The washer and dryer seem like the last gadget in your home to get tech inside, but Hisense will let you tweak the settings for washes with an app.
Depending on how old and how good your memory is, you might remember a saying that got many people into the world of phone apps almost to easily: there’s an app for that.
It’s a slogan so catchy, Apple registered it as a trademark during the time of the iPhone 3GS, and it helped cement the idea that apps can connect to everything we do.
Need to take a photo? There’s an app. How about buy something? Yep, there’s an app for that, too. Take a note, call a cab, read a book, and so on an so on… apps aplenty for everyone.
But not everything in your life has an app to let you change how you use it.
In fact, the last gadgets in your life likely to get an app are the white goods; big appliances that just do a job without needing a touchscreen or special software go without the apps all too often, because they don’t need them.
The world is changing, though, and big and bulky appliances with them. We’re seeing smarter kitchens from some brands, and so why not smarter laundries, too?
Hisense is giving that category a bit of a swing with two machines meant to fit together in the Series 8i, washer and dryers designed to improve laundry and fit into tight spaces, supporting both side-by-side setup and stacking depending if people prefer that.
On the one side, there’s the washing machine, which uses two water jets to clean clothes and garments, plus an automatic dosing technology to guess the right detergent amount, holding enough for up to 27 washes.
The washing machine has another trick, because there’s an app for that, it seems.
Using the Hisense ConnectLife app, you can pick the garment you’re washing and let the machine make a wash for that specific item, or even save wash settings to a “favourites” tab. We’ve never had a favourite way to wash — throw it in and let the machine go to work — but you’ll be able to tweak and change your washing options in the Hisense Series 8i, it seems.
Sensors for the weight and water will apparently work with that setting, providing a washing time that isn’t fixed, but rather matched to the settings being used.
There’s even a colour screen to indicate that on the outside, allowing you to bypass the app if you so choose.
On the dryer side of things, Hisense says its iCare system reduces wrinkles and cuts back on the need for extensive ironing, while another feature “iDry” and provide quick drying, handling a kilogram of laundry to be tried in under 30 minutes, while roughly an hour can work with up to 4 kilograms.
The app connection is also here in this model, with dryer getting the settings for from the wash mode in the 8i washing machine, and using that alongside a temperature and moisture sensor to dry the clothes properly.
You can’t yet use the app for energy efficiency, though a representative for Hisense told Pickr it’s working on a costing system, allowing you to enter in water and energy costs, and “calculating a rough estimate of cost over time”.
“The laundry is an essential part of Australian households and we’re proud to deliver a new series which pairs class-leading technology and sleek design for a game-changing laundry offering that gives Australians more time back in their day doing the things they enjoy,” said Chris Kotis, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Hisense in Australia.
“As always, the new offering signifies our growing presence in the category and represents our continued commitment to developing solutions focused on reliable capability, efficiency and convenience,” he said.
Hisense’s Series 8i washer and dryer are both available now, priced at $1199 for the Series 8i washer and $1499 for the equivalent dryer.
