Highlights from CES 2016
This past week CES was held in Las Vegas to display the most innovative products, the coolest concepts and new trends in the technology world. No one product made the show extra special, but the wide array of products and services – which used new technology and ideas really made the show stand out from the rest. We cannot wait to see what will debut next year. Below are our favorite highlights from the show.
High-Powered Cars
BMW, the German luxury automobile, motorcycle and engine manufacturing company, rolled out the iVision Future Interaction concept vehicle this year. Building on the gesture control, the iVision employs high-resolution displays that interact with a driver in multiple ways. The Air Touch system allows for sensors to recognize hand movements – similar to using a touch screen but without any physical interaction with the screen surface. BMW also designed systems to compensate for reduced visibility. The three cameras installed allow for viewing on a single display. These technologies provide an interesting look at what the potential future production of automobiles will have on consumers.
Laptops & Tablets
Laptops, turning into tablets are portable devices that seemingly everybody wants to have. Samsung announced their Galaxy TabProS, that doubles as both a laptop and tablet. While not only being super light, it showcases a slim 12” design, running on 10.5 hours of battery and a 6th gen Intel Core M dual-processor. HP featured the HP Spectre, which includes a 4K display, OLED, Bang and Olufsen audio and a 15” model screen. Both products allow for ultimate usage, for those looking for an easy-to-use and on-the-go product.
CES 2016 allowed entry into the golden age of internet TV, such as Netflix!
Virtual Reality
Recon Empire EVS allows for HUD visuals for real time metrics. Instead of showing your normal statistics, the information provides ammunition counts, field maps, and teammate locations. This mask is able to bring the benefits of instant, direct-to-eye information to a new group of customers. It showcases the versatility of display technology, plugging the gap in the wearables market.
4K & 8K Televisions
CES 2016 gave consumers a glimpse into what current and near future TV technology will be like. LG and Samsung, the real giants of the TV marketplace, both showed highly compelling takes of how TV screens will evolve over the next few years.
Samsung showed their line-up of curved SUHD TV’s that feature Quantum dot implementations and ultra black technology to see clear pictures and reduce glare.
LG featured their slimmed down, HDR pro technology of TV’s, making them to us one of the most eye-catching stars of the show. This TV meets the most demanding performance standards for resolution, audio quality, along with other criteria.
Flying High
Mota unveiled their smallest and lightest drone, JetJat Nano. The tiny quadcopter is equipped with 2.4 GHz wireless signal and 4-channel controller. Its flight is completely stable, just don’t take it too high and keep it out of bad weather conditions.
Drones are a personal favorite here at Beyond Design!
German optics company, Zeiss, is marrying drone technology and virtual reality all into one. Their new headset is designed to give drone pilots first person views of the sky, like never before. The headset allows users to control the direction of their drone with just a turn of their head. The VR One can be used with Apple and/or Android phones. The ability that you can connect to virtual reality from your smartphone amazes us.
Wearables for Consumer Use
OMSignal unveiled the OMbra sports bra at CES this year. The sensor-packed bra relies on tracking bio-metric data in real time via a small clip-on data box. Users can see their distance, heart rate, breathing rate and can work with iPhones. The stretchable light fabric is comfortable for wear, making it more breathable.
Connected earbuds by Bragi Dash can store up to 1,000 songs and include bone conduction tech to make phone calls. Not to mention, these ‘hearables’ can measure your heart rate, steps, running, and soon your swim and bicycle strokes.
The Owlet Smart Sock is an adorable, washable baby sock that has a pulse oximeter that allows parents to monitor their baby’s heart rate and blood oxygen levels. In the event that something is wrong with the baby, smartphones are alerted with a warning so that parents can take the necessary steps of action to intervene as quickly as possible.
Have you ever met someone that you wanted to get to know, but couldn’t understand them due to language barriers? Ili is a wearable device that you wear around your neck that allows you to push a button, translating your message aloud in the language of your choice. Currently, it works in English, Japanese and Chinese – with plans to expand to French, Thai, Korean, Spanish, Italian and Arabic. It doesn’t require an Internet connection, but it has 50,000 words built-in through a dictionary. This is an impressive piece of tech that could make international travel a lot easier.
Described as a ‘social wearable for teens’, Gemio uses low energy Bluetooth and a mesh network to communicate with other Gemio wearers using integrated LED’s to create different patterns and colors to represent different messages that are being communicated. It is customizable with detachable colored gems, making this a unique and fun wearable for teens to wear and accessorize with their style.
Connected Homes
Samsung showcased their innovative and smart refrigerator for homes. The Family Hub refrigerator has speakers and a 21.5” touch display on the front door for family members to leave notes, mark calendar dates and display artwork. Three built-in cameras let users see what is inside their fridge, while taking a picture every time you close the door. Users can use markers to indicate how old items are and when a trip to the grocery store is needed. And if you’re lazy, ordering groceries right from your fridge door is available. This was one of our favorite products at the show this year.
Sensorwake, a Paris-based startup, released their olfactory non- toxic alarm clock that wakes you up with an intense smell, rather than hearing an annoying beeping noise. Scents, which include hot croissant, espresso, peppermint, chocolate and bacon were formulated to stimulate your nose to get out of bed. A back-up beeper is installed just in case for those smells that don’t work as well.
Thermos, the leading insulated food and beverage container manufacturer in the U.S, featured their Connected Hydration Bottle with Smart Lid. The durable and versatile design is connected to an app on your phone to calculate your suggested hydration goal. It measures your intake of liquids and provides real-time temperature readings and automatically syncs the data with your FitBit account.
Being connected at all times promotes a healthy lifestyle!
The CES 2016 show gave our team the chance to see the latest technology advances in product design. For a look at some of our projects, check out our website at www.beyonddesign.com or drop us a note at info@beyonddesignchicago.com.
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