CES 2014 hasn’t officially kicked off yet (though it isn’t far away) and already Samsung has made an announcement that is sure to be of interest. Samsung’s Smart Home service is to be a means for users to control all their connected home appliances through a single app on a compatible smartphone, tablet, smart TV or wearable device. Through these devices, users will be able to control things from refrigerators to smart lightbulbs through to air conditioners. All without getting off the couch.
As you can see in the graphic above, Samsung is working on three main areas of service as set out below.
Device Control
Device control, funnily enough, will allow users to control home devices from mobile devices in the home or out of it. Want to turn that light off? Done. Flick the aircon on before you get home? Easy. Samsung is spruiking features such as voice control, allowing you to tell the television ‘good night’, and have it turn off the lights, turn off the TV and turn the aircon off.
Home View and Smart Customer Service
Home View allows users to see what’s going on around the home using appliances with in-built cameras. Want to see what the baby sitter is really up to? Well, creepily enough, you’ll probably be able to. Want to see what’s happening at home while you’re on holidays? That too.
Smart Customer Service is the term Samsung is using for devices that can tell you when they need something. Your vacuum might be able to tell you when it needs emptying, or your washer when the clothes are done. Your air conditioner could even remind you to clean the filter, a horribly unenjoyable task.
One of the more interesting aspects of Samsung’s announcement is that Samsung plans to make the protocol — dubbed Smart Home software protocol — available to other manufacturers, so while there might be some Samsung exclusives, other device manufacturers will be able to integrate with this as well, should they choose.
This is a curious proposition, as one might imagine other manufacturers might not be too keen on a Samsung offering like this, but equally, it could be the start of something new. Who knows. There’s lots of places Samsung wants to take this, including energy efficiency, secure access to the home, health care and beyond.
Truly, we’re catching up with the house of the future as shown in Back to the Future II!
Awesome awesome stuff, putting us in charge of what goes on in our own homes and luckily Samsung is the only company that can do this, for no other reason than to sell you more of their products that can enable this. Otherwise we are heading for Apple’s Garden Walled Closed Proprietary Control of everything we do in life. Samsung just wants us to be able to make our own CHOICES according to our own FREE WILL!!! So yeah Chris…. we have a right to see the nanny beating our kids or the thieve taking our favorite flavor ice cream… Read more »
“All without getting off the couch.”
Geez, we are really turning into a nation of fatties are we??
I love how movies are always right.
I wonder just how few appliances and devices the Samsung Smart Home is actually permitted to be compatible with.