In our notification-heavy world, there is still one activity where you might just miss that buzz on your phone or ping on your smartwatch – while you’re vacuuming. Thankfully, Samsung has a solution.
Its newest cordless stick vac, the new Bespoke AI Jet Ultra ($1,099), now has an LCD display control panel that, along with standard features such as power level and battery life, can notify you when you have an incoming phone call or text message. The vacuum, which works with an auto-empty charging station, also features 400AW suction and 100-minute battery life.
Even better, if you’re doing the wash and left your phone in the other room, Samsung’s added touchscreens to its washers and dryers, including the new Bespoke AI Laundry Vented Combo washer / dryer ($3,099). This lets you answer a call directly on the built-in 7-inch LCD screen. The Combo can also (perhaps more usefully) put detergent in for you automatically and then, when the cycle is done, open its door.
The company has been rolling out the ability to answer your phone from your appliance to its entire Bespoke AI line. At CES this year, Samsung showed off these AI Home control panels on several appliances, including its new Bespoke AI smart fridges and wall ovens. The features work with Android and iOS and require a Samsung account and the SmartThings app.
AI Home is a new terminology Samsung uses to refer to the 7- or 9-inch LCD screens on its products and the screens built into its flagship Family Hub smart fridge. The fridge now has the option of a slimmed-down screen that — like the other AI Home screens — includes music, weather, and cooking apps, and smart home controls.
Of course, you can still get the fridge with a giant 21.5-inch or 32-inch screen that can run even more apps, including Samsung TV and TikTok. These screens all also work as controls for the appliance and integrate with other Samsung appliances and services, sometimes using AI.
For example, on the fridge screen, you can look up a recipe in the Samsung Food app using ingredients it has identified you have using its AI-powered cameras. You can then send the cooking instructions to your oven and use the screen to view the recipe. It’s like having your phone with you everywhere, except your hands are free.
The AI Home screens can connect to Samsung’s SmartThings smart home platform. That means you can get alerts on your appliances about other events in your smart home, for example, you can see (and talk to) whoever is at your Ring video doorbell while unloading the washer.
Samsung’s “screens everywhere” approach is part of its AI for the home push, its vision of tech working in the background to help you with your daily life. While the smart home has plenty of potential to save you time, money, and energy, putting screens into everything feels like overkill. A smart display could serve much of the same purpose, and would probably cost less to replace than a cooktop when you drop a pan on its screen.
Tech-heavy touchscreens built into appliances also feel susceptible to obsolescence, not to mention being more likely to malfunction than that plastic knob on your washing machine. The other concern about screens in the home is that they could be used to serve up ads, as is the case with Amazon’s Echo Show smart displays. While Samsung has not done this yet on its appliances, it’s an understandable worry. The Verge reached out to Samsung about these concerns and will follow up with the company’s response.
