That’s IFA Berlin over for another year and we’d have to say that on the whole this year was a bit of a let down in many ways with nothing particularly exciting at the event from an appliance point of view beyond enhancements and some sales gimmicks but in essence, the way we wash clothes and dishes, cook food or store it have not changed.
Of course there were the multi-million pound show stands in attendance from many manufacturers with many of them largely unchanged from last year’s event but there seemed a distinct lack of innovation on show.
Energy, Ecological & Connectivity
Despite several comments about trends on energy saving, which was in evidence and a major theme but completely expected, there was also the various methods of connecting your appliances to a home network. Of course all appeared to use competing proprietary technologies with each major appliance maker claiming to have the best system but to get the best out of any you would have to have only that one brand’s appliances which, we don’t think most people will do.
But here’s a video from YouTube of Samsung’s take on such a connected system of applainces that shows how such a system is envisaged to work.
On the green front it appeared a competition to see who could squeeze more + signs after an “A”. Of course this has been discusse many times on this site and ultimately, people may well be duped into thinking that they will save a fortune with the more “efficient” that the appliance is on electricity but, that’s not really always true.
As usual there were a lot of claims about how much energy was saved but very little evidence on show to say how it worked or, if it even did work. Same thing with load capacities, many claims about super huge wash capacities but not that much evidence to actually prove the claims and the machines are in a standard sized European appliance box so it would seem tjat some manufacturers have defeated physics and invented the washing machine equivilent of the TARDIS.
A few seem to have painted things green or parts and, literally, that makes them “green”!
Another vein running through the show was SmartGrid technologies, Miele made a big thing of it as did LG and others but, again, this has been discussed on the site before in many articles and we wouldn’t advise buying an appliance on that feature alone.
Cosmetics
A big trend, from coffee machines through to washing machine and cookers, was adding a capacitive touchscreen to control your appliances.
Manufacturers such as Gorenje made a big deal about it with ovens, washing machines and tumble dryers among other appliances all armed with a capacitive touchscreen to call up menus for functions, timer controls and even recipes. Samsung have their connected fridge that you can Twitter on if that is the sort of thing that you like but, in the end, we couldn’t be help but left feeling underwhelmed by these gadgets and left questioning their purpose beyond the initial novelty and, even more importantly, their long term durability.
Simpler verions of touch control were also in evidence as well with new ovens and cookers from Amica having a simple touch control timer fitted that had a standard LED display, just touch controls for operation of the timer.
But many of the appliances on show seemed to be geared towards being style items rather than what applainces are billed as being, consumer durables. The clue’s in the name guys, “durables”, people buy appliances to last for many years of service and there seemed a complete lack of lifespan discussion if you walked away from the Miele or Liebherr stands.
But this appears to be the trend for the moment even if some designs may appear quite garish and we suspect that people may regret buying a funky design a few years down the road when it starts to look a bit tatty and dated.
Appliances Of Note
Haier is launched two new washing machines at this year’s IFA which incorporate antibacterial and energy-saving features
Two new washing machines are being launched by Haier both of which feature door seals treated with an antibacterial coating. Haier claims that this antibacterial coating ensures the machines do not suffer from a buildup of bacteria over the course of their life cycle. Both 82 and 86 have an energy efficiency rating of A+++ and will be released over the next few months. No word on a UK introduction.
Of course anti-bac seals as we call them have been around for a long, long time from the likes of Hotpoint (who we think no longer offer the option) and Bosch. They are normally used for people that have a requirement to wash clothes that may have skin creams etc. on them and a normal door seal would deteriorate quickly because elements attack the rubber seal.
Thing is, it won’t stop bacteria building up in the drum where it’s a far bigger problem than the door seal.
Bosch also be launching an intelligent energy-efficient machines that ‘optimizes’ the washing process. How this is doen wasn’t entirely clear from the information on the stand that we saw but, apparently it does somehow.
Other than that, there really isn’t a lot to report but there’s some more photos below from the the show.
