Wi-Fi fridges, washers and dryers debut in Canada
By: Michael Oliveira
financialpost.com
For the Internet-obsessed homeowners who can’t pry themselves away from Twitter for even a minute, there’s now a Wi-Fi refrigerator with a screen on it.
Samsung is the first to the market in Canada with home appliances that connect to Wi-Fi and, in the case of its refrigerators, there are a number of built-in apps to use.
LG says it expects to release a line of “smart” washers and dryers in Canada sometime this year.
Samsung’s wirelessly connected washing machine and dryer allow users to start or pause the machines remotely, or check the status of the cycle via a smartphone or tablet app. The pair sells for about $3,000.
“You might say, ‘Well, who really wants to do that?”’ says Warner Doell, Samsung’s vice-president of home appliance sales and marketing.
“It’s kind of a cool feature. You don’t have to go running upstairs or wait for that tone or the beep you get from the machine. You can simply see where it’s at in the cycle now. Now you’re able to plan other things that you want to do.”
Far more advanced is Samsung’s Wi-Fi connected fridge, with its 20-centimetre touch screen that works like a tablet. It has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $3,900.
There’s an app connected to Google Calendar to keep track of family appointments and events, an app for leaving onscreen notes to others, and a grocery manager that lets you build a digital inventory of food and drinks as you put them into the fridge. It also keeps track of expiry dates to prevent you from forgetting about the soon-to-spoil cheese hidden away.
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