The 2016 edition of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has kicked off and we’re already in awe of some of the products that have been previewed.
CES is the biggest technology trade show held every January at the Las Vegas Convention Centre in Las Vegas, Neveda, United States. It plays host to both major industry players and upcoming start-ups alike who come ready to show the world what new gadget they’ve been working on.
Here’s a summary of the opening highlights of #CES2016
DRONES
Parrot and DJI both unveiled new drones of their own. While DJI announced new versions of its flagship Phantom and inspire 1 drones, Parrot unveiled its all new Disco drone that operates as a fixed-wing aircraft which takes off and lands on its own. All you need do is toss in the air and it’ll begin flying on its own until you take control of it. Parrot says the Disco was designed to make it easier for amateurs to operate drones too.
ProDrone’s latest addition is a camera mount for its Byrd series of drones which would hopefully give users the opportunity to mount different popular consumer cameras and be able to remotely control them after they take flight.
SMART HOME APPLIANCES
Top of my list of some of the smart home appliances already unveiled at CES 2016 is Samsung’s $5,000 new Family Hub refrigerator. It comes with a 21.5-inch touchscreen in its front door and 3 cameras hidden inside it to take pictures of all the food in it.
You can also access some apps like the Groceries by MasterCard app (which lets you order things from FreshDirect), Pandora music streaming service and the Sticki app with which you can sync your schedule to a family calendar.
Other Smart home appliances include a camera you can place inside your fridge so that you can see what you have in stock and a mat with sensors which can sense the weight of whatever is on it both from Smarter, an iPhone-controlled ceiling fan from Hunter and a smartphone-controlled 9-volt battery for smoke detectors by Roost.
Hydrao also unveiled a connected shower head that can let you know when you’re using too much water while LG show cased a Twin-Wash-compatible LG Signature washing machine which washes two separate loads at the same time, with the main machine also doubling as a dryer.
AUTOMOBILES
FaradayFuture has unveiled its FFZERO1 – a 1,000-horsepower electric concept car that looks very much like the bat-mobile.
WEARABLES
From a bracelet from ReliefBand that will supposedly help reduce morning sickness in pregnant woment, to a TempTraq patch designed to monitor the temperature of infants when they’re sick, there are quite a number of wearables at this year’s CES.
There’s also the Withings Go – a cheap activity, sport and sleep tracker, two “Huawei watch for Lady” that come with Swarovski crystals and genuine Italian leather watch straps and a new wearable system for HTC and Under Armour called “UA HealthBox” which helps you monitor and track your activity, sleep, fitness and nutrition.
Fitbit also show cased its new Fitbit Blaze – a more fashionable, smart, fitness watch that’s compatible with both Android and iOS devices. That’s not to forget two new models of the Samsung Gear S2 Classic in Rose gold and Platinum, Casio’s first smartwatch – the Casio Outdoor Watch WSD-F10 and other wearable health devices like Omron’s blood pressure monitoring tech, GymWatch’s fitness trackers that measures your lifting and a wearable from Vert that measures your jumping among others.
SMARTPHONES AND TABLETS
Samsung unveiled its Galaxy TabPro S, a tablet-laptop hybrid that runs Microsoft’s Windows 10. Acer brought its Acer Aspire Switch 12 S which according to the manufacturer, is the “most premium and advanced model” of its Aspire Switch line of 2-in-1 notebooks.
ASUS came to CES 2016 with its Zenfone Zoom which although isn’t new has not yet been official launched in the U.S. Hence ASUS brought US pricing and availability details to the event.
LG has introduced two five and 5.3-inch smartphones both of which feature 2.5D Arc Glass design.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. be sure to keep checking for article updates as the event progresses.
You can go here to see a copy of CES 2016 Schedule.
