Samsung's smart washer/dryer lets you pick when you want the cycle to end
Plenty of washers and dryers let you delay a cycle, but Samsung is going one step further and letting you pick the most convenient time for your laundry to be done.
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Samsung shared its plans for smarter laundry with us at CES 2019. Among the notable new features in its latest models: a Laundry Planner that lets you schedule your loads -- not when they begin, but when they'll end.
Sure, lots of washers and dryers let you delay the cleaning cycle for a few hours, but actually dialing in the specific time you'd like it to finish seems more appealing to me. It's a little thing, admittedly, but I'm a multitasker who likes to get other stuff done while I'm getting a few loads done at home. Choosing exactly when a load will be done would do wonders to help me multitask more efficiently, especially if I need some extra time to get something done before moving on to folding.
Samsung says that the feature is reserved for its new smart laundry pair, the WF45R6300AV washer and accompanying dryer. You'll find the controls on your phone via Samsung's app. Seems like it'd be easy enough to implement in dumb washers and dryers too via the on-machine controls, but it doesn't sound like that's in the works this year, which is a shame.
Read: The best washer and dryer pairs you can buy today
That said, Samsung's standard, nonconnected washers are getting some upgrades, too. The most notable: The Active Water Jet from fancier models in years past will now be a standard feature across Samsung's entire top-load washer lineup. That's a nice little addition that basically puts a water spout on the top of the drum that lets you give your clothes a quick prerinse by hand -- perfect for laundry rooms that don't have a sink.
Samsung tweaked the drum design in its new washer, too. It's a bit wider and shallower, making it easier to grab that last sock.
Other new features coming to select Samsung washers include an optional Boost Spray mode that blasts water and detergent directly onto your clothes, along with a Deep Fill button for top-load washers that fills the drum with water for a full soak. Samsung tells us it doesn't believe that it honestly makes much of a difference, but some customers like it so they're offering the option.
As for the new smart washer, other new, app-centric features include Laundry Recipe, which lets you tell the app about the clothes you want to wash -- material, color, stain details, etc. From there, it'll recommend the best cycle for your load. HomeCare Wizard will monitor for problems with your machine and make maintenance recommendations when it's time to run a Tub Clean cycle, for instance.
Samsung tells us that it redesigned the interior of its front-load washer's drums, too, with a newly contoured Swirl Plus interior in the WF45R6300AV that's supposedly better at extracting water during the spin cycle. The drum is a bit shallower and wider, so you won't need to reach in quite as far to grab that last sock. And Samsung top-load washers will bottom out a few inches higher than before now, so you won't need to bend over quite so far, either.
Those features join new and improved Bixby voice controls in the upcoming WF6300R smart washer, another new addition announced at CES and coming this year.
We'll know more about the full Samsung laundry lineup for 2019 soon, with additional details likely coming at the KBIS appliance trade show in the coming weeks. When we know more, so will you -- and expect us to test Samsung's claims at CNET Appliances HQ later this year.
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