What’s the sweet spot when baked bread goes from perfectly baked to overly brown? Maybe you like it a nice honey gold, but any more is too done. While it doesn’t exactly run on the Pantone scale, the Midea Fun Smart Oven, introduced at IFA 2016, and intended for the Chinese market, does come equipped with a 2.0 megapixel camera and app.
The camera and app are for more than just sharing videos of your cookies whilst they bake. The camera watches as your snickerdoodles start to turn a darker brown. “With the big data and using this camera video technology, we’re reading this data and finally know when is the perfect time for food to be done,” Jian Wang of Midea told Digital Trends.
Though the countertop appliance works like a regular oven, meaning you can dial in your temperature, the app helps facilitate the cooking process. You can choose a recipe, and the oven will then know exactly what you’re cooking. Customers in China will be able to buy exactly what they need for a particular recipe from the app, and Midea will deliver it for them. If the Fun Smart Oven reminds you of the June Intelligent Oven, you’re not alone. Wang admits it’s a similar idea but insists it isn’t a copy; Midea is selling a whole food service, including the grocery delivery.
The smart oven is due to roll out in China next month. Midea isn’t announcing plans to bring it to the U.S. or European market, however Wang hinted that the company is in talks to sell the oven under a U.S.-based manufacturer, something it does with its other products. Midea is also building an R&D center in Kentucky, so we may be seeing more Midea appliances stateside in the future.
Midea had a slew of other interesting products at IFA 2016, including an RF solid-state microwave. NXP collaborated on the itsy-bitsy, portable microwave (it’s battery operated, so you can take it camping), which works using semiconductor microwave heating. The method supposedly gives more consistent results and is more efficient and faster than traditional microwave cooking. There are no details yet on price and availability.
