CES 2019

CES 2019 is already wrapped up and its highlights are given here.

CES, is one of the world-famous annual consumer electronics show has been setting industry trends and fostering technological breakthroughs for more than half a century(51 years) now.

The 2019 International CES began on Tuesday, 8 January and ends on Friday, 11 January. It's been taking place since 1967 and is staged by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), a trade organization that represents over 2,000 consumer tech companies in the U.S.

Technology shapes our daily life, impacting not just how we read and work and play but how we interact, how we learn, how we grow. And just days from now in Las Vegas, CES (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show) will give us a window into what that will look like.

All the foldables, rollables and 4K-ables we're seeing at the big tech show. We've seen major keynotes from Sony, Samsung, Garmin, LG, Nvidia and others, while hunting down and testing the most exciting tech at Las Vegas.

Sony at CES 2019

Sony has a new range of flagship TVs, covering both OLED and LED. The Master Series ZG9 is an 8K LED TV that's full array and available in 98 and 85 inch sizes. There's 8K X-Reality upscaling so your 4K content remains sharp at larger sizes. 

If OLED is your thing, then Sony is going for 4K HDR supremacy with the Master Series A9G. It use Acoustic Surface Audio+ and is slimmer than the model it replaces. Again, this is a big TV coming in at 75, 65 and 55-inch sizes. Both support Google Assistant, Apple AirPlay 2, Alexa, Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

Sony also announced a full run of LED TV updates, audio update with new connected soundbars, introduced a new sound technology called 360 Reality Audio - which is basically surround sound for music - and has confirmed that the excellent WH-1000XM3 headphones are getting Alexa support.

But beyond that, Sony's clever Glass Sound Speaker will be available this year. It's expensive, but there's nothing quite like it.

Samsung at CES 2019

Samsung has announced that it's going to be offering Apple iTunes access on its 2018 and 2019 TVs, as well as AirPlay 2. Beyond that, Samsung has also shown off The Wall 2019, including a 75-inch 4K model - which is going on sale in 2020. The future of TV is Micro LED, it seems.

It has also added a 98-inch 8K QLED model to its line-up, so there's a full range of sizes to choose from if you want a next-gen TV. Of course there's another version of Samsung's Family Hub - its connected fridge - while Samsung really wants you to be excited about its expanding Bixby platform. 

That's not gone so well so far, but fortunately it's putting Alexa and Google Assistant compatibility in its 2019 Smart TVs.

Garmin at CES 2019

Garmin has announced the Vivoactive 3 Music LTE - this version of its popular watch adds an LTE connection, giving you safety features and connectivity without a phone. It's launching on Verizon and there's no word about other networks or countries but it will mean you can download your music wherever you are, connect to your Bluetooth headphones and head off on your run with no phone.

Garmin has also done a deal with Mercedes-Benz that will see the Vivoactive 3 integrate with the Mercedes Me app, with the aim of increasing driver well being, in the future allowing the car to react to the driver's condition, perhaps with soothing music, seat massages and so on to enhance the driving experience.

LG at CES 2019

LG's show-stopping announcement is the LG OLED TV R, a 65-inch TV 4K HDR TV that will put itself away into its 4.2 channel 100W speaker cabinet when you don't want to use it. It's also LG showing what can be done with OLED displays and really flexing its technical skill. 

We already know the new Alpha 9 (a9 Gen 2) processor will be at the centre of the 2019 OLED series: an 88-inch Z9 8K set in addition to the W9, E9 and C9. All will now be able to utilize Amazon Alexa in addition to the already-available Google Assistant. 

LG also has two new LG Gram laptops a 17-inches plus a new 2-in-1 as well as soundbars featuring Meridian Audio know-how alongside various technologies including Dolby Atmos and Google Assistant. It has also revealed new XBoom speakers including a smart speaker with built-in Google Assistant. 

There is also a new craft brewing appliance - LG HomeBrew which hopefully will produce something better than last time we tasted a home brew.

Nvidia at CES 2019

The focus of Nvidia's press conference was the launch of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060. This is the latest version of the company's 20 series GPU that's intended to be the entry-level model that will make ray tracing technology more accessible to the masses. 

Elsewhere, Nvidia's GeForce RTX 2080 GPU has made its way into several new laptops including the Predator Triton 900 and 2019 Razer Blade 15. These new laptop GPUs should help deliver both 4K and 144Hz display visuals that laptop gamers will love.

Royole at CES 2019

Royole is behind the folding phone. Yes, you thought it would be Samsung or LG showing off this device, but instead it falls to Royole with the FlexPai. Never heard of Royole? It's a new company founded in 2012 that specialises in flexible products. 

It packs in some of the latest hardware with Snapdragon 855.

HTC Vive at CES 2019

HTC Vive has a new headset called the Vive Pro Eye and why is it called Eye? Because it tracks your eyes. That's right, this headset can use eye tracking which brings a range of benefits for the wearer. There are simple things like being able to focus on the content on where the user is looking, it can reduce motion sickness, but we suspect, as HTC highlighted enterprise deployment, that it will mostly be used for control without your hands.

There is also a new consumer headset called Vive Cosmos. This is a VR headset sitting in the mid range. It is designed to connect to a PC, but there's a strong hint that in will also be supported by phones in the future. HTC says there will be modular upgrades.

Artificial Intelligence

Yes, there will be voice-powered devices, smart speakers running Alexa, and yes, Google Home will be embedded in TVs and lightbulbs and other things. But A.I. goes well beyond simply telling you what to wear.

In one of the first keynotes of the show, I.P. Park, president and chief technology officer of LG Electronics, will detail the company’s vision for A.I., which can “solve this problem of using complex systems, so that the devices become smart — and smart devices mean they’ll know exactly what you want.”

5G

It’s been hard to miss brands shouting about their efforts to bring 5G networks to the world over the past few years. With substantially faster speeds and vastly lower latency times, the next-generation networking technology will interconnect everything from cars to computers to smart homes. Like the Internet back in 1999, this will change everything. But up until now, the advancements have been… let’s say more hope and hype than here and now.

In 2019, every major carrier will have pilot 5G programs up and running. Heck, some of them already do. And at CES, we’ll learn in depth what that means: Things like immersive virtual reality worlds that don’t suffer disorienting lags from slow networks. It means being able to visit the best doctor anywhere around the world, and maybe even undergo robotic surgery, thanks to telepresence technology. And of course, it means faster phones, so that you can download the big data files in the blink of an eye, rather than just plodding along.

Self Driving Cars

It’ll be hard to miss all of the concept cars at the show, which will capture everyone’s attention with splashy visions of what the cockpit of the future feels like once robots become our chauffeurs and our cars become more movie theater than driver’s seat. In fact, Audi’s car presented is exactly that: A full-fledged entertainment space. Watch for other eye-catching concept cars from companies like Bosch and Kenwood that show off visions of the future.

Foldable Screens, 8K

You can’t have a CES without some crazy new display technology, whether that’s a giant TV screen that rolls-up like the posters from your college dorm room or an 8K set with so many pixels you’ll want to pop the news anchor’s zits yourself. Ahead of this year’s show, we’ve been panting like a dog during summer over rumored announcements about smartphones that either roll up or simply fold in half to better fit your pocket. With Samsung, LG, and Huawei all doing the “will they, won’t they” dance, it’s hard to say for sure whether we’ll see one.

The things-that-fold category won’t be limited to cellphones, however. We expect to see laptops and tablets that incorporate the new display tech for an entirely new experience. Imagine a device without a keyboard, just a continuous screen that can act like a keyboard when you need one sort of like the OLED display on Apple’s MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. Only useful.

Smart Home

Smart home devices mean everything from doorbells to dishwashers, but one product category stood out for us at this year’s CES: toilets.

Yep, CES 2019 was flush with toilets, some featuring internet connected features, voice assistants, and more. Eep!

Health

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, but the health and wellness sector is a bit of minefield. It’s not always easy to find the gadgets and services that are based on sound science. Some of the gadgets were presented related to health.