So, my flight back got delayed by almost 2 1/2h (as of starting to write this) and thus I have time to start writing here at Berlin Tegel airport (one of the oldest and crustiest airports I have ever been at).
Let's go through this in the order of the brands I'v been at.
First of was LG. Nothing new there, except that their ThinQ connectivity technology is now Google Asistant enabled and thus there are apparently some washer/dryer related commands.
They now have a inverter heatpump dryer (called Dual Inverter technology) and they had a rather nice display of their heatpump washer dryers showing of the condenser/evaporator arrangement. Like ELux-es ÖkoKombi system, the heat exchanger is mounted on top of the drum, but instead of diagonaly they are mounted side to side and are rather tiny. But it is an inverter heat pump as well (not sure if ELux is using one).
Next up was Beko and Grundig (Arcrelik Group representatives).
They have launched an AutoDos DW as well, however they are using a liquid detergent tank (which makes so much more sense).
They do have a new DW spray arm designed to rotate of axis. It's a 3-sided design moving in an almost square shape so that they cover into each corner.
Further, they have brought the ion technology from their DW to more models and added ion technology to some dryers.
Some washers now have a warm air refresh function, some have steam. Some dryers have steam too, and some dryers have their fresh scent technology which is kind of like Mieles fragrance system, but not based on liquid but on small cartridges apparently containing some sort of cushion containing the aromatic ingredients.
Oh and of course their AutoDos washers.
They have some new oven stuff like full size microwave combination ovens.
A quick stop on the way was Panasonic. Not much there except that the bread from their new upcomming bread maker was AMAZING.
Next was Miele.
And oh boy did they deliver.
Their "Dialoggarer" was heavily featured and showed of in several (pretty good tasteing) cooking shows. And their gourmet delivery service focused on people with that 8000€ monster of oven-perfection will be roled out germany wide with the begining of the next year.
Their new full-area induction cooktops are nice as they do not have a full touch screen but the light-up number type of selection which is far more handy IMO.
Their new touchscreen TOL washers are also a MAJOR leap forward. One of the most fluent touch interfaces I tried. All options are visible at once, all clearly marked as selectable or not.
They have a new version of the QuickPowerWash for their new models: All machines have either a Quick or Express option (Quick on 1-line display models, Express on their full touch models). With the short option - which is the default configuration of the cycle - the cycle is 59min. Without it, it is 1:15h. So the difference most likely is simmilar to last-versions water plus implementation.
SingleWash looks promising as well: Cottons 60C in 49min, 40C in 44min (IIRC), Easy Care 40C in 39min. Seems as if they just utilized a quick pre-sense with a small amount of water adaquate for a 1kg load and check if the absorbtion is to much. If the load sensing sees a drop in waterlevel, further sensing is done and the cycle time is lengthend, otherwise the (apparently fixed) SingleWash cycle is run. SingleWash is avaible on several cycles, so is the Quick/Eco optimization options.
Their dryers now all come with a bedding cycle. The touchscreen dryer I looked at had a slightly modified upper filter with 2 spots for FragranceDos pods, couldn't figure out why.
Their new DW are actually pretty nice in terms of UI. They have the same MTouch base as the washers and dryers with adapted cycles. The Eco cycle at A+++ -20% is about 3:15 without options, the Auto cycle is still at 2:30ish. The modified QuickPowerWash is now 45min. All cycles now show their estimated time and temperature when scrolling through them. They added several options (Extra Clean for example) and they do change cycles a lot. For example, Eco with Extra Dry goes down to just 1:54h. But for what ever reason they still placed the rinse only cycle as QuickPowerWash with the Express option even though they a freaking configurable touchscreen where tey could have just added a prerinse cycle. QuickPower with Express should have been a 20-30min cycle without drying IMO.
In conjuction with the new interface they DRAMATICLY changed their water system. The entire bottom of the tub is flat, the filter and sump is a verry small area just around the lower spray arm. There are now 2 seperate tubes inside the tub at the back leading to the 2 upper spray arms.
Sadly there was no sign of a refillable AutoDos disk. Hopeing there will be an aftermarket solution. Detergent exits the dosage system through a small plastic port in the bottom centre of the door.
Next up was AEG.
Nothing spectaculary new there.
Their dosage system uses 2 tanks simmilar to BSH with the big advantage of keeping 2 compartments for manual dosing of main wash detergent and softner. The buttons for dosing will be on the right hand side of the display and surprisingly is avaible onf the series 6 to 8 models, so actually "budget" dosing options.
All they could tell me about the series 9 dryer sensing system was that it senses "deeper into the garments". Looking at the dryers I did not see any additional sensors from the get go, but I know that the 9000 models use an inverter heat pump.
They als had their touch display washers and dryer shown off, but that UI is really not the best, especially compared with the much cheaper dial and button UIs of the same series.
However I really liked all their oven UIs featuring a dial. Even their TOL steam ovens were really easy and logicly to use.
Their ÖkoKobi washer dryers are IMO a really good option for washer dryers. Their quality isn't the greatest, but cycle times are reasonable, filters are easy to clean and usage data is just unbeatable.
Nothing new on the DW side here IIRC.
They had a new cordless vacuum though I think.
Next were Bosch and Siemens (covering them as one here).
I was really disappointed by their oven UIs or better said all their touch UIs in general. Maybe it was because they were running for that long, but man were they unresponsive. Was more like punch then touch.
Their washer dryers have some weired exclusions of options and such and for the love of it either I was blind or they actually slashed the VarioPerfect options.
I had some lovely baked apple at a Siemens cook show though.
Their dryers are still... well... not my cup of tea.
But their lower end stuff especially in the kitchen area is pretty competitive to AEG by now!
Last on the tour was Gorenje and Asko.
Gorenjes washer and dryer UI was nice in theory, but horribly unresponsive. I took me like 10 attempts to change the temperature on the washer.
The TOL dryer has an inverter heatpump but does not utilize the amazing possibilities that could open up like quick dry options. All cotton cycles are estimated at 3h or more.
Their ovens are nothing new, but their DW should be a pretty good value option and feel rather nice.
Asko had a machine on display that is literally amazing. Full color display, 1800rmp spin, automatic dosing in the drawer while keeping all compartments for manual dosing.
Matching heatpump dryer with steam and ion tech.
Their DW is a beast. 4 levels, but still lots of room.
That was about what I remeber. If I forgot anything and remember, I'll keep you updated.
If you have questions, feel free to ask!
(Still 2h till flight departure, but at least we got vouchers for food now.)
