Samsung Electronics is launching the Samsung Connect Tag – a new way to keep track of the loved ones, valuables and all the matters in life. The Samsung Connect Tag is the world’s first consumer mobile product to use narrowband network technology (NB-IoT, Cat.M1), a specially designed cellular communication standard for small data utilization, low power consumption and the ability to securely connect to the internet for optimal location services. The Samsung Connect Tag offers smart location notifications based on a NB-IoT or Cat.M1 network, leveraging full internet services to identify location information for increased family security and peace of mind.

The Samsung Connect Tag will work with GPS, Wi-Fi-based positioning (WPS) and Cell ID, so it can receive accurate location information both indoors and outdoors for effortless location tracking. It can be attached to a young child’s backpack so his or her whereabouts can be tracked, clipped to a dog’s collar so it won’t go missing, and secured the keys so they are never lost. These tracking and notification abilities will minimize anxiety about the user’s favorite items or loved ones, offering an exciting way to use technology for increased family security and an enhanced lifestyle.

Furthering Samsung’s commitment to a seamless IoT experience across devices, the Samsung Connect Tag will be tied to the SmartThings ecosystem, working in conjunction with the user’s smart home appliances through Works with SmartThings. The geo-fence feature on the Samsung Connect Tag will notify the user’s chosen smart devices when he or she approaches – so if the user wants lights and TV to turn on while getting home from a nightly run, the Samsung Connect Tag can trigger these products as the user enters the pre-define zone, so the user will get a notification when the child enters the schoolyard or a dog jumps the backyard fence.

The Samsung Connect Tag also offers several key features to minimize anxiety and increase usability. If the user loses car in a large outdoor parking lot, the on-demand function will allow requesting any Connect Tag’s location when desired, simply by pressing a button on the smartphone.

The Send my location function will send their current location to their guardian, so even a young child can let you know exactly where he or she is and can go pick him/her up safely. Additionally, periodic location notifications will show a trace the loved ones location record.

Connect Tag features a compact size, measuring just 4.21 centimeters wide and 1.19 centimeters thick, as well as IP68 water and dustproof rating for durability. The battery can last for up to seven days on a single charge, minimizing the need to constantly swap out or plug in the device. Connect Tag comes with an exclusive ring that easily attaches to bags, collars or key rings.

Connect Tag will be showcased at the Samsung Developer Conference 2017 on October 18-19 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, California, United States. It will be available for purchase starting in Korea before expanding to select countries in the coming months.

*All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.

Samsung Connect Tag Specifications

Did you know that four out of ten refrigerators in the European market are built-in types?

It is a simple yet noteworthy statistic of the European market. Unlike other regions, the percentage of built-in appliances in Europe is over 40 percent. Especially in Germany, around 50 percent of households use built-in appliances. This shows how much European customers love to use built-in type products that will perfectly fit into their home.

This is why Samsung Electronics and other home appliance manufacturers have such a fierce built-in appliances competition in Europe. Because built-in products exceed other types by far in terms of growth rate and profitability, the European market is all about built-in appliances. Global appliances manufacturers cannot miss this market as built-in appliances are an integral part and excellent test bed for the Internet of Things (IoT) in future households.

Opening a Premium Built-in Showroom in Poland

Samsung recently opened a built-in showroom “Cook Story by Samsung” in Warsaw, Poland. This showroom was the first of its kind in the European market and is full of premium built-in products that are optimized for European lifestyles. Samsung was the number one manufacturer of refrigerators, washing machines and electric ranges in Poland since 2012. As the new built-in products gained huge popularities after their release in the market earlier this year, Samsung also took the first place in the built-in refrigerator market in July.

Poland is just a starting point for Samsung to showcase its built-in products, as it plans to add more built-in showrooms in many other European countries. These showrooms will offer hands-on experiences of the leading built-in products to the customers, along with cooking shows and other various events. Samsung will bring unprecedented kitchen experiences for its customers.

Building a Full Lineup of Smart Built-ins

Samsung introduced a variety of the new built-in products to European countries to build its unique lineup in this year.

The lineup includes refrigerator models with No Frost technology and Twin Cooling Plus that maintains an optimal humidity level up to 70 percent, ovens with Gourmet Vapour Technology that efficiently delivers a super-heated vapor that quickly spreads from corner to corner to ensure even cooking, and Dual cook that is divided into two small ovens for separate cooking processes. It also contains induction cook tops with Virtual Flame Technology as well as Water Wall dishwashers that clean all of your dishes from corner to corner using high pressure wall of water that glides back and forth.

Another special feature of Samsung built-in appliances is that all major functions can be simply controlled via smartphones. For example, your smartphone can tell you whether the doors of refrigerators are opened. You can also check the temperatures of fridge and freezer so you can adjust the numbers from outside or start Rapid Cooling function. The products also support a smart warranty service that automatically diagnoses and treats any problems without consulting the manuals. In addition, Samsung plans to adopt soon the IoT services that will realize a more convenient connected home by enabling connection between appliances and other devices with Samsung Connect.

Close Collaborations with European Furniture Companies

Built-in appliances are basically the fusion of furniture and appliances, and therefore cooperation with furniture companies is inevitable. Samsung will collaborate to showcase and sell built-in appliances with major European furniture companies such as Nolte of Germany, Nobia of Northern Europe (including Marbodal), Veneta Cucine of Italy and more.

At the beginning of this month, Samsung revealed a European style built-in kitchen composed of elegant design and technologies at IFA 2017 that took place in Germany. The kitchen, a result of collaboration with three companies, drew a lot of attention with Family Hub refrigerator at the central point for an IoT-based built-in kitchen system that enables convenient management of food, ingredient, family communication and even entertainment.

“Built-in as a New Driving Force for CE Business”

Samsung has been expanding its built-in appliances business in not only Europe, but also North America, Asia and other parts of the world. Samsung showcased new products this year in cooperation with Dacor, a North American premium built-in appliances company which Samsung acquired last year.

“B2B and IoT are the new driving force for us to overcome the stagnated global CE market,” said BK Yoon, CEO of the CE Business at Samsung Electronics, at IFA 2017. “In three years, we will raise our competitive edge by becoming the top-tier in the North American built-in appliances market.”

BK Yoon, CEO of the CE Business at Samsung Electronics, introduces one of the Column Refrigerators of “Modernist Collection”, a new suite of sophisticated luxury appliances of Dacor, at the launch event on March in the U.S.

Samsung’s exhibit at the event will offer visitors the exciting chance to experience the future smart home, where home appliances are all connected through the latest advancements in IoT, as well as showcase the Samsung Family Hub refrigerator, and Samsung Connect application, which are at the heart of Samsung’s smart home vision.

A Better Lifestyle with Family Hub

Just imagine the scene. You are busy in the kitchen when you say, “Bixby, run cleaning mode,” to your Family Hub refrigerator. In an instant, your robot vacuum cleaner, POWERbot, turns on and begins to clean. As Family Hub also plays your favorite tune, you glance over to check on the status of your laundry in your FlexWash laundry machine, which sits in another part of the house, via Family Hub’s display panel.

A refrigerator is a home appliance that runs 24/7, all year round, for families to use anytime they want. This is the main reason why Samsung has positioned Family Hub at the core of its smart home vision.

Samsung Family Hub refrigerator features a beautiful, large 21.5-inch screen, as well as utilizes the latest in voice recognition technology. Samsung, leveraging its leadership in IoT to build an ecosystem for contents and services beyond just products, provides users with vast content and services options. Families can manage food items, find recipes, shop for groceries, as well as enjoy various entertainment options. These smart options are only available on Family Hub, with Samsung continuing to grow Family Hub’s partner ecosystem by collaborating with more than 100 partner companies across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Samsung Connect Expands the Smart Home Ecosystem

Samsung Connect for the smart home was first demonstrated at IFA 2017, as an integrated application system that controls different home appliances, and based on the cloud, is compatible with any device or operating system. In the Samsung Smart Home with the Samsung Connect app, users can control as well as check on the status of nearly every device or appliance in their home. Voice support will also soon be integrated into the Connect app.

To illustrate how Samsung Connect works, picture this: While driving home, you say “Bixby, tell me the room temperature.” The sensor on your Wind-Free air conditioner at home, which is linked to the Samsung Connect App, measures the temperature of your home, and your mobile device communicates the reading to you by voice. Since you realize it is getting a little too warm at home, you ask Samsung Connect to turn on the air conditioner before you arrive.

Along these lines, Samsung has also been focusing on expanding its open ecosystem by closely interacting with other manufacturers. As a diamond member of the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), the company is actively pursuing the standardization of the smart home and IoT platform.

Samsung is also working with various third parties to integrate voice support, for example, with Amazon to integrate the Alexa voice assistant into its refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and robot vacuums, and also with Google Home for integration into its robotic vacuums. Samsung plans to focus on expanding services through collaboration with various smart home companies, and increase the range of devices compatible with SmartThings, building a comprehensive IoT ecosystem that ultimately connects everything.

Sounds very futuristic, right? Samsung Smart Home is already becoming the reality thanks to the endless efforts of Samsung to integrate a smart system and IoT functionality to connect across home appliances. It may not be very long before we all are living in smart homes ourselves!

Samsung Electronics announced today that it will expand the voice recognition function of the Family Hub refrigerator to European countries in the second half of this year. It will also introduce the “Samsung Connect” smart home feature for the first time at IFA 2017.

Samsung has already applied cloud-based voice features to the Family Hub in Korea and the U.S., and will add European languages on a phased basis this year, starting with British English, German, French, and Italian.

“Samsung has continuously enhanced the Family Hub since its first introduction at CES 2016, focusing on improving consumer lifestyles,” said JS Park, Executive Vice President of the Digital Appliances Business at Samsung Electronics. “Our endeavor to advance the smart features of home appliances has always been closely tied to our mission to make a meaningful difference in the lives of individual consumers and families with innovations that matter.”

In addition to touch command, the Family Hub’s voice capabilities provide a new way to interact with the refrigerator. Users can ask for the time and weather updates, search the internet, read news articles, play music and radio, add items to their shopping list, and even view inside of the refrigerator without opening the door.

Standing at the center of the home, Family Hub is now ready to help households take control of their various Samsung smart devices. Samsung Connect enhances this as a platform capable of connecting and controlling IoT devices regardless of their operating system, such as Android or iOS. Samsung Connect is now integrated into the Family Hub.

Users will be able to turn on and monitor their AddWash^TM washing machine, or tell their POWERbot^TM vacuum cleaner to begin cleaning up the living room from Family Hub’s interactive screen while cooking or entertaining in the kitchen.

Furthermore, Samsung continues to grow Family Hub’s partner ecosystem with innovative new services and content. More than 100 partner companies collaborate with Samsung’s Family Hub platform across North America, Europe, and Asia/Pacific. As an example, Instacart, Shoprite and FreshDirect provide consumers in the U.S. with seamless e-Commerce shopping experiences. European versions of the Samsung Family Hub feature European retailers like Supermercato24 and Eataly to provide grocery shopping.

For news and entertainment, consumers around the world can enjoy their favorite music on various music streaming services like Spotify, or stay up-to-date with the latest news via NPR or upday. Lastly, cooking enthusiasts can find daily inspiration from recipe apps like Allrecipes, Whisk!, and Samsung Club des Chefs.

Visitors to Samsung’s exhibition booth at IFA 2017 in Berlin, beginning on September 1, can experience the Family Hub’s new voice recognition feature as well as Samsung’s smart home and IoT services implementing with Samsung Connect.

Refined Design

The Galaxy S8 builds on Samsung’s design heritage with a large Infinity Display, a bezel-less, dual-edge display that takes up more than 80 percent of the phone’s front screen. Visually obtrusive elements are minimal, resulting in more tangible screen space. An invisible Home button embedded underneath the screen functions just like a physical button while Recent and Back buttons are now customizable soft keys.

The Galaxy S8’s subtle curvature flows from the front of the device to the back to create a more ergonomic grip ideal for one-handed operation. The phone’s camera, fingerprint scanner and heart rate sensor have been incorporated on the back of the device in a way that minimizes protrusions, ensuring a sleek aesthetic at any angle.

Available in five colors including Midnight Black, the all-new Orchid Gray, Coral Blue, Arctic Silver, and Maple Gold, the Galaxy S8 is enhanced by a rich color palette.

One Unified Experience

Designed around the Infinity Display, the UX of the Galaxy S8 was developed to add convenience and enhance the flow of user interactions. Like the display itself, the UX is seamless, unifying visual and audio components to create one continuous experience.

The default wallpaper of the customizable Always On Display complements the color of the phone, while its aesthetic transitions smoothly to the Lock and Home screens. Meanwhile, a new vertical swiping interface provides seamless navigation between the Home and App screens.

Even the phone’s app icons and typography incorporate the Galaxy S8’s design language through a play of continuous curves and lines. Its brand sound “Over the Horizon” and ringtones have also been updated to better harmonize with the design of the device.

See More, Scroll Less

The stunning Infinity Display of the Galaxy S8 is 18 percent larger than the display of the Galaxy S7, making for a noticeably more immersive viewing experience.

When watched in landscape mode, 21:9 movies fill the Galaxy S8’s 18.5:9 display, while the black bars above and below the picture are minimized, increasing the viewing area by 36 percent, compared to the Galaxy S7. This, along with the phone’s High Dynamic Range (HDR) Premium capabilities, enables users to see content exactly as the creator intended. Gaming experiences, too, are enhanced, as any game that supports 18.5:9 full screen mode is automatically optimized to fill up the entire screen.

The Infinity Display also makes it easier to see and do more from a single screen without having to scroll as often. Optimized for multi-window usability, multitasking is made easy, even when using the phone’s full keyboard. The Galaxy S8’s new Snap Window feature enhances productivity by allowing users to pin a specific area from a recent app to the top of the screen, and continue using the area below it.

In addition, the Infinity Display is protected with Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 which is impervious against scratches and external impacts.

Great Photos, In a Snap

The Galaxy S8 builds on the Galaxy foundation with its advanced camera, which offers multi-frame image processing. With this technology, the camera takes multiple photos in rapid succession instead of just one, then selects the clearest image and uses the others to reduce the blur. This enhanced image processing ensures that shots taken when the subject is moving, in low light or when zoomed in are clear and vibrant.

The dual-pixel sensor technology, wide aperture and fast autofocus of the 12MP F1.7 rear camera work together to create beautiful photographs even in low-light conditions. The 8MP F1.7 front camera has been equipped with enhanced autofocus features and facial recognition technology that can recognize and track faces to provide clear, focused selfies, regardless of the distance between the user and the camera.

With an easy-to-use filter setting, users can enhance their photos by selecting from a variety of filters, including Auto Filter, which automatically selects one optimized for their photo. Animated stickers and stamps can also now be applied to images when taking photos, right from the native camera app. The camera’s UX has also been optimized for one-handed operation.

A New Way to Interact

Although Bixby, Samsung’s new intelligent interface, is continuously being developed, it was created to enhance the way people interact with their Galaxy S8.  The intuitive and comprehensive interface leverages contextual awareness to learn users’ habits and provide related information, and is easily activated with a press of its dedicated hardware button or by saying “Bixby.”

With its multimodal functionality, its Voice feature lets users control multiple apps simultaneously using voice and touch commands interchangeably. Bixby has the ability to control all settings and features of each service without affecting other tasks users might be working on.

Its Vision interface can detect what users are looking for and respond accordingly, making it easier to search for images similar to ones selected by the user, shop online, get information about landmarks, decode QR codes and even translate foreign text through the phone’s Camera. Bixby also ensures that users remember important events through its intelligent Reminder feature. All of Bixby’s features can be accessed through its Home screen, which displays a user’s most contextually relevant apps on a single screen.

Seamless Transition from the Smartphone to the PC

Samsung DeX is a new service that lets users use their Galaxy S8 as they would a desktop by providing a seamless, secure mobile-to-PC transition. With DeX, users can conveniently access apps, browse the web, send messages and more directly from their phone on a larger display without having to carry multiple devices or transfer data.

DeX supports keyboard and mouse gestures, thus providing the effortless usability of a PC. Furthermore, with the ability to quickly shift between windows and adjust window size with ease, users can multitask more efficiently.

Samsung DeX helps to maximize productivity with intuitive applications such as Samsung Browser, MyFiles, Gallery and Samsung e-mail. DeX is also compatible with the Microsoft Office and Adobe mobile app suite, which allows complete desktop-like functionality previously unavailable from a mobile device. In addition, beginning in the first half of 2017, customers will be able to use VDI to remotely use Windows OS as they would on a desktop.

All Eyes on Security

The Galaxy S8 provides strengthened security features through the integration of Samsung’s trusted Knox security platform and a combination of new and enhanced biometric technologies.

The Galaxy S8’s highly secure iris scanner is fast, accurate and touch-free, making user verification easier than ever. Adding to the device’s security features are Samsung’s familiar fingerprint scanning and new facial recognition capabilities.

The Galaxy S8 also provides various security services including Secure Folder, an encrypted folder that keeps private information separate and safe with an added layer of security, and Samsung Pass, which lets users easily log into mobile banking apps and websites on the Samsung Internet Browser using biometric authentication.

A Control Center for the Smart Home

Pre-loaded on the Galaxy S8, Samsung Connect lets users manage and monitor the smart devices in their home from one unified app.

Users can connect their Samsung Connect-compatible IoT device to their smartphone through the Samsung Connect app. They can then set individual modes with different rules for each device. “Good Morning Mode,” for example, might turn on the lights and play music while “Going Out Mode” might turn off the air conditioner and start the robot vacuum cleaner.

Through its key features including easy setup, automatic connectivity and customization, Samsung Connect provides users with a more integrated approach to the smart home. Currently compatible with select 2017 Samsung IoT-enabled devices, Samsung Connect will support third-party devices with the SmartThings hub in the future.