My Miele Washer/Dryer [1] has plenty of ‘smart’ features (which I consider to be more than just network connectivity - it’s also computer enabled features, rather than simple mechanical operations IMHO):
* Touchscreen or app control
* Notifies me thru the app when a wash/dry is complete (my appliance is in a utility room, so this is really useful)
* Predicts when it will finish (and showing the time and which stage it’s on in the app)
* Monitors its own progress and will inform me if it needs more time (like if the drying needs longer due to increased load size)
* Allows pausing a wash so other items can be added
* Has detergent dispensers that are monitored and lets me know when they’re low. It also works out the right amount of detergent to use based on size of load and other info you give it (see next item)
* Has a ‘washing assistant’ which is like an ‘install wizard’ where I select the types of clothing in the drum, its level of soiling, whether I want it dried or not, and various other features - it takes all that and works out the correct programme for the items (I can do this from my phone too - which is actually more useful than it sounds!).
* When the cycle is complete and it’s waiting for you to empty it, it goes into a ‘slow turn’ mode, where it just turns the clothing over every 5 seconds or so to stop creasing.
* Notifies me when I should run the maintenance cycles to keep the machine clean
* Notifies me when it needs a software update, which I can manage from my phone.
Do you need all these things? Of course not, and I thought I’d never go for a smart appliance, but I am absolutely a convert.
Why does it need a touchscreen? Like cars, a physical knob and buttons are just fine. Why would I ever want to take out... Oh wait want to go back to another room to find my phone first... To then use the app to do what one or two turns of a knob and a button can do that are right in front of me the whole time?
Notifies me thru the app when a wash/dry is complete (my appliance is in a utility room, so this is really useful)
Fair enough if you can not actually hear it from where you are. Not happened to me ever even with being upstairs and the thing in the basement but fair.
Predicts when it will finish (and showing the time and which stage it’s on in the app)
Personally I couldn't care less about any of that information. Beep when it's done and even then I'll probably not go and do something about it right away since I'll be in the middle of a meeting anyway.
Monitors its own progress and will inform me if it needs more time (like if the drying needs longer due to increased load size)
Who cares? Don't tell me when you aren't done. While it's working it's working. Tell me when it's done. Also see above.
Allows pausing a wash so other items can be added
Which a button on the front can't do?
Has detergent dispensers that are monitored and lets me know when they’re low. It also works out the right amount of detergent to use based on size of load and other info you give it (see next item)
Fair enough. The notification should be an LED on the front though coz I need to be there to refill anyway and the new detergent is parked right next to it too. Also: How does it figure out that this is a heavy duty cycle of muddy rugby shirts?
Has a ‘washing assistant’ which is like an ‘install wizard’ where I select the types of clothing in the drum, its level of soiling, whether I want it dried or not, and various other features - it takes all that and works out the correct programme for the items (I can do this from my phone too - which is actually more useful than it sounds!).
Ah like that. Like turning the knob on "heavily soiled" instead of running me through a 17 step wizard?
When the cycle is complete and it’s waiting for you to empty it, it goes into a ‘slow turn’ mode, where it just turns the clothing over every 5 seconds or so to stop creasing.
Fair enough but what does have to do with the new "smart device craze"? Washers have had fuzzy logic (think one of the original machine learning algorithms - or in new fangled "AI") to make sure your washer doesn't tip over while spinning. Miele might have invented that for all I know. And yes this is old stuff. That's literally how the prof introduced fuzzy logic to us in the lecture. And I'm old.
Notifies me when I should run the maintenance cycles to keep the machine clean
Which an LED on the machine couldn't do?
Notifies me when it needs a software update, which I can manage from my phone.
Which... Should be needed exactly never. If it wants to do this more than 0 times during me owning it I know what I'll be chucking out soon/never buying again.
Touchscreens are a pain. If I accidentally brush past the touchscreen on my Bosch washing machine during a cycle it'll pause or change a wash setting or beep and cause me to stare at it for a full minute wondering if I'm about to ruin my wool wash or send the thing into another dimension.
Maybe you can elaborate on which other features you'd find useful from that list and especially why. I really don't see it and find most of these obnoxiously unuseful.
To your given example: Not having to fill it with detergent every single time, sure I can see how that might be nice. Buy your detergent, dump a few liters in there and only do that again once some LED blinks that says "Add detergent" or something. How does a large house come into play?
Now when would a washer figure out that it needs more detergent? Probably in one of three cases: At the beginning of a wash cycle it might calculate that it doesn't have enough for this time. Don't start, blink LED that says "Add detergent". Or it figures out that it won't have enough after this cycle is done. Well, who cares, wait until I try to use the machine next time.
Or maybe it finds out in the middle of the cycle, when it no longer needs to feed any detergent but determined it's now "out". But it's still running (you know, rinsing, spinning etc). If an ADHD person gets a notification that the detergent level is low in the middle of the cycle while they're in the middle of a meeting or maybe finally got into some flow state and PING detergent is low: Why is that good? I'd rather just refill it when I'm out of any other context anyway and I'm trying to fill the machine and it won't start until I fill it up again. You know, like I also just filled it with clothes?
To have a detergent dispenser and LED light for that, the machine needs to have some brains in it. App or no app. I specifically said dispenser is the feature that I like, not its app integration.
ADHD comment was about cycle being done, not detergent. My washing machine is in the garage and there is no way for me to hear when it's done. Given that I do have ADHD, I will simply forget that I'm doing any laundry. Yeah, I can set a timer on my phone, which is what I do, but notification is more convenient.
As the original poster, I can say that it's my ADHD that made me go for a smarter machine. The amount of times I'd come back to my washing machine days later, after forgetting I'd put a wash on, was just ridiculous.
And, the fact it just works out all the settings before I get bored is good (previously I just used the same wash settings for everything, which meant creased clothes constantly - and not one pure woolen item survived its first wash!)
* Touchscreen or app control
* Notifies me thru the app when a wash/dry is complete (my appliance is in a utility room, so this is really useful)
* Predicts when it will finish (and showing the time and which stage it’s on in the app)
* Monitors its own progress and will inform me if it needs more time (like if the drying needs longer due to increased load size)
* Allows pausing a wash so other items can be added
* Has detergent dispensers that are monitored and lets me know when they’re low. It also works out the right amount of detergent to use based on size of load and other info you give it (see next item)
* Has a ‘washing assistant’ which is like an ‘install wizard’ where I select the types of clothing in the drum, its level of soiling, whether I want it dried or not, and various other features - it takes all that and works out the correct programme for the items (I can do this from my phone too - which is actually more useful than it sounds!).
* When the cycle is complete and it’s waiting for you to empty it, it goes into a ‘slow turn’ mode, where it just turns the clothing over every 5 seconds or so to stop creasing.
* Notifies me when I should run the maintenance cycles to keep the machine clean
* Notifies me when it needs a software update, which I can manage from my phone.
Do you need all these things? Of course not, and I thought I’d never go for a smart appliance, but I am absolutely a convert.
[1] https://www.miele.co.uk/product/11576550/wt1-washer-dryer-wt...