Samsung Set To Bring Transparent LCD To Refrigerators Soon

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Oh, sure, we’ve heard about refrigerators mounting LCD panels before. And it usually turns out to be some kind of colossal dog and pony show in which we see them at some big event, and it boils off into a big cloud of vaporware as we turn our attention to actual products with price tags and release dates. But with Samsung, that’s no longer the case, as they plan to get these into volume production much sooner than you’d likely expect.

Samsung plans to get these into volume production starting by the end of this month, which means you might well be seeing refrigerators with transparent LCD displays hit your electronics store of choice by, oh, Labor Day or so, possibly even earlier. The display itself, meanwhile, not only allows you to look inside the fridge without opening the door, but also offers up a 1366 x 768 resolution and a 4500 : 1 contrast ratio with a color reproduction range around 70 percent, making this not necessarily a home theater display but certainly more than good enough for basic information presentation, as that’s about the same resolution as some laptop displays offer.

We all know that opening the refrigerator door to study the contents is a move that wastes plenty of energy, but is downright necessary in order to actually use the device. However, with this technology, not only will you be able to look inside at will without need to open the door (however, based on the images, it seems some kind of light will be on at all times, though if that’s an LED light it may not be burning a lot of juice. Plus, having the LCD display allows you to do things like access recipes from your refrigerator, as well as perform a variety of other home automation tasks, assuming the necessary networking is in place. Though this fridge doesn’t seem to offer those capabilities, at least at present, it’s good to see that we’re getting a start down that road.

No prices or release dates are available as yet, though, but if they’re going to start production the end of January, I can’t imagine it taking too much longer to get them to market. You don’t just make stuff and let the inventory sit if you want to make money.

So what do you guys think here? Clever idea or a gimmick to sell refrigerators at inflated prices? No matter what your call, the comments section is waiting for you below!