Samsung once again had the largest booth at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas – but it needed that much space to fit in its range of products and technologies that can be used everywhere from the living room to your car.
Samsung, while introducing incredible TV quality and new 8K TVs, have outlined its vision of a connected lifestyle and the way it can be integrated into the cars of the future.
Tech Guide took a tour of the Samsung CES 2019 booth and here’s what we found:
8K TV
Samsung was one of the first companies to offer 8K TV but it’s not just about the extra resolution – it’s also about size as well.
The biggest 8K TV will be a whopping 98-inches – we saw it on the stand and it looked sharp and clear despite being so large.
The other sizes will be 65-inch, 75-inch, 82-inch and 85-inch. These are expected to arrive in Australia in the coming months.
One of the biggest enhancements with 8K technology is the improved viewing angle.
Not everyone can get the best seat in the middle of the couch but even if you’re stuck out wide, the image still has the same brightness, colour and quality.
AI is built into these new 8K TVs which makes them smart enough to offer the right sound mode based on the content you’re watching whether it’s sport, a movie or a game.
The AI also comes into play when it upscales content as well.
Not much 8K content about which is why upscaling is so important and Samsung come up with a great upscaling system that brings content up to near 8K quality.
MICRO LED
Samsung also unveiled an all-new TV format called Micro LED.
Also known as The Wall, Micro LED is a modular system that allows customers to create their own shape and size of TV.
Choosing your new Micro LED TV is a little bit like putting a Lego set together – you can make it any size or shape you want.
SMARTTHINGS
A big part of Samsung’s connected home strategy will come from SmartThings – which can unite products, sensors and appliances.
Users will be able to create scenarios, like turning groups of lights on and off or find a recipe through the Family Hub which can then instruct the oven to be set to pre-heat.
And because it is an open platform, users will be able to connect a huge variety of products that can all work together no matter what brand they happen to be.
GALAXY HOME
The Samsung Galaxy Home has six speakers on board that have been tuned by Harmon Kardon along with a down firing subwoofer.
The device is also a smart speaker with a SmartThings hub built in Amazon Alexa onboard.
One other cool new feature of Galaxy Home is Sound Steer which allows users to direct the audio in their direction just by talking to the speaker.
CONNECTED DRIVING
The SmartThings technology and connectivity can also be used in our cars.
From inside the house, users will be able to check to see if they have enough fuel on board for a long journey and even fire up their climate control before they get in the car on a hot day.
And once they are in the car, cameras on board can identify the driver and passengers and customise their seat settings and audio entertainment preferences accordingly.
The cameras can also be trained on the driver to watch out for signs of drowsiness and destruction.
We tested this inside the mock-up vehicle on the Samsung stand.
We closed our eyes for a few seconds and the car technology instantly detected drowsiness.
When we looked away for a few seconds it also warned us that we were distracted.
But the technology goes even further than that and gives drivers the ability to customise screenings and the functions of various buttons and knobs within the car to suit their needs.
BOTS
Samsung is also deeply involved in robotic which includes Bot Care, which helps consumers manage their daily health needs.
There is also Bot Air – a mobile air freshener, Bot Retail which can assist customers in retail stores and restaurants and GEMS – a robotic harness that can help patients with mobility and offer a new training method for athletes.
* Tech Guide travelled to Las Vegas with support from LG, Samsung and Hisense.
