With Samsung’s connected gadgets, it’s ‘home, smart home’

SILICON VALLEY – When you come back home after an extended period away from it, you can’t help but express relief and happiness. It’s “home, sweet home.”

Samsung Electronics Co. on Friday took one step further to put the control of home appliances at your fingertips through a smartphone, a smart TV and a voice-activated virtual assistant. It’s “home, smart home.”

At this year’s Samsung Developer Conference (SDC), the South Korean tech giant vowed to make more home electronics devices connected for digitally integrated living – both inside and outside people’s homes.

“Over 500 million Samsung products are sold every year, and the number of people using Samsung accounts exceeds 600 million. To us, this is both a huge asset and a profound responsibility,” said Han Jong-hee, vice chairman and head of Samsung’s Device eXperience (DX) division, during his keynote speech at SDC 2023.

“Samsung’s innovation connects countless people, products and services. If you join this journey of innovation, we can create greater opportunities and a brighter future together.”

For the ninth year, Samsung said it is highlighting some of its industry-leading technological capabilities.

This year’s event, held at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, brought together more than 3,000 developers and partners around the world as well as Samsung executives to showcase their innovative platforms and services.

Touching on the main advancements to Samsung’s suite of devices and applications, including the SmartThings ecosystem, Bixby virtual assistant and Samsung Knox security platform, Han thanked Samsung’s developers and partners for their collaboration that has helped bring many of the company’s products to life.

SMARTTHINGS GET SMARTER

Samsung said its SmartThings, an Internet of Things (IoT) platform that connects smartphones, TVs and other home appliances, is getting smarter.

On Friday, Samsung showcased how to remotely control home appliances with a Galaxy smartphone.

“Even if you lose your remote control, you can control all devices in your home with your smartphone," said Jung Jae-yeon, executive vice president and head of SmartThings, Device Platform Center, at Samsung.

“When you lose your smartphone at home, you can ask your smart TV to have the phone ring for you.”

She said Samsung, through its SmartThings, also supports global open home standards such as Matter and the Home Connectivity Alliance.

Combined with SmartThings, Bixby, Samsung’s virtual assistant, works more intelligently to meet users’ needs and tastes, the executive said.

Thanks to deeper home integration, Bixby will intuitively respond to users’ commands based on their unique preferences, routing user commands to the appropriate device and creating a harmonious multi-device home ecosystem, she said.

For example, when watching a movie on TV and an alarm on the tablet goes off, saying "Hi Bixby, stop" will make both devices respond to the user's voice, but after judging the user's intention, it will only turn off the tablet's alarm without stopping the TV playback, according to Samsung.

HUB EVERYWHERE

Other home appliances such as microwave ovens and washing machines have also become smarter.

Such gadgets are now equipped with a screen, through which the users can use various functions such as playing music.

Samsung said it made it possible through a technology advancement to Tizen, the company’s Linux-based open-source operating system.

“Our goal is to install Tizen in all home appliances and create a network called 'Hub Everywhere’" Jung said.

According to Samsung, the number of SmartThings users worldwide increased by 50 million over the past year.

KEEP TRACK OF VALUABLES

At SDC 2023, Samsung also showcased Galaxy SmartTag2, which enables smartphone users to find their belongings in an easy and intuitive way.

For example, a Galaxy SmartTag2 attached to a pet’s collar is now a convenient way to ensure the pet owner’s phone number is always there.

SmartTag2’s Lost Mode works with any mobile device with an NFC reader and web browser, according to Samsung.

“Leveraging our industrywide partnerships, Samsung is committed to redefining how individuals interact with technology. We strive to make daily life more connected and convenient for users everywhere,” Samsung Vice Chairman Han said.

Write to Jin-Suk Choi at iskra@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.