Hisense at CES 2023 launched its range of TVs, focusing on its signature ULED, OLED, and of course laser. But Hisense does a little bit more than TVs, and even though I have a Hisense washing machine and fridge, have for yeeeeears, I somehow forgot that home appliances are a massive part of the company’s focus.
Last week, Hisense set up a home in Malabar, land of the Bidjigal and Gadigal People, just outside of the Sydney CBD. The home had a few TVs, including a laser, a dishwasher, a fridge, a wine fridge, a washing machine and dryer, and an air conditioner. But what I hyperfixated on was the laundry room. Mostly because I came to the realisation as a grown-ass adult that I’m washing my clothes wrong.
Apparently, you’re not meant to wash clothes in cold water because “it’s the worst thing you can do to your clothes”.
“You want to be running a bit of temperature in there to make sure it actually runs through,” Hisense Australia national retail training manager Chris Mayer said.
“Most detergent doesn’t break down until it reaches about 25-30 degrees and you need to actually activate the detergent by getting it to that temperature. There are some detergents now that do activate in cold, but you need to purchase ones that are specifically [for that].”
As someone who washes only in cold, I feel quite embarrassed.
Mayer obviously was there to talk about Hisense’s 2023 washing machine and dryer range, not give me a lesson on how to clean my clothes, but the two things kinda go hand in hand. Hisense has a new range of washers and dryers and the combo of the two, paired with the company’s ConnectLife app, is meant to make your life easier and get you washing clothes properly.
I’ve recently been on a ‘why is everything smart these days’ tirade, but that’s mostly because I haven’t completely experienced what a smart everything can actually do. Just this week I reviewed Samsung’s latest ‘boujee’ stick vacuum and really appreciated that it was Wi-Fi enabled and an app. But I digress.
The Hisense Series 7 10kg front load washer, full of bells and whistles, will weigh the clothes that are in it, adjust wash time to the smallest amount of time that it can be effective to wash them, and dispense the correct amount of detergent and softener. Automatically.
In the machine, there’s a washing wizard (yes, a little dude that sits inside the machine with your clothes) which means you can describe what you’ve put in such as what type of fabric, what crap you’ve spilled on yourself, just how much of that chocolate is on your pants, and it will construct a wash cycle for you unique to that particular load.
Mayer explained that when the clothes get washed, then steamed, allergens are then removed, and, at the end, when the water is brought in to rinse the clothes, the water is being treated with UV antibacterial light. Heaps going on.
“Technically speaking, the clothes should actually come out literally cleaner than when you purchased them,” he said, adding the clothes will be “the cleanest they’ve ever been”.
But wait, there’s more. Because of course there is.
Hisense also sells a dryer that can be paired with the washer.
Once the wash of your chocolate pants, for example, is done, the Heat Pump Dryer will be turned on and it will know what type of item it’s going to be tasked with drying. (!!!). It also has two sensors built in – a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor. Basically, the dryer won’t get too hot so as to melt the clothes, nor will it let the humidity get too low so as to keep them protected. Ion refresh (think odour removal) is involved too and honestly, I kept forgetting we were talking about a dryer.
The Hisense Series 7 Front Load Washer (10kg) costs $1,099, while the Hisense Series 7 Heat Pump Dryer (9kg) will set you back $1,299.
Yesterday Zac was printer-pilled, today I’m washer-and-dryer-pilled. What are these companies doing to our usually cynical newsroom?