2015 is going to be a big year for making things around the home smarter. It’s a big year in general for tech, but we’re already seeing plenty of companies unveiling their new line of appliances and other home products that are set to take the stage as the smartest students in class for the year of 2015. Among Samsung, LG and others, GE is looking to join the ranks as a company of connected home appliances with their new ‘Profile’ range offering the user a plethora of different features that can all be controlled from a smartphone, making your home truly smart and that much more accessible, even from the road.
GE knows that we as a society spend a lot of time on our smartphones and tablet devices, mostly using applications rather than calling or messaging. That was a prime driving focus in creating this new line of washers, dryers, dish washers, ovens and other home appliances for release this year. They want to bring the consumer a smarter, more efficient way to stay connected with the products they have around their home. They highlight simple but useful features that consumers will be able to do with this line of appliances like preheating the oven before you get home with a couple of simple taps on their smartphone, you’ll even be able to set the cooking timer and check the status of whatever’s cooking.
Another one of their connected appliances has a feature that is near and dear to my own heart, a dish washer that alerts you if things don’t go exactly as planned once you close that door and begin the wash cycle. This commonly happens if you don’t get those plates and bowls pre-rinsed before throwing them in, causing food and other junk to get stuck in the drain. GE thought about that and is giving consumers a way to be on the up and up in situations like that. They also introduced a new connected water heater, which may not seem exciting, but imagine being able to alert your water heater via your smartphone and telling it you’ll be gone for a couple of weeks, allowing it to enter what GE has engineered as a “vacation mode” to save you on energy usage and costs. This is just the tip of the iceberg as they have also introduced a new connected French-door freezer and a connected dryer. GE is kicking off this new line of appliances with the water heater which is supposed to launch in February, and then once Spring comes along we’ll see the the laundry pair in May, and the freezer in April, with the dishwasher coming along towards the end of 2015.