When describing a ‘home of the future’, one of the conceptual products that is often mentioned is an ‘internet-connected refrigerator’, though it appears now as though such a device is reality, as Samsung, in the midst of their highly-anticipated new TV reveal at the CES 2013 show in Las Vegas (USA), have revealed a ‘smart refrigerator’ operated by touchscreen.
The Samsung T9000 LCD Four-Door Refrigerator will go down as one of the South Korean company’s more unusual products, particularly of the ones revealed at CES 2013 (even allowing for the 85-inch 4KHD set recently revealed and the rumoured ‘concave’ TV design), with the $4,000 item set to offer a 10-inch LCD touchscreen display, the Android operating system, and app support, along with the primary objective of keeping your food fresh.
Described as the ‘home entertainer’s ultimate refrigerator’, with close to ’32 cubic feet’ of (food) storage, the T9000 is designed to mainly focus on supporting the kind of apps that would be used on a non-technological fridge, including ‘calendar and weather’ services, and ‘cloud-based note-taking app’ Evernote, offering consumers the ability to “…share photos, videos, and even recipes with family and friends”, being able to send or ‘synchronise’ notes and content to compatible handheld devices and PC’s (from Windows, Apple, and Google/Android).
While it is said to not be compatible with all the ‘apps & games’ that the Google Play Store has to offer, the embedded screen will be able to run most photo and video apps that Samsung users are used to, and will be aiming to provide yet another means of accessing content around the home. As a side-note to its connectivity, the T9000 is also recognised as making use of the company’s ‘triple cooling system’ that provides ‘commercial grade’ humidity levels for keeping ‘food fresh for longer’.
Set to launch in ‘selected markets’ in spring, will the T9000 refrigerator start a new wave of kitchenry that is connected? A wi-fi spatula could be an interesting concept…