Smart stuff, it’s becoming all the rage, and sometimes it’s actually becoming useful. We think a recent collaboration between Australian Supermarket chain Woolworths and Samsung Australia may just fit into the useful category. The pair has joined forces to announce the Family Hub (smart) refrigerator with Woolworth online shopping integration.
First announced at CES this year, Samsung Australia has now brought their top of the line smart fridge down under. Now, this isn’t Ausfridge so we’re not going to jump into an in-depth analysis of the fridge side of things, what we will mention is it is sporting:
- Snapdragon 866 SOC – just kidding
- 377 l fridge and 273 l freezer capacity
- 980 x 1825 x 733 mm overall size @159 KG – and you thought the Nexus 6 was big!
- French style double door fridge, two single door lower freezers, with the left-hand side reconfigurable to act as a refrigerator rather than a freezer
- Ice and water dispenser
That’s the fridgie bit, now for the cooler side of things, the tech. The Family Hub features a 21.5″ LCD touchscreen, powered by Samsung’s Tizen OS, running what Samsung are calling the “Digital Command Centre”. From the touch screen users can:
- Manage your Woolworths online shopping list and complete orders from the display
- Access their family schedules with multi-calendar integration
- Post messages to the family message board from the fridge or via a compatible mobile device
- Display photos from a digital photo album
- Play music from Pandora or Tunein Radio via the in-built 5W speaker
- Mirror your TV screen from compatible Samsung TVs
- Browse the web
- Check the weather with AccuWeather and
- Manage your refrigerator settings
But the fridge is only part of the tech story, using the Samsung Smart Home app (available on Google Play), on a compatible device, allows you to:
- Monitor and manage the fridge settings
- View a full picture of the contents of the upper refrigerator section the last time the door was closed, and
- Post messages to the fridge display for the family
The Woolworths app integration syncs with your Woolworths online account allowing you to manage your weekly shopping list from all of your devices, no more adding groceries onto one app, to then have to transfer it to an online shopping cart later. This is pretty appealing, the only way it could be better is with voice integration so you can add to your list whilst you cook -feature request for 2017!
Unfortunately, this is not a fridge for everybody, this is one of Samsung’s top of the line devices. With a RRP of $7,499 AUD this may remain one of those smart devices many of us are left to just lust after. However, as with many consumer technologies they always start out expensive and exclusive and can end up rolling down the line. Perhaps in 3 years we will all be able to afford a Smart fridge?
If you can afford a seven and a half thousand dollar fridge and you love technology I’d recommend checking this bad boy out!
