Samsung's new smart fridge mirrors your smart phone
Refrigerators
[MUSIC]
Hey, I'm cnet's Ry Crist and Samsung's got a new flagship smart refrigerator and this is it here right here.
This is model RF 28HMELBSR/AA.
Now like previous smart refrigerators that we've seen from Samsung, this model's got built-in WiFi and an eight inch LCD touchscreen.
That's the exact same size as the last model.
It's got apps like Pandora, so you can stream music, It's got the AP news app, so you can check headlines in the morning, it doesn't have that same Twitter app though that we saw last year.
The big new feature this year is the phone mirroring aspect of this refrigerator.
So if you've got a Samsung Galaxy S5 or a Note 3, you'll be able to mirror your phone screen directly onto the frig.
Now I'm your sure you really want that, it might not be for everyone.
It's got a, kind of low resolution screen.
And not the greatest speakers, but it is an interesting feature, because it's putting the smarts in your hands.
The obvious use for that might be streaming a movie or watching a tv show on your phone, and having it play on your fridge as you're cooking dinner.
But if you could think of another smart use of the technology on this fridge, and you can do it on your phone, you can see it on this screen.
Now you won't be able to access it on the screen.
You can't use the touch pad to actually control your phone.
That's a little, a little bit disappointing.
I'd prefer that level of functionality.
But there is an interesting level of user customizability with this.
And that might be a step forward for a large smart appliance.
The other big new smart feature that goes along with that phone mirroring is that the Samsung Smart Fridge now has a kitchen phone mode.
You can access it and then pull up your Samsung Galaxy S5 or Note 3 and actually dial people and talk to them right through your fridge.
That might makes this the biggest and most expensive phone ever made, but kind of interesting if you've got one of those devices.
Now, we'll have a much more in-depth look at the phone mirroring and kitchen phone capabilities of this refrigerator once we do a full review in the coming months.
But, for now, the app is a little bit half-baked, and also, you know, none of us on staff have an S5 or a Note 3. And that leaves us unable to even test these out if it wasn't half-baked.
So.
That's kind of interesting.
If you don't have one of those phones, if you're like us, you can't take full advantage of these new features, and this fridge probably isn't worth it.
Now, aside from those new layers of smart functionality, the new Samsung smart fridge has a very similar set of features and capabilities to the last model we saw.
It's got the same 28 cubic foot capacity inside, and it's got the same twin cooling system that keeps the refrigerator humid and the freezer dry.
Another thing that's unchanged is this flex zone drawer in between the freezer and the fridge.
You open it up and you've got four different modes for specific types of foods.
You've also got this slider here that will help you organize things as you see fit.
You can move it wherever you want.
The final similarity between this model and the last one is the price point.
At $3,599 it's just $100 cheaper than the last model.
And that's an incremental step down.
Kind of to go along with the incremental step up in smarts.
So we'll see if that translates to more appeal with consumers.
For C-Net I'm Ryan Crist.
