It's clear that some items have hit peak functionality and manufacturers are just bolting on nonsense to keep up the facade of "luxury."
But I'm sorry, running Spotify on my fridge is hokey, gauche and entirely unnecessary.
Just being gauche and gaudy isn't enough to qualify; typically there's either enhanced utility or extravagance and an old-ass version of Android running on my fridge is neither.
Aesthetics, then passenger comfort. It's certainly a _nicer_ feeling when you rest your hand on quality materials in the passenger cabin.
That said, I drive a Tesla Model X with the all-white interior - Tesla is famously vegan - so it's all pleather - and it made me a pleather convert (it's just unfortunate most pleathers you see are cheap and nasty and wear-down too quickly).
> ambient lighting
That's not a luxury feature - some form of ambient lighting is standard in every car I've been in. It's essential to help you navigate the passenger cabin in the dark without turning on the dome-light which can dazzle or distract the driver, such as seeing where the glovebox is or other controls.
> Or heated arm rests?
Same reason we have heated-seats and heated steering wheels: passenger comfort in cold weather. Also useful for people with poor circulation where being stationary (in a car seat) gets really uncomfortable.
And I don't mean normal interior lighting, I mean the kind that is light piping all over the dash and doors that can be set to any color of the rainbow.
I just pull the drains and hose out my Jeep.
- Loud, ear piercing beeps on every opportunity. Why would anyone need to hear a beep every time they press a button? Imagine if an iPad did that.
- Speaking of buttons: over-complicated controls, for something that should be two dials and one button
- Ugly, spaceship like industrial design that has no place in a home
- Inner surfaces with holes and protrusions that would be difficult to clean
- Bright glowing green or blue LEDs that are always on, contributing to indoors light pollution
There were a few expensive models that were less terrible (red lights, softer beeps (still beeps, mind you!), OK controls) but they were all too big to fit in my kitchen.
My conclusion is that these manufacturers have no clue and no culture to figure out what a “luxury” product would look like today. They still think people find LED screens, chromed plastic and digital buttons impressive.
My wife and I got sick of our microwave always dying after a few years, plus having a ton of "features" we never used. Too many buttons, too much complexity, and too expensive to be buying year after year. So we went with a commercial 1000 watt microwave:
1. It has only a single knob to set the time limit in 15 second intervals - up to 6 minutes.
2. No turntable to break, clean, or wear out.
3. One cooking level - HIGH.
4. An interior that is super-easy to clean - just wipe it out, all surfaces are smooth and seamless.
It's only real downside is the fact that the light doesn't turn on when you open the oven door (it's only on when it is cooking).
Other than that, it's been a joy to use. It takes a bit of getting used to not having cooking levels, but other than that - it's not an issue. The trick is knowing that in a regular microwave, "cooking levels" are done in a "slow PWM" fashion - a duty cycle of the magnatron - so much turned on for so long, then off for a period. You can simulate that yourself if you have to, but we usually just thaw things in our fridge ahead of time (or put them in our sink or on the counter).
Not having a timer that can go more than 6 minutes also means you have to be paying attention if you are doing something long-term (cooking rice or something); just pull it out, stir it, pop it in for some more time. If you have to rotate something for even cooking, do that manually too.
Less functions, less parts, less junk to wear out, clean, or break. Win, win, win. Unfortunately, it wasn't cheap - but given we were replacing our microwave every 3-5 years, it'll pay for itself in a short amount of time.
You just answered your own question right there.
We just bought a new refrigerator this weekend, replacing the $3500 2011 Bosch that came with the apartment.
The Bosch burned out the compressor’s ECU - a $350 part that with labor would have been an $800 repair.
We comparison shopped all the appliance stores in NYC and ended up with a $2k Samsung side by side (not my favorite brand, but it fit in our tight galley kitchen)
PC Richard had only a single model with a touchscreen on the floor (Samsung French door). Best Buy and Home Depot had maybe one more from LG.
So on one hand, the concern that every refrigerator will have a useless touchscreen seems unfounded.
But... I was reading through the manual and was surprised to find instructions for connecting the appliance to my wifi. (MAC address available two hex digits at a time flashed through the temperature gauges)
Ostensibly this is to provide a channel for electric demand response (they even documented the api). It also connects up with Samsung’s SmartHome ecosystem (why??)
I have no doubt there is a full Android stack hidden what appeared to be a normal “dumb appliance”.
These hidden smart appliances are going to be great attack surfaces. I’m sure soon enough they’ll automate the wifi connection by making a back channel the nearest lightbulb or something.
Of course who’s following CVEs on their mesh connected toaster?
1. JB weld some magnets to the back of a cheap Android tablet and stick it on the front.
2. Build a small RasPi Zero W cam with an LED light, running MotionEyeOS, pipe it's feed out to the internet...
$60.00 later and some sweat equity - I could have the same setup, and not have to worry about it going "obsolete"...