CES 2020 brought some interesting advances and gave us a peek into what might we be seeing in the future. I dug through the sea of gadgets in computing, mobile devices, wearables and cameras to gather the ones that stood out and explained why it matters.
COMPUTINGChromebooks has been gaining traction, but mainly in the education sector with low prices and weak specs. CES introduces us to two new laptops, the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook and the Asus Chromebook Flip C436, both powered by an Intel 10th Gen Core Processor and up to 16GB of ram. It’s not the first time a chromebooks sport an Intel CPU (Google Slate comes to mind with a very high launch price) but the competition should bode well for consumers. With ChromeOS maturing and able to run Android Apps, it is starting to become a viable option, particularly for Android users which lack a laptop companion in their ecosystem. There are still some shortcomings with ChromeOS, like encoding 4K video for example, so make sure Chrome can meet your use cases before diving in.
Windows is still the go-to for serious work. Last fall Microsoft alluded to the upcoming Windows 10X for dual screen devices and along with Intel’s Horseshoe Bend concept, we are finally seeing some innovative PC designs. The Horseshoe Bend is a concept for a 17″ tablet that utilizes a seamless curve hinge that can fold up to an average laptop. This concept has been adopted with the Dell Ori and Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Fold. The bend does leave a gap, which is filled by a physical bluetooth keyboard that can be used in conjunction by placing it over the bottom half of the screen when folded like a clamshell laptop or use separately altogether when unfolded as a tablet. We’ve seen folding devices before, notably the Samsung Fold fiasco. This new hinge is different but we’ll have to wait and see if it holds up the manufacters’ durability claims. Other dual screen devices include the Dell Duet which features two separate screen, with one of them replacing the keyboard half of the clamshell. The Lenovo Thinkbook Plus is another dual screen device but the second screen is an E-ink display on the outside that can be used as an E-Reader. One thing for sure is that we will see more screen in the future.
Speaking of E-ink, Hisense introduced a color E-ink phone at CES. At a separate event recently, E-Ink and Wacom showed off Print-color e-paper for tablets to be available for devices later this year. These devices may have flown under the radar because most of the marketing has been for bigger, brighter, and higher resolution displays. E-ink won’t compete with LED displays in terms of video quality or color saturation, but it may save your eyeballs. E-ink is visible in daylight, doesn’t require a backlight and have superb battery life. E-ink’s shortfall is slow refresh rates and color, if they can overcome these shortfalls in 2020, then you’ll hear this frugal Asian man utter these rare words:
As a current Samsung Note 9 user whose major complaint is that the phone is too damn big, I was very excited when Samsung finally introducer a smaller Note 10 along with the Note 10+. Ahead of CES, Samsung slipped in a S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite, which squeezes between the regular and plus size model. Strange as the naming convention may be, what makes them lite is the price. They cut back on resolution, processing power, and got rid of the curved edge. Curve edge is the most useless feature so I say good riddance to that.
WEARABLES/HEARABLESApple has popularized wearable with the Apple watch and the Airbuds, but Apple is not at CES and there are a lot of other players in the game. The Withings Scanwatch caught my eyes because it claims to detect sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is hereditary and runs in my family as well as estimated 22 million other Americans. To make the situation worse, 90% may not even know they have the condition. If the Scanwatch lives up to its promise and pass CE/FDA clearance, it can be quite life altering for those affected by the sleep disorder.
You may want to complement the Scanwatch with the Amazfit Zenbuds. While there are many wireless earbuds on the market, the Zenbuds focuses on helping you sleep by playing soothing sounds. I don’t really care for the soothing sounds, but as someone who has tried to sleep with earbuds on, I just want something comfortable enough that I can sleep on my side without feeling like I’m being probed in the ear. All the true wireless earbuds tend to be bigger than their wired counterparts so this can be an issue.
Klipsche Ear Micro claims to be the smallest in the true wireless earbud category. They also partnered with Bragi on the software side and Piearcings to customizable the charging case into a fashion statement. I can’t speak on the fashion end (medallion size necklaces aren’t my thing) but having own the original Bragi Dash, the earbuds that kickstarted the true wireless revolution, I can say I’ve been impressed with their innovations.
The hearable market has grown considerably since the Bragi Dash. Battery life has gone from 3 to 10+ continuous hours, noise canceling and voice assistance are becoming common features. One area is still lacking though: internal memory. While the original Dash had 4GB built-in memory and MP3 player, very few since then included this feature. I hate having to be tethered to my phone all the time, especially since phones keep getting bigger. Internal memory is also absolutely necessary for swimmers. I’ve seen earbuds advertised with excellent IPX rating and even have photos of people swimming with earbuds on, that is total BS since bluetooth does not transmit under water. Come on, somebody make a pair of earbuds for swimmers already! Totally untapped market potential here.
CAMERASInsta360 takes the cake in terms of action cameras at CES because, quite frankly, they were the only one that introduced anything new. GoPro showed off a light accessory (whoop-di-doo) and rested on the laurels of its existing HERO8 and Max 360 Camera. Meanwhile, Insta360 One R combine both action cam and 360 cam into one modular system. You can also swap out for a larger 1-inch sensor for better low light. While I usually support modularity, I remain skeptical in action cameras. I can’t help picturing crashing the camera into something and seeing the pieces come apart. Review so far seem pretty solid but only time will tell.
It is also worth mentioning that just before CES Kandao launched their QooCam 8K, the first consumer 8K 360 camera. Higher resolution is what 360 shooters have been asking for since forever. That being said, the sharpness has not been significantly improved compared to the 5.7K counterparts, perhaps slightly less noise and artifacts in low light coming in from early reports.
Like it or not, 8K is on the way. There is definitely a push for 8K from TV manufacturers at CES even though there’s not much content available right now except for the upcoming 2020 Olympics for Japanese residents. Unfortunately, mobile phones, 360 and action cameras are leading the charge in higher resolution and frame rates while DSLR and video cameras are finally catching up with 60FPS at 4K, at least in the consumer space. Most of us don’t realistically need 8K anytime soon, or perhaps even in our lifetimes but that’s not going to stop progress.
So what will be the big thing in 2020? Dual screen or E-ink? Wearables or hearables? Will 8K become a thing? Keep in mind while some of these devices are available now, others may never be more than a concept so don’t hold your breath. Even though I remain skeptical, I do applaud the exhibitor’s ambitions and remain hopeful that these devices will live up to their expectations.
