CES is officially open, and we’re checking out what’s inside. From the big 8K screens to the small concept gaming machines, we’re wrapping up some of the best CES tech in five.
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For January 7, another day of CES, you’re listening to The Wrap, Australia’s fastest technology roundup, and now that the doors to CES are officially open for business, we’re recording live from Las Vegas, checking out what’s new in tech for the year.
While we’ve been recording shows for the past two days ahead of CES, today was the first official day of the Consumer Electronics Show, of CES. The first day was a preview of some of those ideas coming, day two was a media day for press briefings and keynotes, and today the doors at Las Vegas Convention Centre officially opened, as did the doors to the other venues of CES.
If you think CES is small, you might want to think again. Journalists will walk back and forth across exhibits, getting their step count up while they take in technology, venturing across over 250,000 square metres of space. There is just that much here, and while it’s impossible to do it all by yourself, we’re giving it a good try, checking out a lot of the new technology coming your way this year.
And that starts with some of what we’ve experienced. A big ticket item that is going to take up some valuable shelf space this year are 8K TVs, the newest definition of Ultra HD where manufacturers not only pack in more pixels, but more resolution overall.
Now there’s not a whole lot of 8K content out there — practically none — but TV makers are supporting 8K from YouTube, and today we went eyes on with LG’s 8K OLED, the ZX TV. There are two of them, with a 77 inch and even bigger 88 inch option, and they each offer pretty spectacular colours and detail, thanks to those OLED panels.
LG also managed to grab attention with a door at CES this year, and it’s a bit of a strange one because we don’t typically go to CES to look at doors. However LG’s smart door is more interesting than your conventional wooden door. There’s a camera to scan your face, and only when you’re ready to unlock it does the handle extrude from the flat shiny surface of the metal door.
That’s not even the cool part: it has a storage bay so deliveries can be thrown into it, including a refrigerated section. Meanwhile, the door on the other side has a big screen that can give you your day at a glance, and a video feed of what’s outside your door, in case anyone calls.
LG’s smart door is a little taste of what homes of the future could be developed like, alongside a home hydroponics-focused fridge, which uses small seed packets to grow lettuce, rocket, and other plants. It’s interesting because it shows LG is looking at the future of the home, and not just coming up with another crazy idea or two.
But we like crazy ideas, and sometimes we like them with Windows. Microsoft Windows, that is, which Dell showed off a few of today. There were three concepts Dell saw fit to show, including one foldable laptop, one dual-screen laptop, and one gaming laptop that was actually a hand-held portable gaming PC with an 8 inch screen. It’s called Concept UFO, and it’s a neat take on how PC gaming could be taken to go, especially in a world where PC gaming is rarely mobile.
Like a lot of things at CES, there’s no word on price or availability, which is a pretty consistent message across announcements at CES as a whole.
For instance, Netgear has mesh network routers coming with support for a 4G SIM, so you might be able to skip the NBN and go 4G in your home, but there’s no price yet.
Linksys has a 5G equivalent for its WiFi, but again there’s no price yet.
And Belkin has found a way to cut down the size of your laptop’s power pack with Gallium Nitride, making a smaller USB power supply, though there’s no price yet.
Some things do some with a price, and they kind of give us something to expect.
Like with Jabra’s latest gadgets in wireless sound, with the company adding two more devices to the mix, including a more water resistant Elite 75t, now the Elite Active 75t for $329 in February, and a wireless and somewhat inexpensive Jabra pair of headphones, the Elite 45h, which will go for $179 in March. Both will take a bit of a page out of what Australian headphone maker Audeara has done, including a small hearing test so you can define a profile of sound based on your hearing.
And there’s still yet more we haven’t check out, and plenty we need to. Our schedule is packed with a variety of things, and while trends like 8K and smarter living are seriously emerging, so too is a feeling that companies are experimenting more. More experimentation means more playful designs, and that’s good for keeping things fresh.
That’s it for today, though, so you’ve been listening to The Wrap live from CES 2020 in Las Vegas. Tune in tomorrow to find out what we’ve seen, what’s new, and what’s blowing our eyelids off, all from the world’s biggest tech show, and all in five minutes. Until then, take care.
