What They Say
Samsung has started taking pre-orders for a new 32″ UltraHD smart monitor, the M8. (Samsung Electronics Announces M8, the New and Stylish Smart Monitor Series).
The monitor supports streaming video through Wi-fi, has an integrated camera with face tracking and auto-zoom and can connect to a mobile device and can be used to run cloud-based productivity apps and some video conferencing services without a PC. It can also act as a smart home control hub and as a smart speaker with support for Samsung’s Bixby and Amazon’s Alexa.
What We Think
Hmmm… If I had known this monitor was about to be announced, I might have delayed my Display Daily last week that talked about the price challenge of smart monitors. (The Apple Studio Display is Smart(ish)) Assuming that the monitor sells for around £799 in the UK (inc VAT) which is likely as it is $799 in the US, it will be around twice the price of a ‘dumb’ 32″ UltraHD monitor from Samsung. It’s a very neat solution and in a household where different users may want to use it, it could make some sense. However, as I often say “Your smart TV becomes your stupid TV after three years or so”. The reality is that users often keep their monitors 8-10 years and my feeling is that the ‘smarts’ of this monitor are likely to look ‘past their sell-by date’ well before that. (BR)
