Out of all the things that were introduced by Samsung during its CES press conference, the one device that made the biggest impression on us was a fridge. Samsung’s Family Hub Refrigerator is quite possibly the most eye-catching home appliance made to date, mainly because of its 21.5″ touch screen located on the right side door. Seeing as it was part of the showcase at the Samsung SEA Forum, we couldn’t resist getting up close with it.
Now, Samsung would like to tell you that the Family Hub Refrigerator is going to revolutionize the fridge industry, but we’ll get to that in a minute. For now, let’s take at the Family Hub’s touchscreen. For the most part, the screen on the Family Hub Refrigerator shows you plenty of information in its default screen such as weather, to-do lists and photos. You can also jot down notes directly on the fridge itself as it comes with a whiteboard app. The Morning Brief app will show you the traffic information and agenda for the day as well, giving you a rough estimate as to how long it will take you to reach the office. Media streaming is also possible as the fridge does allow you to stream various radio channels. If you have a Smart TV at home, you can even watch what is broadcasting on your TV on the fridge itself.
Another interesting feature that comes with the screen is that it allows you to look at the interior of the fridge without even needing to open the doors. Cameras are installed on the door to the left, giving you a way to look at the items in your fridge without needing to exert too much effort. You can also drag time labels onto the items via the screen, which is a good way to keep track of an item’s expiry date.
To get the most out of the Family Hub Refrigerator however, you need to be invested in a smart home setup. Let’s be clear here, while the Family Hub itself is a fairly useful fridge, it wouldn’t achieve its full potential without other devices connecting to it. Simply put, if you’re the kind of person who likes all of your devices to interact with one another, the Family Hub is the fridge of your dreams.
One other factor that may affect the practicality of the Family Hub Refrigerator is whether or not the country will embrace the Internet of Things as a whole. During the CES presentation, Samsung demonstrated that you could potentially buy groceries from the fridge itself and have it delivered to you. This is one of those things that make owning something like the Family Hub exciting, but in the end, it’s all down to whether or not local grocery chains would adopt IoT as part of their operations. Imagine if one day, you could just buy your groceries from a grocery market like Giant and have it delivered to your house within the day itself, it would be a great convenience to have. Simply put, the Family Hub is a fridge of great potential.
Of course, being the first fridge to embrace IoT, we can safely assume that the Family Hub Refrigerator has a price that we would assume to be nowhere near affordable. Maybe, in a few years time, IoT-powered fridges will be the norm. For now though, the Family Hub Refrigerator is one of those devices that shows that while the future is here, it is going to take a while before it becomes mainstream.
