New year, new tech. The tech announcements come thick and fast whenever a new year rolls around, and a big part of that is because CES always happens in January. CES 2024 has been no different, and we’ve seen many new devices announced over the last week in Las Vegas.
Android Police’s editors have been exploring the floor at the show to find the most interesting tech at the world’s biggest tech show. We’ve seen see-through TVs, more and more uses of AI, lots of robots, and software changes across Google’s products — and that’s before we even mention the weirdest tech we saw at CES. We’ve put together our favorite products of the whole show in one place, so without further ado, here are the best gadgets of CES 2024.
Asus ROG Phone 8 and 8 Pro
Two new gaming phones excited us this year
The Samsung Galaxy S24 isn’t the first big phone reveal of the year — that honor has gone to the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro, which was revealed during CES. There are two models from Asus this year, and we’re excited about both of them. It seems the company has been trying its best to refine the gaming phone experience to match what you expect from other flagship devices, too. These are 15% thinner than the previous devices, and the design is much sleeker than previous iterations.
The phones are both IP68 water- and dust-resistant, which surprisingly is a first for gaming phones. To make that happen, Asus has chosen to lose the cooling vent we’ve seen in previous iterations. The big highlight for many will be the improved camera specs, which include a 50MP main camera, a 13MP wide camera, and the introduction of a 32MP telephoto for the first time with 3x optical zoom.
Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro
The Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro packs the best hardware, from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 running the device to its FHD OLED high framerate screen. It’s a powerhouse of a smartphone that’s capable of chewing through the most demanding mobile games, and it comes with a price to match, with the Pro models starting at $1200 and going all the way up to $1500 if you require 24GB RAM and 1TB storage.
Asus ROG Tessen Mobile Controller
Our second pick from Asus is its new smartphone gaming controller
Yeah, Asus has had a remarkably strong CES 2024 for mobile gaming. Alongside its new flagship gaming phone, the ROG Tessen controller was also revealed, which is here to compete with the likes of the Razer Kishi V2 and Backbone One. This is a foldable gaming controller, so it can slot into your bag with ease, and it’ll work with various phones so you can pull it out and plug it in whenever you want to play.
Asus obviously wants you to use it with the ROG Phone 8 Pro, but we’ve been assured this will work with all USB-C phones. There are features like RGB lighting, but the beefy and durable design is why we’re excited about this one. From our time with the controller so far, we’re hopeful it’ll be comfortable to use for long gaming sessions.
Asus ROG Tessen
The Asus ROG Tessen mobile gaming controller is designed to work with all USB-C Android phones, and it’s a durable controller you can put into your backpack to take on journeys where you may want to use it for long gaming sessions.
Dreamebot X30 Ultra
Our favorite smart home gadget of the show is this anti-tangle robot vacuum
Robot vacuums are great, but while they take the pain out of cleaning up your home, many of them still need to be cleaned themselves regularly to ensure top performance. The Dreamebot X30 Ultra is designed to take one of those stresses away as it features its own hair detangler. If you have any long-haired residents or pets in your home, you’re probably familiar with how clogged up a vacuum can get with hair.
The anti-tangle brush should be helpful, but it seems the Dreamebot will be one of the most thorough robot vacuums on the market as it features cleaning that can go as deep into corners as 4 centimeters, so if you’re looking for a capable robot vacuum keep an eye out for this one. Pre-orders begin February 28 for $1,700, but we’ve yet to hear an exact release date.
DreameBot X30 Ultra
$1300 $1700 Save $400
The DreameBot X30 Ultra features the company’s first-ever self-cleaning base capable of emptying both the mop and vacuum portions of the robot. Using the same MopExtend technology Dreame has used in other models, its circular mop pads are capable of articulating to reach even the most awkward spots in your home. All of this comes with a new anti-tangle brush and 8,300Pa of suction power, making it an advanced and practical option.
JBL Live 3
New touchscreen controls for JBL’s latest earbuds
We loved last year’s JBL Tour Pro 2 earbuds, and a big part of the reason why was down to the introduction of a touchscreen case. Now, JBL has deemed that feature a success and it’s bringing it to its more mainstream Live series. The JBL Live 3 all feature touchscreen cases, and these come in three different types so you can pick your favorite form factor of earbuds.
There’s the Live Buds 3 which are stemless buds with 40 hours of battery life; the Live Beam 3, closed-type earbuds with 48 hours of battery; and the Live Flex 3 are open-type and feature 40 hours of battery life. The highlight is that new touchscreen case that allows you to interact directly with your music to change volume, switch tracks or even change audio profiles without touching your main device.
JBL Live 3
JBL Live 3 earbuds feature a smart touchscreen case that offers volume and playback controls, audio profile switching, and many other user-selectable features. The earbuds are available in three designs: Flex, Beam, and Buds; each offering slightly different specs. All of them offer ANC powered by six microphones, support for most major high-res codecs including LDAC and Bluetooth 5.3 with LE Audio, JBL Spatial Sound and Personi-Fi 3.0, wireless charging, and multipoint support.
Samsung Music Frame
The next stage of Samsung’s The Frame
Everyone loves Samsung’s Frame TVs, which try their hardest to look like anything but tech, with chunky borders, a matte screen, and the option to display art when idle. Now Samsung is applying that same principle to a speaker. The Music Frame is a 12.9 x 12.9-inch square frame with space for a physical art print, all to hide the two woofers, two tweeters, and two midrange drivers that sit inside and pump audio out.
This may sound familiar, as it’s pretty much a smaller, squarer take on Sonos and Ikea’s Symfonisk Picture Frame, but it may have one killer advantage: Samsung says that the picture will be customizable when the Music Frame eventually goes on sale, which hopefully means more choice than the limited range of art Ikea offers.
Samsung Music Frame
Samsung’s The Frame technology is moving on from TVs to speakers now, and this is the first edition we’ve seen from the company. It’ll show whatever you want it to on the screen, but many people who visit you home won’t know that it’s also a speaker.
Sennheiser Momentum Sport earbuds
Health tracking tech, but in your ears
You already have health-tracking tech in your phone and your watch, so why not your earbuds too? Sennheiser’s Momentum Sport buds are the latest to attempt just that, squeezing in heart rate and temperature sensors to help record your performance during workouts. You can then sync that data with apps from Garmin, Strava, Peloton, and Polar, giving you the freedom to workout without a watch – or just double up your data.
As you’d expect from sports buds, these have an IP55 rating, so they should handle a bit of sweat just fine. The buds have a semi-open design combined with ANC, so you can hear as much (or little) of the outside world as you feel fit.
Sennheiser Momentum Sport
The Sennheiser Momentum Sport earbuds are built for workouts, with an IP55 rating and the ability to track both your heartrate and temperature as you exercise. Together with a semi-open design and active noise cancelation, these could be a runner’s dream headphones.
TCL NXTPAPER 14 Pro
Our favorite tablet of CES 2024
As the name oh-so-subtly hints at, TCL’s NXTPAPER 14 Pro is the company’s latest tablet to use TCL’s novel display tech that replicates the look and feel of paper.
No, this isn’t E Ink, but it’s almost as easy on the eyes, with a matte finish and blue light filtering built in — and with much less of a compromise to image quality when it comes to gaming or watching movies on the spacious 14-inch panel. And with 12GB of RAM, a giant 12,000mAh battery, and a decent MediaTek Dimensity 8020 chip inside, you’re not compromising on performance either.
TCL NXTPAPER 14 Pro
The NXTPAPER 14 Pro is a huge Android tablet with a paper-like display, and the option to switch between between full color, color ink, and monochrome ink modes depending on whether you want the full Android experience or to settle in and use it as an ereader.
Withings BeamO
Withings doesn’t just make watches
You probably know Withings for its analog-esque ScanWatch trackers, or maybe its sophisticated smart scales, but the company makes more health tech than that.
At CES it unveiled the $250 BeamO, a four-in-one device that hopes to put your local doctor out of business. Withings has somehow packed a thermometer, ECG, pulse oximeter, and even a stethoscope into a device the size of your TV remote. In fairness, you can measure all of these at home already — but not from one device, with electronic output you can send directly to your doctor, in a form factor that makes it easy for the whole family to use.
Withings BeamO
The Withings BeamO is a 4-in-1 at-home health tool that can monitor your body temperature, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and heart rhythm, outputting them all in a friendly digital form that you can sync with other health apps or even share directly with your doctor.
7 weirdest gadgets we’ve seen at CES 2024
AI and transparent TVs weren’t the only ones to get our attention
Source link
