What You Should Know About CES 2017 So Far

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas takes place from the 5th to the 8th of January, bringing together all major tech companies, as well as new innovative players and start-ups. From high-end devices to nifty gadgets, CES certainly has something for everyone. This edition, which is the 50th in the history of the show, was dominated so far by the Internet of Things, smart home devices, wearables and gaming. Whether extremely useful devices or just a gimmick, it’s up to you… We have compiled a list of the 11 best devices that you should definitely know about!

Smart Home appliances and Internet of Things

1. LG's levitating speakers 

   Levitating speakers have been actually around for years, but LG is the first major company that makes this idea widely popular with the "Levitating Portable Speaker".
   Source: LG

   The “magical” stylish-looking speaker uses electromagnets to make the speaker levitate. You will see the egg-shaped speaker elevate around a round base, called the Levitation Station, where the electromagnets are placed in. The “station” is also housing a subwoofer for deep base, which is a great combination with the 360° surround sound. It is expected that the speaker will last about 10 hours playing music without having to be recharged. With no second thought, you can take this portable speaker on outdoor trips with you, as it is certified with IPX7 for water resistance. LG’s "Levitating Portable Speaker" will most likely be available next month and is expected to cost about $150-$200, according to Engadget.

2. Kuri

   BB-8 is real! Mayfield Robotics, company dedicated to making helpful home robotics, has revealed its newest and most advanced robot so far. The robot, named Kuri, is small, cute and will make you feel like you are living in a Star Wars movie.

   Source: Kuri

   The robot can understand commands as well as detect surroundings with the help of integrated sensors that map the environment. Kuri recognizes certain people, but it cannot speak, instead responds with facial expressions and movement. You can teach the robot with “if this, then that” functions, which in combination with the built-in 1080p camera, is extremely useful for monitoring your home while you are away. The little robot can wake you up for work as well and costs only $699. Worth it, no?

3. Lenovo Smart Assistant

   Smart home innovations definitely prevail at the CES 2017 and here we see Lenovo and Amazon in collaboration for the new home assistant - the “Lenovo Smart Assistant”. The device uses the Amazon-owned Alexa voice assistant and Alexa phone app, just like the Echo Dot and Echo Tap.

   Source: Lenovo

   The Lenovo Smart Assistant looks very similar to Amazon’s Echo home assistant, but with a nicer and more elegant design. On the top of the device is a silver 360° microphone-speaker combo, which is supposed to be a great speaker should you choose a model with Harman Kardon audio technology.

   On the inside is an Intel Celeron N3060 processor, one 5-watt tweeter and one 10-watt woofer for audio. The biggest difference between the Echo and the Lenovo smart assistant is the premium sound quality, something that the Amazon Echo was lacking. The Lenovo Smart Assistant starts selling in May at $129 for the standard edition and $179 for the Harman Kardon edition.

4. Samsung high-end appliances

   Samsung’s Family hub refrigerators, ranging up to 10 models and starting at a price of $5,600, have features that no other refrigerator has, allowing you to manage the food, connect with the family and be entertained, due to its internet connection, the 21.5” touchscreen, apps, and fridge-cameras. You can browse the web, play music, have photos shown on the screen, see pictures of what is inside your fridge, do your groceries online, or create a shopping list and use other apps, for example, for organizing (whiteboard, sticky notes, calendar). With a simple touch of a button, you can turn a part of the fridge to a freezer and set the temperature the way you want, or let the premium cooling system control the temperature and humidity for you.

   Source: Samsung

5. GeniCan

   In the IoT era, all things get smart, even an ordinary trash bin. GeniCan is a device that can transform your garbage can into a smart device that keeps track of all the things you throw away. It has a barcode scanner, so you simply have to scan the product's packaging before throwing it away and it will be added to your shopping list. You can access the list through the GeniCan app when you go shopping, or even order online. Easy, right? In case the packaging doesn’t have a barcode (or if you like talking dirty), the device has voice recognition, so you can tell it what should go to your shopping list.

   Source: GeniCan

6. Sevenhugs Smart Remote

   The Sevenhugs Smart Remote is a handful and truly universal remote control for your home. It lets you control any smart device from its touchscreen, which is a great relief for those of you who use different apps to control each smart device at your home.

   Source: Sevenhugs

   The Sevenhugs Smart Remote is a very accurate and fast way to control your appliances because of its built-in accelerometer, gyroscope and compass, which precisely detect where you are pointing the remote. So just go ahead and control everything at your place from wherever you are sitting! And if there are two devices close by each other, like a light bulb and smart television, the smart remote control will give you the option to choose the device you want to control on the screen.

   Laptops

7.  Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Yoga

   Following on the success of its X1 Yoga series, Lenovo added major upgrades to one of its most popular product lines. The new ThinkPad X1 Yoga convertible laptops have the same 360° hinge, which makes it possible to fold them completely and use them in tablet mode. Even if the design didn't change much compared to the previous series, there are many reasons why Lenovo fans should consider upgrading. Lenovo added a stylus, which can be conveniently placed in the dock built in the main unit. It's a great accessory for those who want to use the 14" display for graphic design or for taking notes. All laptops in the series have a 14" display, but you there are 3 options available: full-HD IPS, quad-HD IPS, or quad-HD OLED. The star of the show was the OLED version, with an astonishing 2560 x 1440px resolution, sharp colours and great contrast ratio. The laptops are powered by the Intel Core i7 vPro processor and run on Windows 10 Pro Signature Edition. Being designed for business use, the devices have advanced security features, including fingerprint authentication and facial recognition using an infrared camera.

   Source: Lenovo

8.  Acer Predator 21X

   Targeting hardcore gamers, the Acer Predator 21X is the world's first laptop with a curved screen, an ultra-wide 21" IPS display with a resolution of 2560 x 1080px, ideal for an immersive gaming experience. It has a clicky, full mechanical keyboard, a trackpad which can be taken off and turned into a NumPad, 5 fans and 9 heat pipes for cooling. Why would 5 fans and 9 heat pipes? Because this laptop has, besides an intriguing design, very hot specs: 64GB of RAM, 2 Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPUs and a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor reaching speeds of up to 3.9GHz. This is one mean, heavy gaming machine - and we’re using ‘heavy’ literally, as it weighs 8.8 kilograms! If you are considering buying it, you should start saving now - it will cost $8,999.

   Source: Acer

9.  Razer Project Valerie 

   Razer’s surprise at CES this year was Project Valerie, a prototype for a triple display laptop. With three 4K displays, you can play games at a resolution of 11520 x 2160px. Nevertheless, Razer claims it’s still a portable device - the main display of 17” allows you to slide in the additional displays, so you can also use it like any other laptop. When all 3 displays are unfolded, you can enjoy an immersive 180° view. On the inside, it resembles the Razer Blade Pro: it has the same Intel Core i7 quad-core processor, which can reach up to 3.5Ghz turbo speed, and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU.

   Source: Razer

   Wearables

10. Misfit Vapor

    With its new smartwatch, Misfit, owned now by Fossil group, is entering the territory of Apple Watch Series 2 and could become a real competitor, since it is cheaper and at the same time offers additional features, like sleep tracking. The stylish Misfit Vapor is a full-fat smartwatch with a built-in GPS, that allows you to track your activities, like your runs and cycling sessions. The device is waterproof, offers fitness and sleep tracking, and allows you to view and track your heart rate with its optical heart rate monitor, all without your smartphone been required. It has applications, notifications and you can even transfer 4GB of music to the watch and listen to it with bluetooth headphones. All combined in a watch with a circular 1.39” OLED touchscreen, with 326 ppi and a touch bezel surrounding the screen, with a thin steel frame around it.

    Source: Misfit Vapor

11.  Garmin Fenix 5, 5S, 5X

    Source: Garmin

    The Garmin Fenix 5, Fenix 5X, and Fenix 5S are Garmin's new trio of high-end multi-sport watches. These sports watches allow you to see calls, e-mails and text notifications on your display and have special features, like 24/7 heart rate monitoring, keeping track of the user’s blood oxygen levels and a new QuickFit technology, allowing the user to change between different bands made of plastic, leather or metal. All three have gyroscopes, barometric altimeters and built-in 3-axis compasses to track important metrics, like speed, elevation, distance and pace for all the sports profiles they offer, including running, cycling, climbing, skiing, hiking, rowing, triathlons and swimming, due to their water-resistance of up to 100 meters. GPS and GLONASS are supported by all three, while the Fenix 5X also provides a preloaded topographic map of the United States, allowing cycling and running enthusiasts to easily create courses and routes of long distance. The biggest and most expensive version is the Fenix 5X, whereas the Fenix 5S is the smallest one. The Fenix 5X and the Fenix 5/Fenix 5S with sapphire display cost $699.99, while the Fenix 5 and Fenix 5S with mineral glass are priced at $599.99.