Samsung’s SEA Forum 2016 reveals a glimpse of the future
Samsung’s annual SEA Forum 2016 where they showcase their latest hardware across the range, not just their phones and tablets but also their TVs and digital appliances with many of them already having made the rounds at CES earlier in the month is an ogle-worthy affair indeed.
It’s the proverbial Willy Wonka candy store, showcasing almost everything under the sun that they aim to release in the coming year. Alas, not everything they showcase may necessarily arrive in a given country for any number of reasons and prices are usually not highlighted as a given product on offer may have multiple variants or ultimately be customised for the needs of a particular market.
Jeon Yong Sung, President & CEO, Southeast Asia & Oceania Office for Samsung Electronics delivering the opening keynote for SEA Forum 2016 and an overview of the devices on display
Even so, it’s a tantalising glimpse of the future as to what’s in store from Samsung though the highly awaited Samsung Galaxy S7 usually makes its debut at the Mobile World Congress Unpacked event that takes place in Barcelona a few days from now.
Jimmy Tan, Head of Consumer Electronics for Samsung Malaysia showcasing the new KS9000 SUHD TVs
Here’s five of the most interesting offerings they have on the showroom floor though local availability and prices have yet to be announced:
Samsung Galaxy TabPro S
Samsung Gear S2 Revised
Samsung AddWash Washing Machine
Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator
Samsung KS9000 Series SUHD TV
Samsung Galaxy TabPro S
This tablet is geared as a productivity device akin to Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 and has a 12-inch FHD Super AMOLED 2,160 x 1,440 pixel display with Windows 10 Home or Windows 10 Pro running under the hood.
The tablet is 6.3mm thin and weighs 693 grams while packing an Intel Core M 2.2GHz processor, 4GB RAM, Cat 6 LTE connectivity, either a 128GB or 256GB SSD and a 5,200mAh battery that offers 10.5 hours of battery life.
The front and rear camera are 5-MP jobs. The TabPro S also has a full sized keyboard dock which includes a touchpad that magnetically attaches to the back and base of the tablet. A Pogo pin on the keyboard dock eliminates the need to pair or charge both the tablet and keyboard separately. A Bluetooth Pen is available for sale separately.
Samsung Gear S2 Classic Revised
Two new aesthetic variants of the Gear S2 Classic are slated to appear in the pipeline. One is embellished in 18K Rose Gold with a genuine leather band in a shade of Ivory while another is finished in a silvery shade of Platinum with a genuine leather band finished in black.
Samsung has also introduced new virtual watch faces by a number of artists like Keith Haring, Jean-Michael Basquiat, Jeremyville, Burton Morris and Peanuts characters like Snoopy too.
Samsung AddWash Washing Machine
This front-loading washing machine has a port up front that lets you toss in an additional piece of laundry up to the size of a pair of jeans in addition to adding in fabric softener at any time during the wash cycle.
The AddWash Washing Machine also pairs up with Android or iOS phones and lets you monitor the progress of your laundry. It also has a SuperSpeed feature that lets you finish a load in less than an hour without compromising on performance.
Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator
This connected four-door fridge made the rounds at CES and is their most ambitious take on a smart fridge yet.
It comes with a 21.5-inch Full HD touchscreen on the front right panel that lets the fridge act as a family nexus to post, share and update calendars, pin photos, leave notes for other family members and even watch videos onscreen by mirroring it off a Samsung Smart TV.
The fridge can conceivably let you manage your groceries too as it includes three internal cameras that snap an image every time you close the fridge so you can peek inside your fridge from your iOS or Android smartphone via your Smart Home app.
Samsung KS9000 series SUHD TV
The new range of SUHD TVs come with 10-bit Quantum dot displays in a range of different sizes. On paper, the Quantum Dot is a redesignation of Samsung’s earlier Nano Crystal technology but is essentially the same thing though this time around it has enjoyed a number of subtle refinements for enhanced performance.
The new range of SUHD TVs have a 1,000 nit HDR minimum for better contrast between light and dark images and have Ultra Black tech to minimise light reflection for better images onscreen while minimising glare. There’s a slight curve to the entire design and it’s breathtakingly slim.
The TVs, like last year’s incarnations, runs on Samsung’s own Tizen operating system that has a Smart Hub feature that connects all your kit together into one central nexus of sorts. Content deals with major video-on-demand players are on the cards with Malaysian versions though it’s too early to tell what will be bundled with each TV.
While it wasn’t on display, the new TVs should host Samsung’s One Connect box that ties the processor and most of the ports of the TV together into one rectangular shaped device to ensure that the panel itself is unbesmirched by ports and retains a slim silhouette.
The new TV’s Smart Control remotes were not on display but are smart enough to recognise the type of game console or other home theatre kit that is connected to the TV and allow you to control it accordingly without any onerous setup procedure.
There are no firm specs yet for the TV as they’re yet to be finalised nor are there any indications as to what sizes will be shipped to Malaysia as yet. There are no firm prices yet either though informed sources indicate that any of the new range will be priced to roughly similar ranges based on similarly sized models from last year.