LAS VEGAS — Every year, the International CES brings with it a colossal wave of new and innovative devices, and much of what appears at the show will define consumer tech in the following months. CES 2015 is no exception.
Given current trends in technology, we expected to see smart home devices, ultra-high-res TVs and driverless cars to be highlights — and those categories are represented — but there are surprises, too. Personal transporters appear to be having a resurgence if this year’s show is any indication, and computer monitors are suddenly sexy again thanks to some nice curves and 4K resolution.
Conversely, the “Internet of Things” is undoubtedly the megatrend of CES 2015, but few individual devices have stood out. Connected and self-driving cars are on the rise as well, but there are few players and thus few notable examples.
The biggest standouts were in relatively mature categories. An ultra-thin tablet, an incredible smartphone charger and a novel streaming service all surpassed the restrictive limitations of their predecessors to create a significantly better experience. That’s progress.
Here are Mashable‘s Top Picks of CES 2015.
ENTERTAINMENT
Sharp Aquos Beyond 4K TV
CES is all about progress, and Sharp’s latest TV is the progress poster child for TVs at CES 2015. On the spec sheet, Sharp’s set is a 4K TV. But there’s some pixel magic going on here: The TV has a total of 66 million subpixels — 42 million more than a normal 4K TV, and all of those subpixels can be individually controlled. Sharp’s clever TV can allow pixels to “borrow” subpixels from their neighbors, increasing the overall sharpness, also called pixel splitting. The result is a display with an effective resolution of 7,680 x 4,320, which is — you guessed it — 8K. Technically it’s not actual 8K, which is why Sharp avoids the term, but the company does claim the set is the highest-resolution 4K UHD TV you can buy.
Samsung 34-inch Curved Monitor
For all of Samsung’s love of curved TVs, they’re kind of silly. Not so curved monitors, though: We were in love with Samsung’s SE790C Curved Monitor from the moment we laid eyes on its sleek contours. It has a 21:9 ultra-wide aspect ratio, which makes it almost as wide as two old-school 4:3 monitors side by side. The curve is relatively tight at 3000R (meaning the radius of the curve is 3,000mm), but for a monitor — which will typically be just a couple of feet from your face — that makes perfect sense, especially for such a large screen.
Dish Network Sling TV streaming service
Until now, almost all streaming TV had only been available to customers with a cable subscription. Now, cord cutters will be able to subscribe toDish Network’s Sling TV without paying for cable. The service offers customers a batch of channels for $20 a month. The killer feature: It includes ESPN — an important channel for its live and exclusive sports content, though the service can be streamed to only one device at a time. Sling TV will be available to U.S. customers in the first quarter of 2015 — just in time for baseball season.
Bang & Olufsen BeoSound Moment
Bang & Olufsen has brought forward some real innovation in the interface of the BeoSound Moment: a music player with a capacitive touch wheel that’s built into a real wood surface. When you use it for the first time, the effect is a little like magic. You can plug in your own iPhone or music player, or stream, via Bluetooth, from any number of services, including Spotify, Deezer or YouTube. The interface also offers something called a MoodWheel, a color wheel where the colors correspond to the mood of the music you want to play. The entire set-up is designed to play more toward your intuitive music listening instincts rather than forcing you to spend time learning yet another complicated interface.
Dell Venue 8 7000 tablet
Thinness and minimalism are always prized in tablets, and Dell has really delivered with the Venue 8 7000: It’s just 6mm thin or 0.24 of an inch — just a hair thinner than the famously skinny iPad Air 2. The rear camera does much more than snap fancy pictures; it can record detailed 3D information, letting you scan objects — even faces — to create models that you can then import into other software (like games) or re-imagine in the real world via 3D printing. The tablet market may not be growing like it used to be, but as Dell’s impressive tablet shows, the category is hardly stagnating.
LIFESTYLE
Gogoro smart scooter
Everyone thinks electric vehicles are a good idea, but who likes waiting hours for a recharge? Energy startup Gogoro aims to solve this problemby creating a system that allows people to quickly swap their electric vehicles’ batteries rather than waiting around to juice up. It’s starting with an electric battery-powered scooter and a battery network that places recharging stations around cities. Buying a smart scooter gets you a subscription to the battery service. The accompanying app keeps tabs on your scooter and points you to the nearest battery station when you’re running low.
Belty smart belt
It’s common to loosen your belt buckle a little after a big meal. But a new product called the Belty takes that task out of your hands. This sensor-equipped smart belt automatically adjusts itself throughout the day, depending on how much you’ve eaten and how much exercise you’ve done to compensate. It connects with an app that charts the data it collects throughout the day, sending feedback to the motors, which expand and retract in response. The prototype is based of clunky metal, but the company, Emiota, says it aims to make Belty a “high-end product.” We can’t wait to pair it with our Guccis.
Sony FDR-X1000V 4K action cam
Yep, even action cams have gone 4K. Sony’s first 4K-ready action camera, the FDR-X1000V, allows users to record point-of-view shots at glorious Ultra HD resolution (3,840 x 2,160). The camera goes on sale in March for $500 and comes with a new way to reduce wind noise to that maintains high sound even when shredding down a hill. It’s also water resistant to protect against splashes, drops in the snow or submersion while hunting sharks. The camera includes Sony’s Steady Shot feature, which stabilizes videos, though this feature only works when shooting in HD, not in 4K.
Garmin fenix 3 sports watch
You better be ready to get extreme with Garmin’s fenix 3 watch. It offers training assistance for sports, such as snowboarding, hiking and skiing. What’s more, the watch can endure tough environments. Did we mention it’s beautiful? The sleek design epitomizes a sturdy, high-end timepiece. It can also connect to your phone to relay call, text and email notifications to your wrist. The fenix 3 comes in three colors with a base price of $499. A sapphire version costs $100 more. We warned you about getting extreme.
IO Hawk personal transporter
If the skateboard and Segway had a strange, high-tech love child, it would be the IO Hawk. It’s as weird and wonderful as it sounds. Built by the company with the same name, the IO Hawk is a self-balancing motorized personal transporter. Similar to the Segway (but minus the handle bars), the product is powered by batteries, motors and uses slight pressure from your feet to guide it where you want it to go. When you shift your balance, the device responds and moves in that direction. It weighs 22 pounds and can travel up to 6 mph.
Zuta Labs pocket printer
After raising almost $600,000 on Kickstarter, Zuta Labs is ready to start production of its extremely mobile printer. About the size of a large coffee cup, the $199 device actually moves itself around a piece of paper to print. The 4-inch-wide printer is aimed at users who often need to print documents in places where printer access — think a coffee shop or at a hotel — is sometimes hard to come by. The fact that it also works with smartphones and tablets is a big deal, too.
StoreDot rapid phone charger
Your next smartphone could recharge in less than two minutes. That’s the promise of StoreDot’s ultra-fast battery charger, which is in prototype form but moving much closer to reality. Before our eyes, a phone fitted with a special battery went from almost empty to 100% in about the same amount of time it takes to brush your teeth. The company says it took a completely different approach to building a battery: Rather than trying to improve capacity, it redesigned the internal structure. The tradeoff: The overall battery life is shorter — the company says the smartphone battery it built lasts only about five hours. But you’ve got to start somewhere.
SMART HOME
Sony Life Space UX smart home concept
It actually debuted at last year’s show, but Sony’s Life Space UX gets a big upgrade at CES 2015. It goes way beyond Internet-connected power outlets: With its elegant LED-bulb speakers, video projectors that turn walls into screens, and interactive tabletop, the new Life Space UX is one of the most attractive smart home demos we’ve seen. It’s a little nebulous at this point how all the individual components will work together, but people won’t buy into the smart home concept until they can look at the products and ideas and think, “I want that.” Sony’s minimalist system certainly qualifies.
Keen Home smart vent
A heating vent might not be the sexiest home accessory to get “smart,” but a new high-tech option lets you control each room individually. In most cases, a home’s thermostat (smart or otherwise) controls the heating and cooling systems in a one-size-fits all way. The Keen Home smart vent keeps you from wasting energy—and money—on areas of your house that don’t need as much attention. Installing the Keen on a few strategic vents throughout a house could lead to big savings. Sounds smart to us.
Samsung Active Wash washing machine
Samsung’s latest washing machine has a genius addition: a built-in sink. Dubbed the Active Wash, the top-loading washing machine includes a built-in sink for washing delicates or doing pre-treatment. The problem is that many laundry rooms don’t have a sink. Even better, the Active Wash’s sink comes with its own water jet. Once you’re done washing, you can pour the water into the machine to drain. The idea more than makes sense — it’s how it should be.
Parrot Pot
It looks like a rather tall and not very interesting flower container, butParrot’s device — simply-named Pot — may be just what your plants crave. This Bluetooth flower pot can tell when your plant is thirsty and then water it for you. Standing roughly a foot tall, the tall white pot has built-in sensors that can read the level of fertilization, temperature and level of moisture in the soil and notify you when the plan needs water. When the Pot arrives later this year, your neighbors will be forever grateful.
Whirlpool kitchen of the future
Whirlpool put together an innovative “kitchen of the future” concept where countertops act like touchscreens. You’ll be able to put a pot or skillet anywhere on the surface, which will detect it and start heating up. It integrates with video conferencing (like when you need to ask mom about a recipe) and can show alerts from your networks, too. There’s more: The kitchen will recommend recipes based on ingredients you already have thanks to “smart vessels”: food containers that keep track of the freshness and weight of what’s inside them. One extra for dinner? The stovetop can connect to your smartphone calendar to automatically update the recipe so you’ll cook enough for everyone.
AUTO
Delphi Drive system
Delphi showed off its self-driving car system at CES. Hidden under the fenders and strategically positioned on the dash and roof of an Audi SUV were 20 sensors, including 360-degree LIDARs, radars, high-accuracy GPS, collision detection and more — all powered by an Nvidia Tegra K1 running Ottomatika’s automated driving software. Throughout the ride, the car’s dashboard screen showed it constantly analyzing its surroundings. It knew where it had to go, the rules of the road and what other cars were doing all around it. It made smooth lane changes and wide left turns. It stopped for traffic and traffic lights. Driverless cars are real, they’re here and, if they get a license, can really drive themselves.
Mercedes-Benz F 015 electric self-driving car
Mercedes-Benz is jumping into self-driving cars with its latest “autonomous” vehicle, the F 015 Luxury in Motion “visionary concept” car. Mercedes looks forward to a world after 2030, when cars will be “exclusive cocoons,” a new kind of mobile living space. The F 015 has bizarre proportions and large LED lights on the front and back, which it uses to communicate with other cars. It’s equipped with four rotating chairs that allow the passengers to sit face-to-face and the windows can be used as display screens. The future is driverless, and it looks pretty hot.
Source:Mashable.com
Everyone thinks electric vehicles are a good idea, but who likes waiting hours for a recharge? Energy startup Gogoro aims to solve this problemby creating a system that allows people to quickly swap their electric vehicles’ batteries rather than waiting around to juice up. It’s starting with an electric battery-powered scooter and a battery network that places recharging stations around cities. Buying a smart scooter gets you a subscription to the battery service. The accompanying app keeps tabs on your scooter and points you to the nearest battery station when you’re running low.