Despite being around for a few years now, fridges with internet connectivity and LCD touchscreens haven't really taken off with consumers. Samsung isn't giving up, though, previewing its 32 cubic-feet (906-liter), four-door T9000 model at CES 2013 that boasts a 10-inch LCD touchscreen option.
The T9000's two main features are its humidity removal system and optional LCD display that connects to a home network via Wi-Fi. As to the former, the fridge features a Triple Cooling system to make sure humidity levels in the fresh food compartments are low, helping keep produce fresh for longer. This is done with two compressors, three evaporators and an array of sensors.
Once the food is nicely preserved, there’s the question of what to do with it. Here’s where the LCD option can help. Despite running Android, users can't install their own apps, but a variety come preloaded, including Epicurious, weather, AP news and a read-only twitter client. The fridge also features Google calendar integration and comes with Evernote, which allows users to share photos, videos and recipes.
On a more traditional note, the T9000 is quite spacious. It has a 19.4 cubic-feet (539-liter) capacity French Door refrigerator compartment on top, with a 6.1 cubic-feet (173-liter) compartment on the lower right complemented by a freezer of the same size on the left. The lower right compartment can be used as a fridge as well, which could be useful for kid-friendly foods or for those on a special diet who would like to keep their food in a separate section.
The T9000 is expected to be available in the late 2013 northern spring for an estimated US$3,999. The LCD option does not have a price or release date yet.
Source: Samsung
I would have liked a 40" back lit e-ink display that displays the newspaper headlines, or display to do lists.
A bar-code reader and a simple keypad (touch screen or otherwise could also let the user enter product info and use-by dates, so items in the fridge can be identified when they are about to go off.
If the fridge knew what you had you could ask it what possible recipes can be made for items in the fridge, The fridge could also advise what you might be missing.
Simple things like this would bring a bit of life into an otherwise dull device.
Plus, the LCD, two compressors, three evaporators and an array of sensors would be a large power drain on the electric bill. I'd rather pass on using a locked down version of Android software anyway.
I called Samsung many times to find out about the release date for this refrigerator, but no one at Samsung knows anything about it or if they do, then they are being secretive about it.
A bogus Press Release, Videos on YouTube, and all of these articles and marketing information are useless to the public until the product becomes available on the market. At the present time, this product does not exist, and it's a virtual product.
Late Spring 2013 has passed already, and Samsung has not provided any news updates about it. I call this deceptive and dishonest marketing - raising expectations in the public and then failing to deliver and/or provide further information on it.