The Samsung Innovation Museum and Samsung D’Light Centre look into the future while honouring the past.

Even five years ago, being able to turn on the air conditioning and lights remotely through a mobile app was more stuff of sci-fi movies than a reality. Today it’s part of everyday life and just one of the many innovations for smart living that can be experienced and enjoyed at the Samsung Digital City in South Korea.

Located in the historical town of Suwon, the Digital City is just that – a city. Home to Samsung headquarters, it’s the workplace of more than 35,000 people and also houses the Samsung Innovation Museum, where visitors can explore the past, present and future of electronics from around the world.

And to think it all started with food back in 1938 when entrepreneur Lee Byung-chul invested 30,000 won (US25 in current exchange rate)  in his dreams and set up Samsung to sell such local agricultural products as dried fish, vegetables and fruits to Manchuria and Beijing.

By 1969, Lee knew South Korea had the potential to go much further and expanded his business into electronics. In 1970, Samsung collaborated with leading Japanese brand Sanyo to create its first black-and-white televisions and today it’s the world’s largest manufacturer of smart phones and home appliances.

Opened in 2014 to celebrate its 45th anniversary in electronics production, the Samsung Innovation Museum displays the company’s growth over the years along with inventions and electronic devices created by many leading global brands.

Fashioned from ceiling-to-floor glass, the modern five-storey building occupies 10,950 square metres and is divided into three exhibition halls. A 40-minute tour starts at the Age of Inventors gallery and takes the visitor back to the dawn of the electronics age.

Here space is devoted to such legendary scientists and creators as Michael Faraday, who discovered electromagnetic induction, Alexander Graham Bell, who produced the world’s first telephone and Thomas Edison, who invented the electric light bulb.

An entire wall is devoted to the designs of electric home appliances, among them the Maytag electric washing machine model 41 produced in 1911 and powered by an electric motor, the GE Monitor Top refrigerator with an exposed compressor sitting on top of the first all-steel cabinet and Philco’s popular Cathedral-shaped Vacuum Tube radio from the 1930s.

The Age of Industry Innovation room presents three exhibitions on the history of semiconductors and the evolution of display and cellphone technology. One of the highlights is the first television created by John Logie Baird that screened moving images by rotating a disk with holes in it. The BBC started broadcasting with the Televisor, as mechanism broadcasting was known, in 1929.

The first black-and-white P-3202 television series produced by Samsung and Sanyo was marketed in South Korea in 1970 and 500 units were exported to Panama in early 1971. The P-3202 is displayed next to something that looks rather like a thermos flask but turns out to be the first commercial mobile phone, the Dyna Tac 8000x, produced by Motorola from 1983 to 1994. Back then it took eight hours to charge the battery for just 30 minutes of talk time!

Samsung launched its first series of mobiles just in time for the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics and these are on show along with the first GSM phones, the Nokia 1011 series, introduced in 1992, which could store 99 phone numbers in their memory and display two lines of text on the black-and-white screen.

The Age of Creation hall explores the electronics giant’s vision for the future. One section is home to the SIM Theatre, where Samsung underlines its commitment to innovation through a seven-minute video presentation projected on a 180-degree UHD panoramic screen.

The film reveals such innovations as the medical mirror, a mobile health care sensor with unlimited time life memory and exascale computing that will convert a mirror or windshield into a computer screen showing lots of lifestyle information.

Adjacent is a product gallery showcasing the very latest in Samsung’s smart designs. The highlight is the 4K SUHD television, which offers a whole new experience in entertainment.

It uses innovative Quantom Dot Colour and HDR 1000 technologies to enhance a colourful virtual picture regardless of room-light interference and a smart remote controller that provides faster access to your favourite streaming contents.

The kitchen too benefits from state-of-the-art design with Samsung teaming up with world-class chefs to come up with a Food ShowCase refrigerator with an exterior showcase door that allows instant access to frequently used drinks and condiments and an InnerCase for storing large, fresh food items. Metal cooling locks help maintain consistent temperature throughout the refrigerator.

Another winner is the Active Dual Wash series, which is equipped with a built-in sink for pre-washing soiled or stained garments by hand before dumping them in the washer. Samsung says this can reduce washing time by 40 per cent.

"We try to offer products that will make daily life more convenient and allow customers to enjoy the urban lifestyle to the full," says Eunjou Min, vice president of digital appliances business.

One of these is the new Samsung Pay application, which uses NFC and magnetic card reader technologies to transform your mobile phone into a credit card. Easier and safer for shopping and using public transportation, this service now is available in South Korea, North America and China.

"Thailand is an important market for Samsung, especially in terms of mobile phones. Today, a smartphone is like an extension of your hand. We think of it as the door to information," says Younghee Lee, vice president of mobile communications business.

Back in Seoul, we visit the newly refurbished Samsung D’Light Centre in Gangnam. This modern three-storey learning centre is packed with interactive multimedia exhibitions focusing on the smart home, smart life and smart school.

The first floor is home to a Mobile Plaza that features all the Samsung smartphone series as well as an interactive game space that allows you to define your unique emotion by drawing a portrait of yourself. You start by taking a selfie and creating a background colour that best expresses your emotions before moving to the Mirror OLED screen where you enlarge on those feelings by drawing or painting.

The Connect Tomorrow gallery on the second floor unveils creative innovations for the future including the Gear VR, a mobile virtual reality headset where your designs will be projected on a television.

The second floor is also home to the classroom of the future where Samsung’s new MagicIWB solution turns a touch-screen display into an interactive HD tablet device, equipped with an assortment of pen styles.

LOOKING AHEAD

Samsung Innovation Museum is inside Samsung Digital City in Suwon. Admission is free. It’s open Monday to Friday from 10am to 6pm by appointment only and on Saturday from 9am to 5pm for everyone. Find out more at www.SamsungInnovationMuseum.com.

Samsung D’Light is situated at Samsung Electronics building, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Admission is free. It’s open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 8:30pm and on Sunday from 11am to 3pm. Find out more at www.SamsugDLight.com.