Right?! When they could be playing Doom on it.

Yeah, I just watch TV at the gas pump like everyone else.

Lots of people have a TV blaring all day in the kitchen. I don’t get that either, but that must be their target.

The reporter’s use case actually makes a lot of sense to me. I would never buy one of these, but I wouldn’t be opposed to using something like this if I ever ended up with one.

It’s not like I stand in front of it and watch a whole movie in my kitchen. But I like to have the T2 Tennis Channel on while I scramble eggs or pop on a news show while cooking dinner. Plus, it’s nice to have a kitchen screen that doesn’t take up counter space.

The aspect ratio of the screen doesn't seem like it'd be all that ideal.

Bold of you to assume these fridges are built to last

Fridges last like 30 years

To be fair, these are Samsung.

No, fridges last 10-ish years, 15 if you're lucky, especially if you buy Samsung or LG. My LG compressor went out twice in 10 years, and the second time the tech said it would cost way more to fix than it's worth, even if the part is under warranty (I fixed other stuff myself as well).

I just got a new fridge, and looking through reviews, even the "best" fridges (unless you go industrial) last 10-15 years on average. I got Whirlpool this time, because they were near the top of recommendations (Maytag was #1), so hopefully those 10-15 years will be relatively trouble-free.

So I don't need all the features of a smart fridge and shit because I habe a phone and a tablet hub for that sort of thing, but a feature I've only seen on LG smart fridges is something I'm frequently annoyed more don't have these days with how cheap the tech is: remote fridge monitoring

Slap a few cheap cameras in there so I can see 2 angles on every shelf and monitor the current fridge levels from my phone.

"Are we low on ketchup or am I stupid?” know for certain!

Saw a feature close to this but not quite as good on an LG smart fridge years ago and have been vehemently disappointed by every fridge ive looked at since not having that.

And I'm in the market for a new fridge goddamnit. I don't want to have to install my own cams but I'm close to doing it at this point

30y seems a bit optimistic. I have already replaced the control board on our fridge once and I think I need to again and it probably is less than 15yo.

Well, your question answered itself from the manufacturer's perspective. Fuck the consumer.

European here, I suggest Bosch or Electrolux, if that's available in your part of the world.

Isn't LG having issues with their linear compressors?

LG all the way. I have not had much in the way of positive results from GE since their acquisition by Haier. Their build quality took an immediate and noticeable nosedive. I have seen DOA, damaged, and defective units of all stripes from all brands over the years. But I have never seen any units arrive from the factory not fully assembled, but still packed up in a box and shipped in that state, except from GE. Multiple times.

I received a PFE28 refrigerator with no ice maker mechanism, just a hole in the door where it should have been installed. I also received a CGS700 range with the oven light door switch not installed, just rolling around in the bottom of the oven cavity where it was subsequently baked by the customer. I also received one CXE22 refrigerator with no face panel on the center drawer. There are other examples but those are just the recent ones I can remember off the top of my head.

Haier's management philosophy seems to be in lockstep with the Chinese Manufacturing Way, which is to steal whatever tech you can, do a slapdash job of making it, lie about everything, and when pressed about it just lie some more.

Honestly Whirlpool is not doing great these days, either, but they're better than Samsung or GE. Whirlpool has seemingly devolved into mostly competing with itself with all of its various sub-marquees: Amana, Maytag, KitchenAid, Gladiator, Jenn-Air, Roper, Affresh, etc. A better strategy might be to compete with their, you know, competitors. Whirlpool's warranty service network has also essentially evaporated over the last few years, so if you don't already know a repairman who is Whirlpool factory authorized to do warranty work you may as well just open a Youtube tab and figure that shit out yourself. Otherwise you'll just be told "there are no servicers or service dates in your area and the system only lets us look two weeks in advance" over and over again until your warranty runs out.

The less we say about Samsung the better. At one point we were experiencing a roughly 50/50 first-week failure rate of their laundry machines and dishwashers. A coin flip. That's worse odds than a first run XBox 360 not red ringing itself to put it into perspective. Don't buy a Samsung appliance no matter how shiny it is or how big of a touch screen it's got.

you want reliable? go with LG or GE.

Going to have to disagree based on personal experience (which admittedly has limited value). Bought LG washer, dryer, and fridge when we moved. The washer blew the clutch seal after about 4 and a half years. The dryer sensor is unreliable (leading to taking jeans or blankets out, them still being damp, and having to put them back in on a timer). And the fridge compressor sounds like it's struggling.

The most absurd part is that we replaced the washer with a similar LG model (one with an agitator - I looked into just replacing the part but it was half the price of the washer, the underside of the impeller was moldy because lack of water flow, something no amount of tub clean cycles will fix, and the outer bucket was absolutely disgusting from the leak, with no easy way to hose it out) because everything else was either crap, ridiculously expensive, or both.

I hate this timeline.

While I'm sure they're cutting build quality to make them cheaper, the "unnecessary tech" isn't some cutting edge high tech stuff requiring high R&D costs that would make them "astronomically expensive"

If they wanted to they could literally replicate everything they're doing with a 60$ raspberry pi and just interface it with the existing controller boards and call it a day.

Even this article about the fridge is just an (admittedly fairly large screen) tablet.

I'm constantly replacing the drain pump in my LG washer. When a replacement part has thousands of reviews on amazon, you know the brand has to know their parts are crap and either doesn't care or wanted it that way. They're on my never buy list now.

Porting Skyrim onto it?

There are two (fairly lackluster) uses for it.

The first is that it has a camera with a large fisheye that can show you the inside (though this is more useful when away from the fridge rather than using the screen). The issue is the camera is only at one point. The fisheye helps see more, but it can never see all the fridge.

The second is as a home assistant in the kitchen. This is actually useful. It can display recipes and whatever in it whole you cook. You can also use a phone, tablet, or other home assistant device for this though, but if you want to throw away money this does seem convenient.