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At the IFA technology show in Berlin, the halls are usually stuffed with shiny innovations and huge TV screens showing off the very latest in panel technology on ever-bigger screens. However, the biggest crowds at the Samsung showcase were huddled around something smaller and more quirky: the Movingstyle TV.
It’s not OLED, or MiniLED or 100 inches in size – it’s a small 27in telly with a 4K display, and the picture quality ain’t great — rather than demonstrate a disappointing 4K blockbuster on it, Samsung had the 1990s “classic” Baywatch running as a demonstration, as if to use David Hasselhoff’s barnet as a distraction.
But it does have a battery inside, which lasts up to three hours accoding to Samsung, a handle on the rear so you can carry it from room to room and watch TV wherever you want, and it runs Samsung’s new Vision AI OS, which includes TV streaming apps aplenty to satisfy your binge-watching itch.
It’s also equipped with a touchscreen, so you don’t have to remember to take a remote control with you as you roam your pad and even comes with a paint app, should you want to indulge in a little scribbling.
That’s not the whole story, either. That chunky handle is designed to double up as a stand when you put it down, and it pivots through 360 degrees so you can watch in landscape or portrait mode.
And there’s also a telescoping stand you can pop it on if you don’t have a clear surface free. Again, this offers the ability to pivot between landscape and portrait mode. There’s currently no word on pricing, but I’ll be intrigued to find out how much it will cost – if the price is low enough, it could be surprisingly popular.
Elsewhere, Samsung also showcased its latest TV, a massive 116in Mini LED with Micro RGB backlight with an impressive 100% coverage of the BT.2020 colour gamut and a price to match – $30,000 – and a wheeled party speaker, a category of audio product Samsung claimed was growing faster than any other right now. Presumably that’s because everyone’s already got a soundbar, smart speaker and several pairs of headphones.
Samsung’s new robot vacuum can climb small steps and avoid small spills
Samsung might be best known for its TVs, phones and tablets, but it also manufactures a huge range of domestic appliances, and it unveiled a whole selection of new products at IFA.
Its new appliances included a washing machine that can detect that you’ve loaded it with jeans, a dishwasher that optimises its wash cycle on the fly by detecting how dirty water is … and a brand new top-of-the-range floor cleaning robot – the Samsung Jet Bot Steam Ultra.
This latest robot can not only vacuum carpets and mop hard floors using a pair of spinning mop pads, but it can also detect liquids sitting on the floor – even transparent fluids – and dodge around them. Plus, when the robot approaches skirting boards or walls, it can mop right up to them by extending one pad outward a couple of centimetres.
It can climb thresholds or small steps and, once it gets back to base, its charger uses steam to clean and sterilise its mop pads so it doesn’t smell bad.
It wasn’t quite as impressive as Eufy’s stair-climbing MarsWalker robot, which can scale staircases fully, from bottom to top, but it’s definitely a step up over regular robot vacuums, which can struggle on even the lowest-lying furniture. It achieves this feat by detecting steps with its forward-facing sensors, then extending its wheels a few inches and hopping over the obstacle in question.
I saw it in action at the Samsung showcase, and while not particularly elegant, lumbering rather abruptly on its way up and down the demo step Samsung put in its way at its IFA showcase, it certainly seemed to be effective.
What it won’t be is cheap. Its predecessor, the Samsung Bespoke Jet Bot Combo, currently costs £899, and this one will almost certainly be the same price or more expensive. We’ll be looking to review this one fully just as soon as we can get our hands on one, so watch this space for more details.
