Technology companies Samsung, HMD, Lexar, and Urban Company among others, launched new PCs, smartphones, water purifiers, portable hard disks, smart refrigerators, and more this week (October 9-15).

DH’s Gadgets Weekly edition lists the latest personal technology products to keep you abreast of everything that’s happening in the world of consumer electronics.

Samsung’s new Bespoke double door refrigerators

The company is offering the Bespoke double-door refrigerator series in two variants- Premium Cotta Steel and Bespoke Glass.

The Premium Cotta Steel comes in two colours–Cotta Beige and Charcoal (dual tone) and Cotta Charcoal. And, the Glass series will be available in three colours–Clean White and Pink Glass (dual tone) and Clean Black Glass.

The Premium Cotta model is a convertible 5-in-1 class fridge. It is designed to offer more storage space and flexibility to convert between freeze to fresh and other modes with less hassle.

It offers five modes– Normal, Seasonal, Extra Fridge, Vacation, and Home Alone.

With the seasonal mode, users to keep only the fridge on and switch the freezer off. With Extra Fridge mode, users can convert the freezer to regular mode to put in more grocery items.

With Vacation mode, users can keep the freezer compartment on and the rest of the compartments can be turned off, if not grocery or fruits/vegetables in them.

The Bespoke Glass model comes with SmartThings AI Energy mode that enables consumers to monitor and optimise their refrigerator’s energy usage, helping them save on electricity bills. The Optimal Fresh+ feature comes in handy for extending the freshness of Indian food.

Both the new fridge models boast ‘Twin Cooling Plus’ technology. It works as an independent cooling system, with separate airflows in both the fridge and freezer, preventing the smell of different food items from moving between the fridge and freezer.

Two separate evaporators manage the fridge and freezer space separately and maintain optimal humidity levels, leading to longer freshness and less wastage of food.

With the Power Cool feature, the fridge expedites the cooling performance, helping in chilling food and beverages faster. By only touching a button, this feature blows intensely cold air into the fridge. Consumers can rapidly cool their weekly groceries to lock in their freshness and flavour or even chill their favourite drinks for a party or dinner.

Samsung Bespoke Double Door refrigerators will be available at all leading electronic retail stores across India and on Samsung’s own online platform – Samsung Shop. The Bespoke Premium Cotta model will be available in 236L, 256L, 301L and 322L capacities, in the price range of Rs 30,500 to Rs 42,500. The Bespoke Glass variant will be available in 415L and 465L capacities with prices ranging between Rs 54,000 and Rs 57,800.

Urban Company Native water purifier

Urban Company is known for delivering services such as wood carpentry work, plumbing, house painting, home cleaning, and hair and facial cosmetic care, has launched its first-ever consumer appliance product – Native water purifier series.

It comes in two variants– M1 and M2. They are touted to be India’s first water purifier, which needs no servicing for two years and is capable of giving an output of 12,000 liters of pure water without the need for filters changed. They both come in an eight-litre water capacity.

The Native M2 is an IoT-enabled smart water purifier, which helps customers track their real-time water TDS levels, filter health status, and water consumption, all through the Urban Company app.

The Native M2 has a modern mirror design with a brushed metal finish, supports three preset dispensing modes, and a breathing LED indicator that displays IoT pairing status. Also, the M2 device has 10 stages of filtration, with all the stages of the M1 device + copper-charged filters.

On the other hand, the Native M1 boasts nine stages of filtration (RO + UV + UF + MTDS Minerals and Alkaline Filters) that help remove 99.99% impurities including chemical contaminants like metal ions, chromium, lead, and sodium, and reduce arsenic, radium, fluoride, sulphate, magnesium, amongst others.

Urban Company is offering the Native M1 and M2 series for Rs 13,499 and Rs 17,999, respectively.

Samsung Portable SSD T9

It comes in three storages– 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. They come with a rubber exterior, which ensures a comfortable grip and guards against low-temperature burns. It comes with a five-year limited warranty and is said to be resistant to drops from heights of up to three meters.

It boasts Samsung’s Dynamic Thermal Guard technology that efficiently mitigates performance dips caused by overheating, ensuring consistent and speedy transfer rates. Additionally, the T9 complies with the international safety standard IEC 62368-1.

The SSD T9 comes with AES 256-bit hardware encryption and the device runs on Samsung Magician software, which offers an enhanced experience for users through features such as performance benchmarks, security functions, firmware updates, and real-time health status checks.

It supports Windows, macOS, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and high-resolution cameras.

With a USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 interface, it supports 2,000 MB/s read/write speed. This means, 4GB Full HD video can be transferred in just around two seconds.

The Portable SSD T9 starts at a price of Rs 12,799 for the 1TB variant, going to up Rs 33,599 for the 4TB variant.

GOVO GoSurround 930 soundbar

The new GoSurround speaker comes with four 3.54-inch drivers, which can deliver a peak output of 250 Watts. It features 2.5 Channel with a 6.5-inch subwoofer and DSP chipset.

Besides Bluetooth (5.3), it supports multiple connectivity options–AUX, USB, OPT and HDMI. It also has an LED display in addition to integrated buttons to make pairing and music control easier.

It supports four Equalizer modes of Movie, News, Music and 3D modes with Bass and Treble controls. It costs Rs 5,999 on Flipkart.

Intel Arc A580 GPU

It is tailor-made for gamers and creators. It promises to deliver exceptional gaming performance at 1080p high settings on popular modern games, high frame rates on esports titles, and a comprehensive set of media capabilities.

It has powerful gaming features such as Intel XeSS and ray tracing, to enhance the gaming experience further, enabling better performance at higher resolutions and hyper-realistic visuals.

Intel’s new Arc A580-based add-in cards are available from ASRock, GUNNIR, and Sparkle with prices starting at $179.

Perfora Smart Sonic electric toothbrush

The latest Smart Sonic toothbrush boasts four distinct modes — clean, white, sensitive, and massage — each operating at a pre-calibrated vibration frequency.

With a full charge, it can deliver up to 60 days of battery life of 60 days. It can be recharged with an induction charging base that comes with a USB cable.

The retail box comes with four brush heads and three different types of bristles – activated charcoal bristles for people who prefer super soft bristles, spiral bristles for people with a preference for soft bristles, and blue-green bristles for who like medium-soft bristles. It costs Rs 2,499.

Samsung offers big discounts ahead of the festive season

Budget phone Galaxy A14 5G (4GB+64GB variant) now costs Rs 14,499 against MRP: Rs 18,499. Additionally, consumers willing to purchase Galaxy A14 5G will be able to opt for up to eight months No-cost EMI plan via Samsung Finance+ and own it at only Rs 44 per day.

The Galaxy A23 5G (6GB+128 GB variant) can be bought for Rs 18,999 against Rs 28,990. Consumers get it via an EMI plan (Rs 47 per day) with Samsung Finance+.

Similarly, the Galaxy A34 5G (8GB+128GB variant) is priced at Rs 25,999 against MRP Rs 35,499. Consumers can avail a 14-month EMI on Samsung Finance+ making it easy to own at just Rs 49 per day.

The Galaxy A54 5G (8GB+128GB variant) will be available for Rs 33,499 against MRP: Rs 41,999. With Samsung Finance+, users can opt for the 14-month EMI and can be owned for Rs 63 per day.

Lexar JumpDrive F35 with USB 3.0 USB

It boasts an advanced biometric technology system that eliminates the need for the traditional methods of setting passwords or PINs, and this means a person is free from remembering the codes.

It promises ultra-fast response to touch inputs and users can access the drive in less than one second. Just have to place your finger on the drive, and it will be unlocked and ready to power through the day.

The straightforward setup process makes the F35 an ideal companion, requiring no software drivers. This means users can simply plug in the drive and use the pre-installed application to set up a password and authenticate with your fingerprint(one or more).

To top it off, the jumpdrive has 256-bit AES encryption to ensure the highest level of data security and prevent any data loss or corruption.

It supports up to 10 fingerprint IDs, a data transfer speed of up to 300Mb/s, and comes with a three-year warranty. It is available in two storages– 32GB and 64GB –for Rs 4500 and Rs 6000, respectively.

Nokia G42 (16GB RAM + 256GB storage)

HMD launched a new Nokia G42 variant with 8GB RAM (+ 8GB Virtual RAM) and 256GB storage.

It sports a 6.56-inch HD+ display, supports 90Hz refresh rate, and is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 shield. It features a 2-piece unibody design and a back cover made from 65 per cent recycled plastic.

It is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 480 Plus 5G chipset, Android 13 OS (two years updates guaranteed) and features a 5,000mAh battery.

It also boasts a triple-camera module– a 50MP main camera backed by a 2MP macro sensor and a 2MP depth sensor with LED flash on the back. It also features an 8MP front camera.

It comes in three colours–So Grey, So Purple and So Pink– for Rs 16,999.

Samsung picks three winners of the Solver for Tomorrow challenge event

Samsung India earlier this week announced the top three winning teams of Solve for Tomorrow 2023 edition.

The winning team is the NIT Surat. The three-member team of Aditi Tapariya, Harshil Mistry, and Vaibhav Gupta developed an automated beach-cleaning robot called Sweep.

The second winning team ‘Stemly’, which was led by Nagpur-based Yash Yadav developed a conversational AI tool to help women choose STEM. It also offers details on advancements, provides mentorship and learning opportunities,

And, the ‘Think’ team built a personal cooling device called ‘Kavach’ for those who work outdoors. The team of Mukkabir Rahman, Ankush Yadav, and Varsha KJ from Golaghat, Assam built a cooling device called Kavach. It is a lightweight and cost-effective device to regulate body temperature for extended durations during extreme weather. It harnesses cutting-edge semiconductor technology to eliminate the hassles of traditional cooling methods. Kavach is positioned as a neckband, targeting the body’s optimal cooling area. By cooling this specific region, the prototype facilitates rapid changes in body temperature, offering an effective solution to combat heat. Additionally, it can provide warmth when needed, making it a versatile solution for maintaining comfort in a wide range of temperature conditions, from hot and humid to cooler environments.

The three teams received a total prize money of Rs 1.5 crore to further improve their ideas and turn them into reality.

“Youth has the power to think out of the box and bring innovations to life. Samsung Solve for Tomorrow is a platform to nurture this thinking and we are extremely proud to see young innovators have the ambition to change the world and transform the lives of people. We congratulate all the winners of Solve for Tomorrow 2023 and wish them the best for an exciting journey ahead. At Samsung, we firmly believe that each one of the young innovators holds the promise of contributing significantly to India’s growth story,” said JB Park, President & CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia.

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