Before falling for the latest in home technology, it is essential to ask yourself whether these innovations are real allies or simply expensive and fragile gadgets.
On paper, he can do everything! Thanks to internal cameras equipped with artificial intelligence (boosted by Google Gemini), it automatically scans the food stored inside. It detects remaining quantities, reads expiration dates, even on handwritten labels, and alerts you in the event of risk of waste. Better yet, it offers personalized recipes based on what it “sees” in your compartments. You can also control doors by voice: just say “Open the door” to Bixby for hands-free access, perfect when you have your arms full of shopping. The screen displays the synchronized family calendar, weather, photos or voice memos in real time. You can even share live shopping lists with other family members via the SmartThings app.
In addition, it directly orders your groceries online with live tracking of the delivery person. You stream music on Spotify, watch series or cooking tutorials while you cook. It even controls other connected devices in the home, such as the washing machine or robot vacuum cleaner, and generates weekly reports on your eating habits to optimize your purchases. Pretty impressive for a simple fridge.
But it is precisely this overload that makes the Samsung Family Hub connected refrigerator the “worst product of the year” according to a prize awarded by consumer associations. Excessive over-design with cameras, door motors and cloud-dependent AI leads to more breakdowns and expensive repairs. For them, it is a question of remembering that technology does not always rhyme with progress and that it must remain at the service of consumers to be truly useful. They then pinpoint devices that are too complex, difficult to repair and designed above all to create buzz rather than to make everyday life easier.
Another sensitive subject, in the United States, an update of the device caused advertisements to appear on the home screen of the device, transforming the fridge of thousands of people into an advertising panel in the heart of their kitchen. Samsung has since made it possible to deactivate these ads in the settings, but the operation then loses some features such as the calendar or the weather while the refrigerator costs a small fortune.
This controversy calls for caution: always check repairability and really useful features before purchasing a product. Innovations should lighten our lives, not weigh them down with unnecessary gadgets. It is therefore sometimes better to opt for simplicity to avoid technological headaches.
