The best smart home tech of CES 2023: fresh ideas from Samsung, LG and more
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The smart home has been one of the biggest themes of CES for the past decade – and we expect it to be the case again at CES 2023. Why? One big reason is that there’s finally a new smart home standard called Matter – and it promises to be the glue that binds all of our new smart home tech together.
CES 2023 has just kicked off and we’ll be rounding up all the latest smart home announcements worth knowing about right here. Initial headlines include a new Philips Hue rival from GE Lighting, an AI-powered oven from Samsung and an LG Artcool air-conditioning system disguised as, you guessed it, a piece of art on the wall.
No doubt we’ll soon see a wave of security cameras, robot vacuum cleaners and more pouring into CES 2023 – and we’ll be there to separate the winners from the vaporware. But for now, it’s the best smart home tech we’ve seen at this year’s CES so far. Plus a new “shower pod” system from Kohler, just because the aromatherapy accessory was a little too bizarre to pass up.
Smart devices
Samsung custom AI oven
If there’s one area where we need help from our new AI overlords, it’s in cooking – and Samsung’s new Bespoke AI Oven promises to be that virtual chef. The oven’s smart camera is able to recognize food and detect burning, meaning it can recognize up to 80 different dishes and recommend cooking settings for each one. Alternatively, the European model can also send you a panic message to say your lasagna is approaching charred area.
If you use Samsung Health or SmartThings Cooking (which comes in the SmartThings app), this new smart oven also promises to recommend meals based on your exercise stats, diet goals and the ingredients you have on hand. Though it could struggle with our fridge’s current stash of beer, double cream, and onions. The Bespoke AI Oven is currently available in Europe and will launch in North America in Q3 2023, though pricing is yet to be announced.
Samsung Custom 4 Door Flex Fridge
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The Internet fridge has been a staple of CES for the past 15 years, and Samsung just took the concept to a new, and strangely compelling, extreme. The Bespoke Flex Fridge with Family Hub features a 32-inch vertical touchscreen, which is twice the size of previous models.
You can use this screen to view or share photos from your Google Photos library, control your SmartThings devices, and create digital shopping lists for Amazon deliveries. Of course you can also watch TV with it thanks to the 190 free channels (in the US) of the Samsung TV Plus service. Although the vertical orientation is perhaps best suited for TikTok videos.
This refrigerator to rule them all will launch in North America in the first half of 2023, although unfortunately we don’t know pricing just yet. Until then, we’ll have to stick an iPad to our fridge.
LG ArtCool Gallery air conditioner
We’ve already seen IKEA and Sonos build a speaker into a piece of art on the wall, and now LG has pulled the same trick with a wall-mounted air conditioner. The new ArtCool Gallery has a 27-inch LCD screen that can display all the photos you choose in the companion LG ThinQ app. That certainly makes it a bit more attractive than your average metal rectangle.
While this additional technology will likely make the ArtCool Gallery more expensive than your average A/C unit (the price hasn’t been announced yet), it promises to deliver some offsetting savings thanks to a dual inverter compressor, which apparently uses up to 70 percent less power than standard AC. -Products.
More importantly for your sleep, it also works at a noise level of just 20 decibels. That’s good news, otherwise you’d probably be hurling a teacup at your new humming painting.
Kohler twig
In the future, we won’t just buy pods for our coffee machines – if it’s up to Kohler, we’ll also buy them for its Kohler Sprig System, which adds aromatherapy to your existing shower.
The Sprig connects to your shower head and infuses the water with fragrances, oils and other skin-enhancing ingredients via Kohler’s Sprig Shower Pods. And yes, only Kohler’s pods, which will initially be available in six different scents, will work with the system.
But if you fancy a blast of lavender, chamomile, or eucalyptus (among other skin-loving ingredients like hyaluronic acid) in your morning shower, the Sprig could be one to look forward to when it hits shelves in the first few months of 2023. lies. The system costs $119, not including the pods, which will set you back $21 for a six-pack of single-use pods.
Smart lighting
GE Lighting Cync dynamic effects
Nanoleaf Lines and Philips Hue have dominated smart lighting in recent years, but GE Lighting has made some increasingly impressive alternatives. At CES 2023, it announced some new additions to its Dynamic Effects lineup that look like a temptingly affordable way to bring some color to your study or YouTube channel background.
The four new smart lighting products include Smart Hexagon panels, which take over from the Nanoleaf equivalents, and Smart Neon-Shape Lights which can be bent or shaped as desired. GE Lighting has also launched new Dynamic Effects Smart Bulbs available in Aline versions or for its indoor floodlights.
These new bulbs are competitively priced, starting at $19.99 (about £17 / AU$30) for the A19 Aline bulbs, and will be available in the US from March 2023. You don’t need a bridge or hub to use them either, as they are instead controlled over Wi-Fi using the Cync app. But on the other hand, these new products will not support Matter, while GE Lighting will instead support the standard for a number of new products in the coming year.
Smart security
Lockly Flex Touch Pro
Most smart locks require the removal and replacement of your existing deadbolt, which is not always convenient or possible. But Lockly’s Flex Touch Pro becomes a better option for renters or Airbnb owners – it conveniently adds a fingerprint reader to your existing lock.
The downside is that you have to install a pretty hefty enclosure on the inside of your door, as that’s where the Flex Touch Pro’s AA batteries and smarts live. But on the outside of the door you get a rather elegant fingerprint reader, which can apparently store up to 99 impressions.
Since it comes with a Wi-Fi hub, you can also allow or deny people access to the door remotely, or also control it using the likes of Amazon Alexa or Google Home. The Flex Touch Pro will be available in the US from Spring 2023 for $229 (£190 / AU$340).