CES is still the biggest consumer tech show in the world. Held in Las Vegas each January, it’s the place to see the latest gadgets and concepts which may – or may not – ever go on sale.
This year there were plenty of the expected TVs, but also the unexpected reveal of a new micro-LED transparent TV from Samsung. Health tech is booming, too, with Withings’ new BeamO giving us a glimpse of where things might go in future. You can count on LG to unveil some weird and wacky devices, and this year was no exception.
Without further ado, here are the products that caught our attention this year.
Withings BeamO
Withings
Personal health tech is undoubtedly a new trend that’s set to grow hugely over the next few years. Withings is already the gold standard where smart scales are concerned and now the brand has packed the heart monitoring tech available in its priciest scale – plus more features – into a tiny, handheld device. That’s the BeamO, which features an ECG to record the rate and rhythm of the heart, a stethoscope for measuring lung health, a thermometer, and an oximeter to test blood oxygen levels.
It can take a full set of readings in around one minute. These measurements will then be uploaded to the Withings app, where users can track, analyse and share their health data. They’ll also be alerted to any odd or alarming readings.
The BeamO supports multiple users so, unlike a smart watch, it can be used by a whole family. It’s not as pricey as we might have expected either. It’ll cost $249.95/ £199.95 and is expected to launch in June this year.
Read more about the BeamO.
LG Styler
LG
LG’s Styler is a beautifully made piece of lifestyle tech. It’s an appliance that people want before they even know what it does.
When we reviewed an earlier iteration back in 2020, we found numerous uses for its de-creasing, refreshing and sanitising settings. But it still had limitations, including an inability to remove wrinkles from heavy cotton.
But the new model adds an inbuilt handheld steamer to its list of features, giving users more opportunities to avoid dragging out the ironing board. It also features a ventilation system and dehumidifier to protect the room the Styler stands in from muggy air and the clothes inside from damp.
There’s now an awareness of the amount of microplastics shed when clothes are washed, and the Styler provides a genuine alternative to washing clothes in a machine every time they need to be refreshed.
Belkin Auto-Tracking Stand Pro
Belkin
Content creators (professionals and amateurs alike) can now make videos without a crew much more easily with the help of Belkin’s new Auto-Tracking Stand Pro, which follows subjects around as they move. With support for DockKit, the new stand is allegedly silent, and has a full 360 degrees of pan and 90 degrees of tilt.
It works with iPhone 12 or higher (sorry Android fans), and can use both front and rear cameras. Once the phone is magnetised onto the stand, it pairs via NFC, and then with a click of a button works via both the standard camera app and others such as FaceTime, Instagram, TikTok and even Microsoft Teams, meaning it could be a good work tool.
The stand also features MagSafe, so you can charge your iPhone with 15W speeds when the product is plugged in. If you’re not near a socket, then the stand has five hours of battery life on a single charge. It’s certainly a clever little gadget, but at $179.99/£169.99 it doesn’t come cheap.
Pre-orders in the US will kick off at the end of January.
LG OLED B4
LG
The G4, M4 and T1 from LG’s 2024 TV range are the models grabbing the headlines but the humble B4 is our pick of the bunch. It could well be the best value OLED TV of the year.
We don’t know prices yet, but there’s no doubt it will be a cheaper alternative to its flagship siblings. Plus this year comes in a new 48in size which will be even more affordable still.
The B3 impressed us last year and the B4 has received a significant raft of upgrades starting with a new α8 processor. It also has four HDMI 2.1 ports supporting 4K at 120Hz, giving the set more gaming appeal as well as for TV and movies.
Note: Image shows OLED M4.
Nanoleaf outdoor lights
Nanoleaf
Nanoleaf has quickly become of the best-known smart lighting brands, and at CES it introduced its first dedicated outdoor lights.
Compatible with Matter, there are two options for the outside of your house: the Smart Multicolour Outdoor String Lights and the Smart Multicolour Permanent Outdoor Lights. These can be placed in gardens, decks, patios and the exterior of your home.
Just as you can with other Nanoleaf lights, you’ll be able to customise patterns, colours and brightness via the accompanying app which connects over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. More than one of each can be grouped together, and users can create gradient effects with different shades. Manual and voice controls are also an option, too.
The Nanoleaf outdoor lights will go on sale this spring, giving Christmas lights enthusiasts plenty of time to plan their next spectacle to dazzle the neighbours.
TCL Nxtpaper 14 Pro
TCL
The TCL Nxtpaper 14 Pro epitomises the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. This 14-inch Android tablet might not look like anything special, but it has a potentially game-changing display feature.
Via a dedicated button, it can move between three distinct display modes. Standard colour is what we’ve come to expect from TCL tablets, albeit with a matte ‘Nxtpaper’ coating that eliminates glare for a paper-like experience.
You can take this to the next level by moving to colour paper mode, which is designed for viewing visual content such as comics or magazines without the usual eye strain. The final mode is ink paper, a monochrome e-ink experience that matches what you’ll find on a Kindle or other e-reader.
It’s this versatility that really helps the Nxtpaper 14 Pro stand out from the crowd. And with a capable MediaTek Dimensity 8020 chipset and 12,000mAh battery, the only real compromise elsewhere is a lack of mobile data.
But success will likely hinge on the price, which is yet to be revealed. We also don’t know exactly when it’ll be available to buy.
MSI Claw
MSI
Handheld gaming PCs are here to stay, and MSI’s new Claw is another rival to challenge the Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. It has a 7-inch, 1080p, 120Hz display and is the first handheld gaming device to use an Intel Meteor Lake processor.
The Claw features quite a rugged design, with angular bumpers and joysticks with RGB lighting. According to MSI, the Claw “significantly elevates FPS” with the help of AI upscaling, so it’s suited to fans of games such as Call of Duty, Valorant, Overwatch and more, though it could be used for a variety of other titles, too.
Its 53Whr battery capacity is the largest among its rivals. It starts at $699 (around £550) and is expected to launch sometime in February.
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid
Lenovo
The ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid might not have a catchy name, but it could be the ultimate 2-in-1 device. Not only does the screen detach from the keyboard and become a tablet, it also has its own set of internal components and runs a different operating system.
You wouldn’t know it from first impressions, though. It looks just like any other laptop, with a 14-inch OLED display, full-size keyboard and Windows 11 software. You also get an Intel Core 7 Ultra chipset, 32GB of RAM and a 75Wh battery.
But remove the display and this all changes. It’s now a huge Android tablet, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, 12GB of RAM and 38Wh battery. The tablet has its own USB-C port for charging, but recharges from the laptop when docked.
However, there are still ways to run all Android apps in Windows 11, use Android while docked or connect a different monitor and use the keyboard and trackpad in “headless” mode.
The ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid will start at $1,999, and is expected to launch in Q2 (April-June) of 2024.
Samsung Flex In & Out Flip concept
Samsung
Samsung continues to refine its foldable Z Flip phones, but what if the screen could fold the other way too?
That’s what the company is imagining on its Flex In & Out Flip concept. As well as the usual folding inwards to keep the screen protected, it can also bend completely backwards.
This opens up the possibility of using the display while folded, something which isn’t possible on current flip phones. In this concept, one ‘half’ of the 6.7-inch screen is slightly shorter than the other, ensuring it doesn’t obscure the cameras.
While Samsung has no immediate plans to add the Flex In & Out Flip to its foldable lineup, the ability to fold in both directions would make flip phones much more versatile. But it’d also put even more strain on the hinge, and it’d be difficult to avoid the crease becoming more noticeable.
Doublepoint Wow Mouse app
Michael Crider / Foundry
Like the sound of the Double Tap feature on the Apple Watch but use an Android phone? Doublepoint’s new Wear OS app takes this gesture control to the next level.
Essentially, Wow Mouse turns any smartwatch running Google’s software into a Bluetooth mouse, allowing you to control your computer or smart home tech using simple hand gestures. Examples shown include a tap to toggle play/pause and a flick of the wrist to adjust the brightness of a lamp.
Ultimately, the effectiveness of Wow Mouse will depend on developers embracing it. But the algorithm used by Doublepoint is designed to integrate with a range of existing products, reducing the work required to make it compatible.
The company also wants to expand beyond Wear OS, with a partnership with Qualcomm hopefully paving the way for its inclusion on all Snapdragon-powered watches. Developers will be able to get their hands on Wow Mouse in the first half of 2024, though there’s no word on when the app will be available publicly.
Eufy X10 Pro Omni
Eufy
Eufy has really stepped up with its latest robot vacuum, the aptly named Omni. The brand tends to produce reliable robots with an excellent feature set for their price point and the X10 Pro Omni is no exception.
It will cost $799.99/£799.99/€799/$799CAD, which is far from cheap, but in terms of its feature set, it does as much as rival models that cost hundreds more still. It’s a robot vacuum and mop with a station that not only empties the onboard dustbin but dries the mopping pads after use.
The robot itself has 8,000Pa of suction, which is as powerful as anything out there and it has an edge cleaning system as well. Even better, it has one of the most useful features around: it can identify and avoid up to 100 common household objects using AI via its camera – including pet waste. The X10 Pro Omni will be available from 20 February 2024.
Shelly 1 Mini Gen3
Shelly
Being so utterly tiny, it would be easy to miss the Shelly 1 Mini Gen3. It’s a smart relay that can fit inside a light switch on your wall or in a ceiling rose to make your existing lights controllable with a smart assistant.
You could even install it in a dumb home appliance and avoid having to use an ugly smart plug, or connect it to your gate or garage door opener to make it smart.
Not only are Shelly devices very affordable, there are also several models in this new range to choose between. The Shelly 1PM Mini Gen3 can monitor power usage so you can see what your lights or appliances are costing you to run.
The real reason we’ve included the Mini here though is its size, because smart relays aren’t exactly new. The Mini Gen3 is just 35% the size of Shelly Plus devices, so it should fit behind just about any wall .switch
Dell XPS 14
Dell
CES brought with it a sea of new laptops, but Dell’s refresh to its multi-award-winning XPS range stands out in the crowd. The 2024 lineup also includes a new XPS 16 and the XPS 13 Plus from last year has been revamped into the regular XPS 13, but it’s the XPS 14 that has caught our eye the most.
A lot of laptops look the part and come with the promise of performance but don’t always live up to it. That seems unlikely for the XPS 14, which combined portability with power thanks to new Intel Core Ultra processors and GeForce RTX GPUs up to the RTX 4050.
It’s 21% lighter than the XPS 16 but all are more sustainable than previously, which we love to see….