The best of CES 2020 - 10 gadgets that will help make life rip even harder
Ah CES - the place where good, bad and downright weird gadgets come to get tested by nerds like me.
It is also the place for big announcements from big tech, as they wade in with big gadget energy and make big bets on the future (don't think I said big enough there).
And out of all of these, there are some that you just know will be a fluke, and some that while useful are just so damn bizarre (more on those next week)…
But then there are the metaphorical big guns - the influential gadgetry that you just look at and can immediately tell "this is going to lead to something big." Something that is going to come out later in the year and kill it, or an idea that will flourish into something big in the future.
Now let me be clear - life already rips, has ripped and will continue to rip, whether you get any of these or not (plus some of this stuff are just concepts, so you can't buy them anyway). But if you do buy anything off this list, I'm pretty confident it will make life rip just a little harder.
So sit back, take a sigh of relief as that will be my last reference to Chris D'Ella, and try to ignore the anxiety of a potential World War 3, as I make my picks for the 10 best of CES 2020.
1. Hydraloop
Sustainable technology has been hovering in the ether of CES for a while now - largely ignored because most of the world’s tech press were busy reporting on big screens, cars and the weird sex toys they find on the show floor… You know, anything for clicks. But this is the first time I’ve seen it start to be taken seriously, which is why the Hydraloop has rightfully picked up so many best of show awards this time round! What is it? The concept is pretty simple. Any outgoing waste water from the house (baths, showers, pot washing, etc), it will take it, clean it through sedimentation, a bioreactor and disinfect it with UV light, and reuse it. You’ll see this water again in the toilet, your swimming pool, even in the washing machine. The big number here is that you can recycle a whopping 85% of total in-house domestic water, all for a box that costs $4000. Pricey? Yes. But in the long run, oh-so-cost effective. Definitely a favourite of mine from the show.
2. Sony Vision-S Concept car
There was a big surprise announcement from Sony at CES and no, it wasn’t the PS5 logo (talk about a wet blanket). The big S made a pretty big splash in Vegas by unveiling an electric car concept simply called the Vision-S. The outside and inner-workings are all you’d expect from an electric saloon rider, as they have partnered up with some of the big players in the space.
But it’s the small Sony tweaks that make it truly something special - 33 external sensors varying from cameras to radar and even solid state LiDAR, a massive touchscreen dashboard that spans across both driver and passenger, and an intricate 360 sound system that immerses you in anything you listen to. Interestingly, this doesn’t seem as far out as many other concepts. It actually looks pretty close to being put into production and tested. Watch this space...
3. Samsung The Wall Micro LED TV
What’s the answer when you’re one of the biggest TV manufacturers on the planet? Simple, just make it bigger. I’m not going to include their rotating telly on here, because it steps a little too far into that “fluke” territory.
I’m going to reserve judgement on the future of vertical content and just whether seeing your phone screen in full on your TV (while definitely beneficial in some areas) becomes super critical to the consumer. So let’s go for this beast - a 292-inch 8K Micro LED TV… Definitely not a practical choice but one that is surely going to make everything look so much better.
4. OnePlus Concept One
To be honest, there’s not much different under the hood to this and my OnePlus 7T Pro. You may not even notice the coolest thing on this until you look round the back. Taking inspiration from the very McLarens this phone is partnered with, Electrochromic glass makes the cameras disappear.
It’s a subtle detail, but one that is a really cool showpiece. Saving it from “fluke” territory, though, is the fact the tint of the glass can be customised in the camera - providing an organic filter in bright lighting conditions.
5. Alienware Concept UFO Prototype
Ever looked at a Switch and thought “I want to play my PC games on there?” Well, Alienware has your back, or at the very least they’re getting close to having your back. Their UFO Prototype concept machine squeezes a pretty decent gaming PC into a portable screen with detachable controllers a la Switch.
It has all the stylings of Alienware hardware and from the demos we’ve seen, it can handle itself under some serious strain of today’s games. Given how polished this thing looks (no sign of tape keeping anything together here), it’s not far-fetched to expect a version available to buy by mid-next year.
6. Inupathy Dog Harness
I love dogs. Hence, this had to be on the list. You can use it to see how your pupper is feeling. By tracking heart rates, paired with their exhaustive studies into the field, you can have a unique insight into whether your dog is excited, relaxed, interested or stressed, and the colours on the harness change along these mood changes. Get to know your dog, that is if you have enough time in-between petting them.
7. BrainCo Prosthetic Hand
Much like the Hydraloop, there are just some gadgets at CES that makes you envision a brighter future with it involved. BrainCo brings another one of those to the table with one of the most affordable AI-powered prosthetic hands on the planet.
It was demonstrated doing some incredibly finesse tasks that no current prosthetics south of 20 grand could actually achieve. So to see this do so at a far more affordable price is amazing progress!
8. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold
One year ago, Lenovo showed off a concept of the world’s first foldable PC. This year, it’s coming to market and will be available to buy as the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold. This 13.3-inch foldable panel at a 4:3 aspect ratio comes packed with a rather modest set of specs (that’s as much as Lenovo told us), and a battery that lasts up to 11 hours. All of this puts it nicely into a new territory as a next-generation netbook - and it will arrive before Microsoft dip their toe with the Surface Duo.
9. Samsung Ballie
So Samsung built their own equivalent of BB-1 - a personal assistant that rolls around the house and communicates with you. Outfitted with all the smarts, sensors and its own robotic language of sorts, it can communicate with your smart home and help around the house while you’re out. Example: if your pupper (a corgi in Samsung’s example) knocks something on the floor, it can turn on the robot cleaner and sort out the mess in your absence. Cool stuff!
10. Ghost Canyon NUC
What do you get when you take the body of a living room small PC and pack it with gaming power? You get the radical Ghost Canyon NUC. There’s been a mission in the industry to make gaming PCs more accessible than the big old towers with all the LEDs that seem to be fit for the kind of kids who had Lamborghini posters on their wall (guilty).
Now, with the down-sizing of hardware, we’re at a point where you can get a properly good rig (that is really easy to upgrade) in a tiny form factor. Fair warning, you’ll need to have a good knowhow of processors and graphics cards, as the first purchase is pretty bare bones.
