At CES 2024, Hisense announced that ConnectLife will integrate with its 2024 TV and Laser products through its proprietary operating system, VIDAA, for the first time in Australia.

Hisense national training manager, Chris Mayer says this is the first step of ConnectLife being fully integrated into VIDAA.

“One of our advantages is that we make ConnectLife and VIDAA and own both of the platforms, which is quite powerful,” he told Appliance Retailer.

“In its final variation – which was shown at CES – ConnectLife will be fully integrated into VIDAA. There will be live tiles on your TV showing you the status of your washing machine or the temperature of your air conditioner with the ability to interact with the VIDAA home screen to control your appliances.

“As of today, what’s available to Hisense customers is our ConnectLife app, with future firmware updates that will fully integrate into the VIDAA operating system. With the app, you can use your phone to control the air conditioner, pair the washer and dryer, and receive notifications when the wash cycle is complete, for example.

“From a concept point of view, future capabilities will take this a step further through the integration of genuine AI elements. If you’re watching a cooking show on your VIDAA TV and there’s a meal that you’d like to create, the recipe can be sent straight to a Hisense smart refrigerator or oven via an interactive icon.

“Taking this to another level, if you’re a celiac, the recipe can be adjusted using AI to be celiac-friendly. The recipe will be re-written, and that variation will be saved in favourites on the fridge and the oven. Another option is to vary the recipe based on cuisine style – add an Italian flair or Mexican fusion and it will generate a new variant.

“Further, if you want to make a meal but you’re missing an ingredient, you can get recipe suggestions that use the ingredients you already have in the fridge. You can also watch a live camera feed from inside the oven on a Hisense TV to check cooking status and you’ll receive a notification when the meal is ready.

“We want to achieve full integration and for our products to be better than the sum of their parts – how the products can work in unity and do things they couldn’t do by themselves. Bringing ConnectLife onto VIDAA bridges two distinct categories – brown goods and whitegoods – which customers still think of as separate categories.

“It’s already a reality today but we’re constantly moving forward. The more categories we enter in Australia, the more powerful ConnectLife will be, supported by AI and other innovations we’re bringing in.

“This year, there will be a significant increase in ConnectLife-enabled appliances. It’s currently only available on our flagship products, so we will be bringing ConnectLife capabilities into more of the range.

“It’s also important to note that ConnectLife is on VIDAA U7 which will be available on every Hisense TV this year. This means consumers can access ConnectLife capabilities on any of our TVs, even in the entry UHD range, not only on our flagship UX TV. The operating system experience and the features available are going to be the same for every Hisense customer.

 “We’re proud of what we’ve been able to achieve so far and we’re excited that 2024 will be the most connected year for Hisense to date.”