With opening remarks from Jong-Hee Han, Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Device Experience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics, the presentations revealed how Samsung is crafting systems that help make lives smarter, safer, more convenient and more connected than ever before.
Jong-Hee Han opened up the day’s talks by underscoring the importance of convenience in an age of brilliant yet complex technologies.
“At Samsung, our goal has always been to make our lives easier through technology innovation,” said Han.
“But innovation can also be burdensome for users if convenience is not at the forefront.
Our teams are determined to deliver devices that are as smooth and accessible as they are advanced.”
Covering everything from Calm Technology to Knox Matrix to holistic household platforms like Bixby Home Studio and SmartThings, Han outlined a device and systems ecosystem that puts the user experience at the center.
“The goal of all this is to give you an easier, seamless and more frictionless experience,” Han emphasized. “So you can focus on what matters most.”
Following Jong-Hee Han, Jaeyeon Jung, Vice President and Head of SmartThings, Mobile eXperience Business, discussed how Covid-19 galvanized teams at Samsung to prioritize the important things in life, particularly in the home.
“If you’re like me, the past few years have been a time to prioritize what matters, to find moments to pause and refresh,” said Jung.
Samsung’s SmartThings platform, Jung explained, is the perfect way to do this in your home.
Thanks to a wide range of improvements to the household ecosystem platform, finding, setting up, onboarding and synchronizing new devices into your household will be easier and more efficient than ever.
This includes Galaxy Quick Pair, Matter Hub connectivity, SmartThings Energy and SmartThings Music Sync, as well as boosted integration with partner systems and an expanded SmartThings website.
At the end of her talk, Jung introduced Matthew McCullough from Google, who provided an overview of Matter, a system that lays the groundwork for true interoperability between devices in the home.
Samsung is committed to Matter integration, and confident it will make the dream of a fully integrated household a reality.
By working closely together, Samsung and Google aim to make life for both users and device makers simpler and smoother, with multi-admin features that cut down on manual management and make Google Home and Nest Hub more accessible.
“This ease of use across Samsung and Google is just the start, and we’re looking forward to delivering a more seamless, delightful home experience,” said McCullough.
Anil Yadav, Head of Bixby Lab at Samsung Research America, took to the stage to discuss SmartThings’ bespoke speech platform and de facto voice in the home, including its exciting new feature: Bixby Home Studio.
“With Bixby Home Studio, you can create experiences that span multiple devices and respond more intuitively to user commands,” said Yadav.
“For example, if you ask Bixby to turn on your air conditioner, Bixby can check if you have any windows open and let you know to close them, saving energy.”
Samsung envisions more than just a convenient and integrated home experience.
Its teams are also creating an experience that is as safe as it is smooth, as private as it is proactive. After Yadav’s Bixby talk, Shin Baik, Principal Engineer of Security Team, Mobile eXperience Business, discussed with the audience how top-notch innovations need top-notch security to go with them.
Unwavering in its three security and privacy principles — transparency, choice and protection — Samsung has worked hard to develop platforms like Samsung Knox.
This will keep everything from your phone to your refrigerator safe and secure, said Baik.
A new platform called Knox Matrix, in particular, is now on the frontline of multi-device protection.
“Knox Matrix is your own private blockchain,” Baik explained. “Multiple devices share credentials, turning the ecosystem of devices into a shield that protects everyone.”
Samsung Gaming Hub, launched in June, is an all-in-one gaming solution that, thanks to partnerships with industry leaders like Xbox, lets players connect their controllers to Samsung TVs and access all the games they love without even needing a console or PC.
Samsung TV Plus, the FAST streaming TV and video platform that relaunched this summer, now reaches 24 countries and 465 million devices globally.
It is projected to clock in an impressive three billion hours streamed by users by the end of 2022.
To round off the talks, Jong-Hee Han returned to the stage to offer a final word, summarizing the technologies showcased at SDC and the course of the company’s future of innovation.
For more information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XirwqWHx5xw
Photo Caption - Jong-Hee Han, Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of DX Division at Samsung Electronics.