This year CES 2015 was an amazing show. There were more connected things than ever before, including wearables, smartwatches, connected cars, and connected home devices. There were almost too many devices to keep track of, but we did the hard work for you. We grunted it out on the show floor — all of them —to bring you the best of the best from CES 2015.
There was lots of great competition this year, but here are our picks for the best of CES 2015.
Myo Armband
The Myo is an awesome connected accessory that really shows the future of wearables. It's just starting to ship now, but already packs a load of awesomeness into a small package. By putting the Myo on your arm, you can control all kinds of things by just making hand gestures or movements with your arms. You can control the music on your phone, pilot a drone, or control a presentation — all by gesturing.
The $199 Myo works over Bluetooth LE and helps to bring your connected world together. The folks at Thalamic Labs have already started a large community of developers, so there will be no shortage of awesome applications for the latest wearable.
Read more on the Myo
WeMo Sensors
Belkin's WeMo system offers a great set of switches and sensors to make any home smarter. They lineup already housed a basic switch and motion sensor, but following an announcement at CES 2015, now offers a room motion sensor, water sensor, an alarm upgrade system, and a magnetic sensor for windows and doors.
These new sensors round out a great lineup of WeMo devices for the connected home. Now you can go beyond just controlling lights or sensing motion. With the new sensors, WeMo users can do things like monitor for water leaks and pressure changes, or check for open doors & windows.
The Belkin WeMo system is a great way to get started in the connected home space, and their offerings will only get better as time goes on.
Read more on Belkins new WeMo offerings
Garmin Vivofit 2
Garmin dropped a huge announcement during CES 2015, the arrival of their next big fitness tracker. A followup to their popular Vivofit tracker, the Vivofit 2 will build upon the great features and offer even more for users.
The Vivofit 2 is made to constantly monitor a users activity. It features a battery life of over a year, and will track your daily step goal and remind you to get moving with the always-on "move bar". The band can also be paired with a compatible heart-rate monitor to track activity levels during a workout.
Unlike the original model, the Vivofit 2 can be customized with various straps that include the Style and Signature series. The Vivofit 2 will be available later in 2015 and retail for $129.99.
Read more on the Garmin Vivofit 2
Withing Activite Pop
Withing's Activite was is a luxurious fitness tracker, but at over $400, it's not the most affordable. To help resurrect that issue, Withings has announced the Activite Pop. The $150 is much cheaper than it's older sibling, but will offer much of the same feature set at the same time.
The Activite Pop brings along the same mechanical watch styling, mixing in a smaller dial to monitor your daily activity. Connected to a compatible smartphone, the watch will give you more detailed readings throughout the day.
The Activite Pop will be available this March in Azure, Shark Grey, and Sand.
Read more on the Activite Pop
Netatmo Camera
Netatmo is a lesser known name for many, but during CES they announced a new connected camera for the home that may soon make its way into your connected arsenal. The camera system supports iPhone, Android, Windows Phone — and soon the Apple Watch — and is able to recognize faces so it can tell you who's coming and going.
The setup runs over your home Wi-Fi network and will be able to keep tabs on the activity in your home (or office, or wherever). You can view live footage whenever you want through the companion app, and you'll receive a notification should someone the camera doesn't recognize come along at any time.
So far the Apple Watch is the only smartwatch that is said to work with the Netatmo camera, but the camera still a ways off and won't be on sale until mid-2014.
Read more on the Netatmo camera
Lenovo Vibe
Lenovo took the chance to expand their arsenal of devices with the new Vibe Band VB10 — a wearable E-Ink band. The band, which promises about a week of juice on a charge, offers a full set of smartwatch features while still managing to look halfway stylish.
You'll be able to receive notifications for things like SMS, Twitter, Facebook and WeChat, while adding a bit of fitness tracking into the mix as well. It's an interesting long, somewhat stylish band that should find a nice place in the smartwatch world. It's set to be available sometime around April with an unannounced price tag.
Read more on the Lenovo Vibe Band here
Misfit Bolt
Misfit has taken the jump from wearables to connected lights with the Bolt — a $50 connected bulb. The Bolt works along with the Misfit Home mobile app, and can be controlled from home of afar. It offers color changing a'la, Philips Hue, and it does so for a relatively inexpensive price.
The beauty of the Bolt is that you can pop them in pretty much anywhere a standard bulb would go, in a lamp or ceiling fixture. Bolt also has features like a sunrise simulation that slowly brings up the lights in the morning to help make getting out of bed just a bit easier.
Shipments are set to being in February, and Misfit is currently offering bulbs in a 3-pack bundle for $129.99, or $43.33 per bulb.
Read more on the Misfit Bolt
iDevices Switch
With Apple's HomeKit gearing up for action, iPhone users will certainly be scrambling for compatible accessories. One new device that we saw at CES this year is the iDevices Switch. The HomeKit-enabled device is a simple plug that lets you control lamps, stereos or any other small devices.
The Switch takes advantage of Siri so you can tell her to "turn the lights on" or "start my fan", and it shall be done. Custom voice commands are on the horizon as well, and the Switch allows for custom events and schedules too.
Pricing and availability have not yet been announced.
Read more on the iDevices Switch