CES 2024: New mapping feature launched alongside improved TV UI and more
Samsung’s booth over in Las Vegas at CES is attracting a lot of attention thanks to its awesome transparent TV tech, but it was the SmartThings demos that really impressed us here at The Ambient.
Samsung used the tech expo to unveil a number of new features for its smart home ecosystem, the highlight of which is the new Map View feature.
Taking on Alexa’s Map View that went live last year, the SmartThings’ effort packs a much heftier punch for a number of reasons.
The biggest plus point SmartThings has in its favor is that the SmartThings app isn’t restricted to your smartphone or tablet – it can live on pretty much any Samsung screen such as TVs, monitors, and even fridge doors.
That means a much bigger, much clearer, and more visually rewarding experience… I had a play around with Map View on several different Samsung devices on the brand’s booth and it’s a fantastic addition.
It’s super simple to create a map, with a number of options available. You can literally sketch out your house on the app or upload or take a picture of a floor plan.
If you have a Samsung Jet Bot robot cleaner, you can have that create the map too with its LiDAR sensor.
You then, if you want, populate the rooms with furniture and items – it’s a bit like playing The Sims.
Even more so as you can even throw a few AI characters into the mix, including pets, who will react to things like temperature changes.
Once you’ve added in all your smart devices’ positions and got everything in place, you’ve then got a superb overview of your home; and you can switch between different views to show things like temperature, air quality, and live camera feeds.
The next major update for SmartThings is specific to its TVs with new features added for viewing the status of your smart home in various different ways, including full-screen graphics and a new Quick Panel that pops up on the side, overlaid on what you are watching, to give you the info you need at a glance.
There’s also a new way of letting people access your SmartThings devices and routines; but just the ones you want them to have.
You can choose whatever you want to share in the SmartThings app and share a QR code.
If the person you share with has a SmartThings system already, it will just create the shared devices in a new home; if the recipient is a non-SmartThings user, they’ll be directed to the App Store or Google Play to download the app first.
It’s clear from these SmartThings announcements that Samsung sees the TV as front and center of smart home control, which makes even more sense when you consider that the Korean giant is building SmartThings hubs into its TVs, which can also act as Matter controllers.
