Samsung is at CES 2017 and has unveiled a number of new products including two new Chromebooks, a brand new gaming laptop, a refresh of the Notebook 9 series, an update for Family Hub, and more. When the event started, Tim Baxter, President and COO of Samsung Electronics America started out by mentioning that it was a challenging year for the company, but despite the setbacks (Note7) there was still innovation going on within the company. In fact, Samsung did talk about some great new products during their CES 2017 keynote. Let’s take a look.
H7 Wireless Speaker
HiFi audio is starting to become part of the norm now as it’s starting to pop up more often in mobile devices and in some headphones thanks to built-in converters. Samsung is joining the game and showing off what they can do with HiFi and have placed it in a premium wireless speaker. The H7 wireless speaker offers 32-bit ultra high-quality sound, which will offer cleaner music which more closely mirrors the original recording and bass frequencies will go as low as 35Hz providing greater sound range from low to high frequencies. No pricing or availability was mentioned.
MS750 Sound+ Soundbar
If you didn’t think the wireless speaker was enough when it came to getting greater sound quality, Samsung has also unveiled the MS750 Soundbar which includes a subwoofer. It’s the first of its kind from Samsung. UHQ 32-bit audio is also included in the sound bar plus the subwoofer bass is equalized, giving you clear home cinema sound from premium TVs. The Soundbar is able to mount directly to the QLED TV creating one unit instead of having two different mounts and giving up space around the TV or TV stand. Again, no pricing or availability was mentioned.
MU9500 UHD Bluray Player
About mid-way through 2016, Samsung announced a UHD Bluray Player in Australia with a hefty price tag, but it was able to play 4K movies. Samsung unveiled another UHD Bluray Player, but this time it has plenty of add-on features that might make it worth buying. To start off with, the MU9500 has the ability to use wireless headphones with the unit, which will allow you to enjoy what you’re watching no matter what is happening around you thanks to the Private Cinema Mode feature.
Other features include the ability to watch your favorite Bluray titles on your mobile device and you’ll also be able to view 360-degree photos or videos from your mobile handset to the TV thanks to the Bluray Player. Furthermore, the player will automatically set the TV screen and audio to an optimal level by analyzing the content source being play at that time, which means users won’t have to use their TV remote to change the TV settings or volume. No pricing or availability mentioned.
QLED TV
Samsung’s QLED TVs will be the next leap forward for the TV market as the company is offering the best picture quality ever with the DCI-P3 color space showing 100 percent color range on their TVs. Samsung is using their new metal implemented core quantum dot tech to give that life like color including deep blacks, superior brightness, and wide viewing angles. The QLED TV will go as bright as 1500-2000 nits without distorting any color. The QLED TVs will start carrying a single cable that will allow all other devices to be connected to the TV. For the design, there will be a “no gap wall mount” to make it easier to mount the TV on a wall, or if you don’t want to mount it you will have two stand options — the Studio Stand or the Gravity Stand. Samsung is upgrading the way the Smart TV user experience works, for example by being able to use one device — the Samsung Smart Remote — to control most connected TVs. The Smart Hub feature that the companies Smart TVs had is now working on a mobile device and the Smart View app has had some improvements such as providing an overview of all content on the main screen of the application.
Samsung Chromebook Plus/Pro
Samsung unveiled their next generation Chromebooks, the Chromebook Plus and Chromebook Pro. There aren’t many differences between the two Chromebooks as both will be able to download applications from the Google Play Store, have a 360-degree rotating touchscreen, quad HD screen, digitized pen, and more. The big thing about these two new Chromebooks from Samsung is going to be the S-Pen like digitized pen that will give you the ability to take notes or draw anything on the screen at any moment in time at your convenience. Google Keep is pre-installed for taking notes and Samsung ArtCanvas is also pre-installed for allowing you to sketch or draw on on-screen content. Pricing for the Chromebook Plus starts out at $449USD and will be available at major retailers in February. The Chromebook Pro will be available in spring, but does not have a price tag as of yet.
Samsung Notebook 9
The Notebook 9 series isn’t anything new, but it’s here for a refresh. The new 15-inch model will only weigh 2.73 pounds making it light and portable for you to carry around. There is also an ultra-thin bezel with a near edge to edge display to give you more screen to do whatever you’d like. The battery life will last up to 15 hours off of a single charge and will have a full charge time of 2 hours or allow users to get three and a half hours extra with a 20-minute charge. Charging the laptop will be with USB Type-C standard which will also offer quick data transfer when needed. Performance wise, it will have a 7th generation Intel i7-7500U processor clocking at 2.70GHz/3.50GHZ boosted, an Nvidia 940MX GPU, 16GB RAM, and more. The unit is up for pre-order currently and it’s running at a starting price of $1,399.99USD, but no availability date has been announced yet.
Samsung Notebook Odessey
Samsung’s new portable gaming laptop will offer high power performance, a superb display, and a premium design in either 17.3 or 15.6-inch models. Both gaming laptops will have a 7th generation Intel i7 processor (quad core 45W) that’ll keep performance at a max and they will also have a dedicated button for supercharging the processor and graphics. For the display, both models will offer a 1920 x 1080 FHD resolution wide-angle display with anti-glare. The 17.3″ model has up to 300 nits backlightng while the 15.6″ one will have 280 nits for brightness that’ll create the perfect viewing experience. Each model will offer different specifications but users will be able to upgrade the SSD and RAM whenever you’d like. No pricing or availability mentioned.
Family Hub 2.0
Family Hub 1.0 is currently out on Samsung’s smart fridges, but with Family Hub 2.0 being announced, there are some welcomed enhanced usability and improved app integration. For example on the usability, if you’re needing to restock up on some food, you can simply look at the screen thanks to the internal cameras and images of that specific food will be added to a shopping list. Ordering food can be conveniently done through the Groceries by Mastercard application. Another enhancement is that family members can create their own profiles complete with picture and from there an interactive bulletin board will show up on the 21.5-inch touchscreen letting others see profiles on a smartphone and keep each family member up to date with memos or calendar events or sharing photos. Family Hub 2.0 will work across all 3-door and 4-door French models and 4-door Flex models.
FlexWash + FlexDry
Finally, the FlexWash + FlexDry is a four in one washer and dryer with two top loads and two front loads giving people the option to wash or dry lighter clothing on top and the heavier clothing in the front. The front load of the FlexWash offers five cubic feet of space so it’ll be able to handle the larger items such as blankets or towels or a bunch of clothes that need to be cleaned at once. The top loader is one cubic foot to wash the lighter loads such as a few shirts or a stuffed animal. The FlexDry can dry large loads and a delicate load at the same time. If you have delicate clothing needing to be dried there is a rack where items will be dried with controlled, heated air flow.
What do you think about Samsung’s CES 2017 product unveilings? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
Last Updated on January 12, 2019.
