And it’s a wrap! CES 2016 is over. The 49th CES has brought more attendees and attention than ever. With 170k attendees (50k from abroad) and 6000 journalists and analysts, this was the largest CES ever. It is simply impossible to see everything, but we all thrived to tell you what we thought were the most interesting, sometimes out of the box, products of the show. This is our selection, in no particular order, of the Best of CES 2016.
Dell UltraSharp UP3017Q 30-inch monitor
With its new 30-inch UP3017Q OLED monitor, Dell takes the lead regarding PC monitor contrast ratio and color saturation. OLED displays unbelievably vivid pictures, and the 4K resolution provides extremely sharp graphics. With the proper video card, this monitor can reproduce 1.07 Billion colors.
Samsung Smart Hub 2016 user interface for TVs
More than ever, video content comes from a variety of sources: online services, over the air TV, cable, game consoles, network storage, etc… As a result, the TV interface is often not coping well with it. Samsung’s 2016 SmartHub TV interface is the latest effort to tackle this problem by presenting every type of content in a unified way. Upon selecting something, the TV will do the necessary work to run the content, including switching inputs, without further user action. Yes to that.
Lenovo Yoga X1 with OLED display
The YOGA X1 is the intersection of the success of the YOGA series of laptop and its 360-degree hinge, and the X1 series which is military-tough. The combination of both is a nice 2.8lbs, 14-inch, ultralight 2-in-1 computer that is fast, flexible and comes with a beautiful OLED display.
Samsung Galaxy TabPro S Ultralight PC
Samsung has shocked the PC industry by bringing to market an amazingly light Core-M powered 2-in-1 laptop. Its design has surprised competitors and turned heads of CES 2016 attendees. At 693g, it is possibly the lightest Core-M laptop ever built. It also has a 4G LTE option and a detachable magnetic keyboard that works well on one’s lap. Read about our hands-on time with the Galaxy TabPro S.
Under Armour / HTC Health Box
When it comes to wearable tech, it’s fair to say that navigating the different offerings and compatibility can be difficult for many consumers. HTC and Under Armour have worked together to offer a beautiful combo of products that include a chest strap heart-rate monitor, a smart scale, a wristband fitness tracker for $400. It’s the easiest way to get started with a high-quality set knowing that they all work well together.
Withings Thermo Thermometer
Thermometers haven’t evolved in a long time, and the friction points are common: it takes too long, you need to clean it, and you may have to write down the reading. Withings’ Thermo improves those three points. The temperature is quickly and accurately read just by putting touching one’s forehead. It is also a cleaner place to use it when compared to the alternatives and finally it’s possible to upload the temperature to the cloud for multiple users.
Parrot Disco fixed-wing drone
Parrot is the company that initially made drones become mainstream. Today, the market is extremely competitive, but the Parrot Disco creates a new consumer drones category: the fixed-wing drones. Disco is capable of flying at 50mph, at 50 meters high (depending on local regulations) for 45 minutes. Its front camera will provide a view of the flight, and its fixed-wing configuration makes it inherently more stable and smooth to operate.
Razer Core external graphics card for laptops
Many gamers dreamed about it, RAZER made it: although external graphics processors are not a new concept, the idea lacked a consumer-friendly product and brand to support it. The RAZER Core can host a full-size, full-power graphics card for a laptop. It has been designed to work with the RAZER Blade Stealth laptop, but in theory, it could work with other laptops equipped with USB-C Thunderbolt ports.
LG Signature G6 OLED 4K TV
LG has produced a tremendously high-quality 4K television called the LG Signature G6. It comes in 77” or 65” and its thinnest part is only 2.57m thick. Its glass body looks as classy from the front as it is from the back, in case you expose it in an open area. The G6 base is a powerful A/V box that folds to accommodate a wall-mounted setup. Of course, the image quality is fantastic: thanks to LG’s OLED panel, viewers can enjoy a nearly-infinite contrast, vivid colors and high-dynamic range (HDR) when content allows. Stunning.
Sennheiser Orpheus headphones with amplifier
It is undeniable that “retro” is the name of the game for audio electronics at CES 2016. The Sennheiser Orpheus headphones have caught our attention as the most remarkable pair of headphones of the show. They are said to have an incredibly low distortion and can reproduce sound at a much higher fidelity than most humans can hear. The tube amplifier mounted on marble reduces structural vibration to a minimum. At $55,000, it will remain a dream for most audiophiles.
Zeiss curved lens with integrated light path for Smart Glasses
Zeiss has developed a very promising glass that could open the floodgates for discreet wearable displays. The Zeiss curved lens with integrated light path allows light to be transported and redirected towards the user’s eye in an extremely low-key form-factor that other people wouldn’t notice since no light is emitted outwards and since the glasses look very plain (this is a prototype, OEMs will design their own). The curvature of the glass makes it possible to build corrective lenses as well. Zeiss is not the first company to create this type of lens, but it is certainly the first which is ready to produce them at scale.
BMW i Vision Future Interaction
BMW is preparing for a future in which cars will self-drive or “heavily help” the driver, who will be free for other activities such as communications. At CES, we really liked BMW’s AirTouch is a user interface (UI) which uses voice commands and hand motions to select items. As a secondary option, the driver can also tap on surfaces hidden into the steering wheel or the upholstery if a physical contact is preferred.
Huawei Mate 8 Smartphone
The Huawei Mate 8 has become Huawei’s new leading smartphone. Launched in China before CES, the Mate 8 has officially debuted worldwide. Built with the same design language as the latest Honor phone, the Mate 8 features a very large 4000 mAh battery, a glass/metal construction, LTE Cat6 connectivity (2 SIM), the latest Huawei camera technologies and Android 6.0. Its superior battery capacity and power consumption optimizations remain its primary advantage over the competition.
Casio Smartwatch Outdoor WSD-F10
The major Smartwatch makers compete with jewelry makers, but Casio is staying true to its passion for outdoors, and the Android Wear Casio WSD-F10 smartwatch reflects that. It is designed to be submersible for up for 50 meters deep, built to comply with military standards, and has three physical buttons that allow quick access to outdoorsy functions such as a compass or the sunset time, so you can build your camp before nightfall.
Marathon Laundry Machines
Laundry machines are not the first category one thinks of when heading to CES, but it’s fair to say despite many attempts to “modernize” them their core functionality hasn’t improved that much. The Marathon washer/dryer ($1200) is designed primarily for two things: 1/ get rid of the stand-alone dryer 2/ improve the user interface and the connectivity of this combo. People can easily set it to start when the electricity is the cheapest, based on actual prices. This is the Tesla of washer/dryer.
HumanEyes VUZE 4K 360-Degrees Camera
Spherical video recording is getting a boost with the VUZE camera from HumanEyes. In a single flying-saucer design, HumanEyes has packed eight cameras that capture four fields of view in 4K and 3D. The final movie output will be spherical and can be used for many purposes including virtual reality (VR) but also applications that want to mimic Google Street View. There are other 360-degrees solutions, but none did push the concept so far.
Faraday Future FF ZERO 1 Concept
The FF Zero 1 concept car is an electric vehicle that looks like a Sci-Fi piece. It’s a single-seater that can reach beyond 200 mph (320km/h). More importantly, the car uses a chassis that can also be used in all kinds of production cars, from sedan to SUVs. While “when” such cars would appear remains to be seen, we do know that Faraday is building a huge factory near Las Vegas.
D-Vine
It is no secret that many people are passionate about wine. While it is relatively easy to find good wines (for a price), it is much harder to taste it in optimal conditions. Temperature and how much the wine “breathe” (is mixed with open air) are said to contribute to 50% of the final perceived quality, according to experts. D-Vine automates all the steps necessary to serve wine in the most optimum way possible in the comfort of your home. It is essentially an automated sommelier.
