Samsung will officially unveil its new “Family Hub Refrigerator” later this week when CES begins, as I speak no Korean you’ll excuse the limited amount of details we’ll be able to share with you until someone sees it action.
21.5-inch vertical touchscreen and stereo speakers
Let me be the first to say, I won’t be purchasing this fridge anytime soon. It would take me, presumably hundreds of articles covering CES this week when it opens on Wednesday to make the money it would take me to purchase this technologically advanced smartfridge. And let’s be equally clear, while Samsung has given no indication of its price or when it will be released, I write for a value investing website and there are better things to do with my money, namely use our evergreen content to invest for a comfortable retirement.
However, if I were managing a hedge fund rather than writing for ValueWalk, yeah, I’d probably buy one of these.
In case you speak Korean, I don’t, I’ll still give you the link to the product announcement from Samsung Korea, and save you my wild speculation that the rest will have to, or choose to endure.
The “Family Hub Refrigerator” features non only stereo speakers that I’m guessing can connect to your phone via Bluetooth, or simply use to stream music. Perhaps it can sync to your Spotify account or other popular music streaming sites. The theme that will run through this post is “I just don’t know.”
Numerous tech sites are saying that the fridge is equipped with interior cameras that allow you to check on the content of your fridge via the massive touchscreen or via connected devices. Now, it can certainly be argued that opening your fridge is pretty easy to do but, it does waste a fair amount of electricity getting the fridge back to temperature if the door is opened for long periods of time. Yes, I know, if you can afford this fridge your monthly electricity bill is likely the least of your concerns. However, I like to think that people are more environmentally conscious than your average hedge fund manager.
Additional features for Samsung’s “Smartfridge”
All that said, being able to connect to the cameras in your refrigerator to view its contents remotely is pretty cool and handy if you’re stopping at the store prior to returning home. If the Family Hub Refrigerator costs $4000 like I think it might, I would hope that it also scans ingredients that come in and are not returned, but say it with me…I just don’t know.
What I do know is that the fridge does include a recipe manager. No, I don’t know how it works but I would like to think that it makes suggestions as to what to make based on the ingredients on hand. Whether it uses its own database, the Internet, both…I just don’t know. Samsung is also promising “D-Day Icons” that alert you when the food inside is about ready to go bad but I’m comfortable saying I have no frickin’ idea how those are meant to work.
One thing that is certain is that you will also be able to order groceries directly from the refrigerator assuming you have access to various grocery delivery services.
Looking at the advance ads for the device, calendars, to do-lists and others features will be available on the touchscreen. Presumably, a mother can send a message to anyone in the family that can’t be ignored if the refrigerator is opened. A modern twist on the note on the fridge door.
I do know that we will know more this week when it makes its debut at CES 2016 in Las Vegas.