The internet of things

We are at the threshold of a world where ‘the emergence of countless objects, animals and even people with uniquely identifiable, embedded devices wirelessly connected to the internet’ is turning the corner. No, this isn’t as fearsome as some sci-fi writers have imagined it all to be. This real fiction shows no signs of accelerating us all into the vortex of an unimaginable dominance by the machines, I’m sure… because science fiction will always be what it loves to be, just science fiction. I’d agree with Tim O’Reilly, the coiner of the phrase ‘Web 2.0’ when he hails IoT as being ‘really about human augmentation’.

Smart technology

I love smart technology. I love beauty with brains that is always high on the bits and bytes of today’s world and isn’t ignorant of the internet of things! I surely love a world where nano-crystal technology that is 64 times as powerful as conventional colour technology in televisions, comes in to shake hands with me for my sensory pleasure. Creative entertainment for me is a coming together of art and technology… and I’m only happier if it seamlessly merges all the other devices that are at my beck and control. It is all about our wanting ‘to push technology boundaries and help consumers to create a better tomorrow’, as Mr. HyunChil Hong, President and CEO, Samsung India Electronics said at the Samsung South West Asia Forum 2015. The Forum, for the uninitiated, is Samsung’s flagship event which showcases its select partners and customers the technology and solutions which will drive Samsung’s growth in the region. The forum is just one of the ways Samsung gently reminds us that we are always just at the beginning of smart technology! Yes, I love smart technology!

Make in India

But more than all the technology showcased at the Forum, I was impressed by the fact that Samsung follows the current political dictum of ‘make in India’ quite seriously and in the past 20 years of its operation in India, has set up 2 manufacturing plants and 3 R&D facilities employing close to 45,000 people. The Samsung Z1 will also be manufactured at the Noida facility with most of the phone’s software being developed at the Noida Research Centre.

The 3 Cs

From smart phones to digital appliances to visual devices to enterprise business, the three facets that I could discern as clearly dominating were convergence, contours, and cost. We seem to be fast moving towards a life where controlling your home appliances through hand-held devices is now no longer going to exist only in the imagination of a select breed of sci-fi writers. Our world is soon going to be sufficiently interconnected and organised as we’re already on the threshold of what some have called a ‘conscious web.’ The convergence of the gadgets and devices that we have to form a closed circle of our own little thinking web is quite exciting and I’m sure the brains at Samsung are continuously making sure that privacy, security, and trust issues are all kept firmly under adequate control. The second C is all about the aesthetics and the pleasures that the human mind is always striving to maximise. I have chosen to call it contours because this is one thing where Samsung is clearly ahead of all its competitors. Every gadget and device that I saw at the Forum 2015 starting from the PowerBot to the A7, had a conscious tilt towards a tech DNA that favours suave looks! The best part is the way all these devices are moving fast towards an engineered convergence phase and Samsung ably demonstrated how it is bringing consumers seamless navigation, intuitive control and smart solutions into the home and workplace.

When I asked about the steps that Samsung was taking to keep the cost to the consumer not just reasonable but also within easy reach, Samsung’s answer was that they were forever striving to keep the price of every device competitive enough at every price band. I know for sure that the Indian consumer needs best value and is willing to pay even a higher price though I know that the emergence of competition even within price bands is ensuring that costs do not cross unimagined borders. Thus cost is the only C which isn’t on the ecstatic thermal that is floating upwards!

The range

If you thought Samsung was only known for making us all fall in love with a large screen through its Note series or brought in the concept of stylus through its S-pen, you really need to go beyond even their show-cased 4G enabled smartphones – Galaxy Grand Prime 4G, Galaxy Core Prime 4G and Galaxy J1 4G which are best in class smartphones are designed to help Indian consumers unlock the true potential of 4G and make the 4G experience more affordable and accessible. I shall, of course, be talking about these newer breed of phones in my subsequent posts mainly on my blog, so do reach out for www.passey.info to know more… but let me just give you a glimpse of what Samsung does other than make us fall in love with smartphones.

Now if I tell you that can convert the freezer into a fridge and back into a freezer with ease, please do not call it magic because it is Dual Fan Technology allowing independent temperature control of the freezer and fridge with two separate fans and bringing in the World’s First Convertible refrigerator with Digital Inverter Compressor.

‘Will such technology make our electricity bills go berserk?’ is what you may ask, and as a conscious consumer you’d be right.

Well, the Digital Inverter Compressor consumes up to 60% less electricity and cools 26 % more quickly than conventional air conditioning systems. Thus with minimized energy consumption your electricity bill, in fact, has a downward trend as technology here adjusts the maximum operating capacity of the compressor. Are you reading this, Mr Kejriwal?

But this isn’t all… there are innovations in the world of washing machines too where a built-in sink and side water-jet system makes it possible to pre-treat heavily soiled clothes and hand wash delicate items, all at one place. This does sound delightful, doesn’t it?

Wait for what I have to tell you now… Samsung has even come out with Hot Blast technology that makes it possible for a convection microwave to cook ‘oven-like’ food in times up to 50% quicker than a traditional convection oven for Indian market. I know for sure that I want my wife to spend lesser time in the kitchen… and I want that delicious looking browned crust on cakes… and I want my fries too with little or no oil!

With so many products coming under the umbrella of smarter technology and walking hand-in-hand with economy in bills generated, can TVs be far behind? Well, the SUHD TV’s nano-crystal semiconductor transmits different colours of light depending on their size to produce the highest colour purity and light efficiency available today… and its re-mastering engine automatically analyzes the brightness of images to minimize additional power consumption while producing ultimate contrast levels.

The Joy Smart TV is the gadget that not only has built-in wifi but its smart browser also allows you to share content between your Mobile and Pen Drive. This simply means that you can walk in and immediately transcend whatever you are viewing on the 5 inch screen straight to a 48 inch screen. I’m sure I’ll love going from 5 to 48 in under 5 seconds… this is a new high for my sensory capabilities.

This wasn’t all that I saw at the Samsung Forum 2015… getting to know the Galaxy Tab Active, Samsung’s first ever tablet designed specifically for enterprise to boost business productivity, was a pleasure, and I loved the ruggedized, portable design that it offered. Samsung Smart Signage TVs is an innovative TV solution designed for small and medium businesses (SMBs) and small office/home office (SOHO) owners in India.

What does a consumer really want?

As a consumer what I want is not just innovation but something that I can easily understand, adapt to, and use in ways that helps me appreciate my personal and professional spaces better. I do not want to bog my limited time here on earth with shattering disorientations brought in by a pre-mature arrival of the future, as Alvin Toffler had warned us more than four decades back. Only when the mind understands and uses technology, can it give me whatever I want it to give. What I, therefore, want is technology that brings not just life to my business but a lot of business to my life.

Article published in ‘The Education Post’ dated 23 February 2015: