RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. -- Samsung Electronics America recently released the next generation of Family Hub, a smart refrigerator designed for today’s modern family and modern kitchen. The Family Hub has new app integration and more content partners to make shopping, communication and entertainment more seamless.
The smart fridge's food apps like Instacart and GrubHub, combined with its potential to boost shopping productivity, give users a streamlined way to purchase food online instead of from convenience stores or other brick-and-mortar retailers.
Its enhanced integrated tools and technologies include voice-activation features, three built-in cameras that allow users to see inside the fridge from a companion smartphone app, more personalized family connection features and new ways to enjoy music and television. Additionally, the lineup has expanded from four to 10 models, including traditional three-door and new four-door French models.
“The kitchen has always been the center of the home, but with technology changing how families connect and communicate, home appliances are emerging as a new focus of innovation,” said John Herrington, senior vice president, general manager of home appliances, Samsung Electronics America. “The Family Hub is a huge step forward in the modern kitchen. It empowers you to do things you never thought possible—like take the fridge with you to the grocery store, digitally display a photo of your kids’ winning goal, and enjoy your favorite entertainment right from your digital screen.”
The Family Hub reflects significant changes in the ways families live and communicate. Samsung asserts that multiple generations are increasingly living under one roof, adult kids are boomeranging and elderly parents are settling in—while families are using mobile technology to stay connected.
“The kitchen has always been the place where family and friends gather, and it's evolving as the nature of the family evolves,” said Michael Wolf, editor of The Spoon. “The way in which we store food, cook and interact in the kitchen is changing to reflect an increasingly digital lifestyle, and the refrigerator is an important part of that story.”
Samsung has dialed up Family Hub’s connectivity in app integration and voice technology to make it more interactive, personalized and functional.
From a smartphone, users can look inside their Family Hub refrigerator using the View Inside cameras, build a shopping list, and place an order using the Instacart app or Groceries by MasterCard. Users can tap into food delivery and cooking resources like GrubHub and Nomiku, or find a meal idea with the voice-enabled Allrecipes app from Meredith Digital.
Significant enhancements include an interface that enables family members to create their own profiles using avatars or, starting in September, personal pictures. With the LED touchscreen serving as an interactive digital bulletin board, users share photos, access updated calendars, handwrite memos in real time, and post memos from wherever they may be via a companion smartphone app. In entertainment, app partners like TuneIn and Spotify allow users to stream music and videos, while users can also watch programming from their Samsung TV directly on their refrigerator.
Beginning this fall, Family Hub will feature the Samsung Connect app, which debuted on the Galaxy S8 earlier this year, giving families more control over their connected homes. The app allows users to control and monitor Samsung smart products, including appliances, from a single app on the front of the refrigerator. Users can also manage hundreds of third-party devices, like lights, door locks, security cameras, wireless speakers and more when connected to the Samsung Connect Home Smart Wi-Fi system which works as a Samsung SmartThings Hub.
Samsung’s advanced voice technology has also been integrated across many of Family Hub apps. Examples include voice commands to find out about the time and weather, adding products to shopping lists, ordering groceries online, managing to-do lists and calendar schedules, having recipe directions read to you as you cook, and more.
Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, N.J., Samsung Electronics America Inc. (SEA) is a leader in consumer electronics, mobile devices and enterprise solutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., SEA provides consumers and organizations with a portfolio of products in appliances, home entertainment, internet of things, mobile computing, smartphones, virtual reality, wireless infrastructure and wearables, in addition to offering leading content and services related to mobile payments, 360-degree VR video, customer support and more. Samsung is a pioneering leader in smartphones and HDTVs in the U.S. and one of America’s fastest-growing home appliance brands.
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