Samsung introduces Smart Home ecosystem

Not long ago, Samsung showed us a borderline-surreal glimpse of its vision for the connected future. However, the tech giant's latest announcement ahead of CES is a fundamental step towards bringing part of this future to life – pretty soon, too. Samsung introduced Smart Home - a service which connects the devices in your home, so you can easily control or manage them through your smart phone, tablet, smart-watch or TV. Initially, the Smart Home service will consist of three software features: Device Control, Home View, and Smart Customer Service. Their names speak for themselves, but the details are intriguing.

Device Control will let you monitor and control home devices - for example, lights and air-conditioning - via Smart Home apps for mobile devices and TVs. You will be able to do this no matter where you are situated. Essentially, the Smart Home apps turn Sammy's smart-devices into controllers – powerful ones which, in addition to an on-screen interface, offer voice commands and custom profiles as well. This lets you define a profile for different occasions, for example leaving your house or going to bed, and have your appliances and lights switched on and off by speaking a related command, such as "Going out." or "Good night!".

The second part of the picture, called Home View, brings real-time monitoring of your home thanks to the cameras built in your appliances.

Finally, Smart Customer Service provides after-sale assistance for your appliances, and tells you when something from your technological ecosystem needs to be serviced, or have its consumables replaced. This will be helpful for appliances like refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, and so on.

Smart Home will be deployed on the company's devices sometime in the first half of 2014. Although we're yet to see Smart Home in action, Samsung's latest invention aims to not only become an ambitious product, but a foundation for a connected future as well. The Smart Home software protocol in the backbone of the system will be made available to Samsung's technological partners, and extended to cover home-energy, secure home access, healthcare, and eco home applications in addition to consumer electronics.

We are curious, does Samsung's idea of a Smart Home make you feel excited, skeptic, or somewhere in between? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.


source: Samsung Tomorrow via Engadget