between online services such as ESPN and Netflix just as they would between channel 1 and channel 2. It means a seamless transition between each streamed service and live/cable TV channels.
In addition, viewers will be able to watch content they see online on their TV without having to log into that service’s app or set top box first. Time Warner Cable would offer that integration to Samsung customers in the US.
The Korean firm also announced that its ultra-high definition Blu-ray player capable of playing 4K Blu-ray content flagged last year would be available in March in the US and for pre-order now.
More than 100 titles from 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros would be available this year in ultra HDS format and new titles would be launched automatically going forward.
Mad Max: Fury Road, San Andreas and The Martian were among titles to be available in 4K UHD format on Blu-ray.
One of the most intriguing developments was Samsung’s new Family Hub Refrigerator which includes a large display that can be used for family communication and for controlling connected appliances. You can send a message to a fridge from a smartphone, for example.
But the concept goes further; the fridge takes a photo of the contents every time you close the door so that consumers can get an accurate idea of what’s still in their fridge at the supermarket. The family hub also will attempt to manage groceries.
And you can directly order groceries online from it. Samsung announced a deal with MasterCard for this. There is a companion smartphone/tablet app that lets consumers also order groceries on the go.
Samsung also announced rose gold and platinum variants of its Gear S2 smartwatch launched last year. And it announced the Galaxy TabPro S, a Windows 10 tablet not unlike Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 with a 12.1-inch super AMOLED display. The company says it is the thinnest and lightest 2-in-1 tablet device on the market.
Samsung last year produced a front-loading washing machine that you add clothes to after the cycle had begun; this had been generalised in a feature called Samsung AddWash.
Australian pricing and availability of its CES announcements are yet to be revealed.
Chris Griffith travelled to CES in Las Vegas courtesy of Sony and Acer.
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