Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator Review:
No one needs the Samsung Family Hub refrigerator and its 21.5-inch touchscreen. And its ingredient-tracking fridge cameras. And its assortment of refrigerator apps. It is...
11/01/2022
No one needs the Samsung Family Hub refrigerator and its 21.5-inch touchscreen. And its ingredient-tracking fridge cameras. And its assortment of refrigerator apps. That's a valid argument against this extraordinarily expensive fridge.
So what ?
We don't buy things just because we need them - we buy things because we want them. And the most beautiful and complete refrigerator on the market is a very reasonable thing.
Starting at $5,600, £4,500 or AU$7,499, the Samsung Family Hub is a beautiful device that performs like the premium fridge that it is, and it's packed with easy-to-use features you won't find anywhere else. go elsewhere. Many of these features seem utterly superfluous (I'm just as skeptical of fridge-based web browsing as you are), but enough of them offer legitimate utility, convenience, and luxury to earn my approval. Bottom line: This is a high-end fridge that's definitely worth seeking out — and yes, it's worth buying too, if that's the kind of budget you're rolling with.
Up close with Samsung Fridge Family Hub
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Refrigerator of the future, roots in the past
If Samsung's goal was to create the most modern refrigerator on the market, mission accomplished. There really is nothing other than the Family Hub fridge, not even among smart fridges. building
Four-Door Flex
from Samsung already looked like a logical and desirable evolution of today's nearly ubiquitous French door styles - the Family Hub fridge takes it and adds a 21.5-inch touchscreen loaded with apps, security cameras, and more. stocks inside and a particularly attractive black stainless steel finish. It's a beautiful, futuristic appliance that goes beyond what we've come to expect from contemporary fridge design.
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Samsung's Family Hub fridge is a fantastic appliance.
Chris Monroe/CNET
And yet, even with futurism, this refrigerator is steeped in the past. It's right there in the name, "Family Hub." Fridges have always been something of a town post for busy families – a place for calendars, photos, school report cards, to-do lists and soccer practice reminders. That's the story Samsung is trying to tap into here.
As a result, you'll find apps aimed at helping this refrigerator of the future do what refrigerators have always done. There is a shopping list app and an app to view photos. There's a whiteboard app for drawing a quick doodle or writing a note to mom. There's a calendar app called StickiBoard that imports everyone's existing calendars into a shared family fridge calendar. All of this keeps the Family Hub grounded in the kind of normal, everyday use we've come to expect from a fridge - but it also makes you wonder if it's really necessary, given that magnets and scrap paper have been doing the job for generations. now.
Perhaps to that end, other features seem designed just to let you do things you could never do with your fridge before. Fridge cameras are the most obvious example. They take a picture of your shopping every time you close the doors - press the "See Inside" button on the touchscreen, and you'll see the latest set of images, with the ability to swipe small countdown icons on specific ingredients to help track expiration dates. Download the Samsung app on your Android or iOS device and you'll be able to see inside the fridge and all your timers while you're at the store. It's a little clunky as far as apps go, but it works.
Drag-and-drop timers are my favorite part of this pitch, and one of my favorite features of Family Hub in general. They won't track ingredients if you move them, but they're still surprisingly useful - and you won't find them on any other fridge but this one.
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< p>Chris Monroe/CNETLet's talk touchscreen
At 21.5 inches from corner to corner, the Family Hub's touchscreen is the obvious star of the show, providing a dedicated kitchen command center. It's a huge upgrade over the relatively puny touchscreen of the
Samsung's previous stab at the smart fridge
, and helps Family Hub feel fulfilled. The calendar, the photos, the web browsing - none of that would have made sense with a small screen. He must have been tall.
Size isn't everything, however. We've all grown accustomed to smooth, responsive touch controls on our phones and tablets, and it's only fair to expect the same from a touchscreen fridge that costs this much. And, while still not as smooth or as snappy as a high-end tablet, I found the Family Hub's on-screen touch controls to be much better than two months ago, when I tested a preproduction model in the CNET Smart Home. Ask for software updates.
In addition to the time and weather widgets that remain locked at the top of the home screen, the Family Hub fridge comes with the following apps:
Whiteboard
: app for scribbling notes and sketching doodles
Internet
: application for browsing the web
View inside
: application that displays images of the interior and allows you to follow the expiration dates using drag and drop countdown
Chefs Club
: application with recipes and cooking video instructions
allrecipes
: application to organize personal recipes and find new ones
StickiBoard
: app that imports calendars from Google and Outlook into a shared family fridge calendar
pandora
: app to stream music
TuneIn
: application to broadcast podcasts and Internet radios
Photo album
: app to organize photos in fridge screen saver
Shopping list
: application to organize your shopping list p>
TV mirroring p>
: application that displays the image of current generation Samsung smart TVs
InstaCart/Groceries by MasterCard
: apps to order groceries for home delivery
< p>Timer: app with timers for tasks like marinating steak and chilling beer
Refrigerator Manager
: application to view and change the temperature and settings of the refrigerator< /p>