[CES 2022] Experts behind Samsung's latest products and technologies discuss innovation for the future ①
We live in a rapidly changing world that requires us to constantly innovate and adapt. In line with this trend, the latest products and technologies from Samsung Electronics offer exciting new directions for various aspects of daily life.
CES 2022 offers visitors and online viewers the opportunity to experience for themselves how Samsung has innovated for the future. From displays to home appliances to products and services that raise the bar for innovation, the company's exposure to the world's largest tech show provides a glimpse of what it will look like soon our daily life.
Samsung's booth at CES 2022 is full of eye-catching innovations. But, what are the products and technologies that viewers and visitors definitely won't want to miss? To answer this question, Samsung's newsroom went straight to the source, asking the experts behind the innovations which ones they think deserve closer scrutiny.
In Part 1 of this two-part series, Telly Lee, Vice President of Samsung's Home Appliances Division, and Jungrae Kim, of Samsung Electronics' Visual Displays Division, will discuss how Samsung designed its latest home appliances and wearable displays for respond to changing consumer lifestyles.
The Bespoke kitchen: Household appliances that evolve with the rhythm of users' lives
▲ Telly Lee, Vice President of Samsung's Appliances Division and Head of the Kitchen Appliances Planning Group, with Samsung's custom-designed French door refrigerators.
Q: What can you tell us about the home appliance products and technologies that will be showcased at CES 2022?
We're going to focus on showcasing the Bespoke kitchen, where refrigerators and colors come together to produce exceptional results. Custom cooking starts with our flagship custom refrigerators. We have expanded the Bespoke range to include FDRs (French Door Refrigerators) in 4 door and 3 door models. This represents a significant expansion of our range following the launch of Bespoke fridges in Flex 4-Door, Bottom Freezer and Column 1-Door models in 2021.
A new point of innovation for Samsung's Bespoke refrigerator is the Beverage Center. Featuring a water dispenser concealed inside the door, the Beverage Center offers a convenient solution that helps showcase a sleek fridge exterior. Besides the new Bespoke refrigerators, we are also introducing other bright and colorful products that are part of the Bespoke kitchen, such as cookers and dishwashers.
Nowadays, we see more and more customers choosing modern designs for their kitchens. With Bespoke, we want to show that it is possible to decorate your kitchen according to your personal taste with a palette of colors that integrate with your interior space, as well as accent colors[1].
At CES, we're also showcasing SmartThings Cooking, a service that showcases connected experiences in the kitchen. Through this service, users can receive recipe recommendations and time-saving information for both preparation and cooking. SmartThings Kitchen recommends recipes perfectly suited to your tastes and dietary preferences, then builds weekly meal plans accordingly. As you cook, it also sends recipe instructions directly to synced compatible Samsung cooking devices.
Q: What are the unique or attractive aspects of the new Bespoke offerings that you don't want CES visitors to miss?
First, I would like to highlight the expansion of the Bespoke range, which gives consumers who want their refrigerator to reflect their color and material preferences even more choice. Since the launch of Bespoke in 2021, we have seen continued demand for this type of customization. It's one of the reasons we've added the French door refrigerator to our 2022 Bespoke refrigerator range. Panels are available in twelve colors, which means there are over 20,000 possible color combinations for a single four-door refrigerator.
Another essential aspect is that of the functionalities. The Beverage Centre, for example, includes a 1.4 liter auto-fill pitcher, as well as a Dual Auto ice maker that can hold up to 4.1 kg of ice. Plus, the FlexZone offers five different temperature modes to keep ingredients like meat, seafood, fruits, and vegetables at optimal temperatures. These unique features help to make users' daily lives more convenient.
Users can also experience an even smarter kitchen thanks to the Family Hub, which is included in the latest range of Bespoke refrigerators. Using the large screen on the front of the refrigerator, users can listen to music and videos in the kitchen and also control appliances and smart devices. With a screen that integrates perfectly with the door panel, and thanks to a very aesthetic design and minimal bezels, the Bespoke Family Hub is able to blend into almost any space.
▲ Samsung's bespoke Family Hub refrigerator
Q: Our way of life has changed dramatically over the past two years. Technologies that connect people to each other are becoming increasingly important as contactless ways of doing things become the norm. What impact do you think the products and technologies showcased at CES 2022 will have on people's lives?
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As users spend more and more time at home, their lives have become more “home-centric”. We believe this trend will continue into 2022. At the same time, concern for sustainability continues to grow following events such as the UN's COP26 conference, and with tightening environmental regulations around the world. Keeping these changes in consumer lifestyles and interests in mind, Samsung has been striving to offer "personalized, smarter and more sustainable" kitchen solutions.
Our custom kitchen solutions are aimed at users who have spent a lot of time in their kitchen and therefore feel a stronger desire to remodel their space to reflect their tastes. By expanding our Bespoke range, we offer a more diverse range of refrigerator types and color options, helping users build custom kitchens that match both their lifestyle and interior design scheme.
Spending more time at home naturally led to an increase in time spent in front of the stove. To make this task easier by making kitchens “smarter”, Samsung introduced SmartThings Cooking[2], a bespoke cooking journey service that can do everything from researching recipes to creating a diet plan. Powered by Whisk's Food AI, SmartThings Cooking recommends your personalized recipes and meal plans based on your tastes, food preferences, and the groceries you have on hand. When it's time to cook, SmartThings ensures a seamless cooking experience while communicating directly with your Samsung smart kitchen appliances.
And with Family Hub, consumers can even use this service through the display on the front of their refrigerator while continuing to control other home appliances from there.
Finally, our kitchen solutions are becoming “more sustainable”. Samsung continues to innovate in this area, looking for ways to incorporate advanced technologies into our devices, while keeping sustainability in mind.
The Freestyle: Designing a projector that's not limited by space
▲ Jungrae Kim of Samsung Electronics' Display Business Division proudly shows off the Freestyle, a new portable display introduced at CES.
Q: Can you tell us how your team designed the Freestyle?
Since the pandemic has changed our daily lives, our personal spaces have become increasingly important. This is especially true for lounging spaces like the bedroom, where we see more and more people using products for entertainment purposes. We are also seeing more and more people using cozy and quiet spaces in their homes, as well as an increased interest in outdoor activities, including camping. We wanted to reflect these trends of our time in our products, and allow users to use them any way they want, anytime, anywhere, and regardless of space limitations. That's how we designed the personal, mobile smart projector that is the Freestyle.
Q: What are the unique points of Freestyle?
The Freestyle was designed to provide users with new levels of functionality. It's easy to see what sets this product apart just by looking at it. To enable users to carry it around every day, we designed the Freestyle to be lightweight, weighing just 830 grams. The fact that you can take it with you wherever you go is its biggest advantage.
The Freestyle also features a simpler installation process. Users simply place the Freestyle where they want it, then turn it on. That's it. The Freestyle is equipped with automatic keystone correction and automatic leveling functions, thanks to state-of-the-art technology. These features allow the device to automatically adjust its screen to any surface, at any angle, and deliver a proportional image every time.
Users can enjoy a continuous and flawless viewing experience by accessing their user accounts and settings for various applications and streaming services. Also, we have applied remote voice control technology. So when the screen is on, users can search for content using just their voice. When the screen is off, they can use the device to listen to music or ask for today's weather, just like they would with a smart speaker.
The Freestyle's picture and sound quality, the most fundamental and important characteristics of any display, also deserves closer examination. We applied the image quality engine of Samsung TVs, and the white balance is automatically adjusted according to the color and tone of the wall on which the screen is projected. We also applied dual passive radiators to produce deep, high-quality bass. Customers can enjoy a cinematic sound experience wherever they are.
Q: In line with Samsung's "Screens Everywhere" vision, the Freestyle can be used in a variety of ways for maximum convenience. What are the specific use cases of Freestyle?
First, the Freestyle can be conveniently installed in the user's bedroom. When they're lying in bed, before falling asleep, they can use the device's built-in stand to move the screen from the wall to the ceiling to continue watching a movie more comfortably. The Freestyle can also be placed lightly on a dining table, transforming the room into a new entertaining space.
To power it, the Freestyle is compatible with external [3] batteries that support USB-PD and an output of 50W/20V or more, so users can take it anywhere, whether on the go , camping or otherwise. When not being used as a projector to stream content, the Freestyle also provides a mood light effect with its ambient mode and translucent lens [4] .
Working closely with Samsung's MX (Mobile eXperience) division, we've equipped the Freestyle with a button that syncs it with compatible Galaxy devices. By simply pressing a button, users can instantly use their mobile device as a remote control [5] . They can also use mobile hotspots when no Wi-Fi network is available. We have developed this product with great attention to detail, to make the device as convenient and easy to use outdoors as it is at home.
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