I hate smart microwaves

Microwaves are remarkably simple devices. A magnetron, a timer and a turn table. Thankfully engineers came up with ideas on how to improve them.

For god knows what reason however most of these amazing (and usually cheap) improvements are barely existent in today’s microwaves. This article will show a selection of amazing features that are rarely used and list features that no one asked for that exist instead.

Display

I cannot understand and/or fathom why microwaves, especially those that cost 200€+ still overwhelmingly use 7-segment screens, a technology from the 70s. The usage of a time tested, minimalist and reliable technology is not a problem, usually quite the contrary. This however only makes sense if you have a microwave that has no other features than to microwave and it simply and only shows time remaining (or even the current time). Todays microwaves however have many more features. The feature list often includes:

A 7-segment display cannot ever to any satisfaction display useful information. I, for example, recently bought a Bauknecht MW 49 SL microwave. I bought this microwave for 200€ and despite this it comes with a 7-segment display. Why? Is even a one-colored LCD display too expensive? On AliExpress i could find one for ~1.50€. You cannot tell me that a multi-million or even billion dollar company cannot, especially with a bulk-purchase discount afford a 2 inch LCD screen. In 1997 Sharp already figured out how to do that. This video by the YouTube channel Technology Connections shows how useful a decently sized display can be. Just the ability to read what you are actually doing without having to consult a stupid code-sheet would be great. I am not even talking about an OLED display, which would be absolute overkill. A simple monochromatic LCD display, as shown in the video, is sufficient.

Humidity Sensor

Similar to how inexpensive a small display is, a sensor is as well. The installation of a humidity sensor for example would do wonders for the automatic programs. As the video linked above shows, the aforementioned Sharp microwave has a humidity sensor, which allows it much better cooking/grilling accuracy. As the video shows, for example, it can measure the opening of a popcorn bag and, knowing how long it took to get to that point, cook it to completion. This process can be applied to various foods like meats, rice, pasta etc.
Most Microwaves today however decide that a humidity sensor, that costs only a few cents, is just too much of an investment and instead opt for the “time-table” solution. Here, based on the weight you have entered for your meat, vegetables or whatever else, a time is chosen from a premade database inside the microwave. The obvious downside to this method is of course that this ignores the very real differences from food to food.

Second Magnetron

Something that might be more expansive would be a second microwave-generation source. The reason for that is simply for the fact that microwaves are bad at heating the entire chamber, or rather its contents, evenly. You can test this at home. Get a receipt from a store and put it into the microwave and turn it on. You will see that some spots get darker than others. Even with the reflective inner chamber of the microwave not everywhere is being heated evenly. I am not sure if two half power magnetrons would do the job, but i am not a STEM students so yea.

Stuff that should not go into a microwave (hardware wise)

All IOT stuff. There is absolutely no reason to ever connect a microwave to the internet. You may say “but what about new recipes?” to which i say “just add a USB/SD-card slot”. On a side note, it would genuinely be amazing if there would be an open-source, easy syntax software language with which you could program your own automatic recipes. Call it maybe “Cookscript”. End of side note. Another thing that should never not be on a microwave (double negative) is physical control elements. I mean buttons and knobs. While i understand the “mimimi everything must be cool and futuristic”, i am disgusted by the weakness of the touchscreen and crave for the certainty of physical elements. The haptic feedback of pushing a button or the ratchets of a knob make “BEEP” noises unnecessary.

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