The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas gives tech companies a chance to show off devices expected to hit the market soon as well as a look at some of their plans for the future. This year attendees saw everything from smart toilets (with voice control, mood lighting, and seat warmers) to foldable screens to Bell Nexus’ air taxi prototype. Here are just some of the devices that made the most impact with tech journalists and other attendees.
TV: Now You See It—Now You Don’t
LG unveiled the world’s first rollable OLED TV—opening up new possibilities for how owners want to curate their space by freeing up the wall. The LG SIGNATURE OLED TV R has three different viewing options: Full View (in which you can watch the full 65-inch screen); Line View (in which the screen is only partially unrolled for functions such as viewing the clock, checking the weather, displaying photos from your smartphone, and more); and Zero View (in which the entire screen is hidden in the base, but can still be used to listen to music or other audio).
Smartphone: Foldable Screens are Finally Here
Companies have been toying with foldable screens for the past couple of years, but Royole is the first to launch a commercially available smartphone with a flexible display. The FlexPai (approximately $1,300) is available in China right now, with a developer version available in the U.S. and Europe. The 7.8-inch display can be bent freely from 0 to 180 degrees and supports more than 200,000 bends—meaning it cannot be cracked. While reviews of the phone are mixed, it proves that foldable displays are not only possible but viable.
Skincare: Reducing the Appearance of Spots
The Opté Precision Skincare System is the first product to emerge from P&G Ventures, the startup studio within Procter & Gamble. The device combines camera optics, proprietary algorithms, and printing technology to scan the skin, detect hyperpigmentation, and apply corrective serum with precision application to reveal the natural beauty of skin. Opté is comprised of a Precision Wand and Precision Serum that work together to provide both immediate coverage and long-term benefits that will reduce the appearance of spots over time.
Alarm Clock: A Better Way to Wake Up
The Lenovo Smart Clock ($79.99 in Spring 2019) powered with Google Assistant lets you set up sleep routines such as dimming the lights and showing you your first calendar event of the next day when you say, “Hey Google, Good Night.” It also has a full-range 6W speaker to play ambient noise, relaxing music, or guided sleep meditation to help you fall asleep. And its wake-up routine will also progressively brighten the screen and slowly increase your alarm’s volume to make waking up as pleasant as possible.
Robots: A Bot for Everything in Life
Robot assistants were on full display at CES, and Samsung was no exception with three different bots with three very different purposes. Samsung Bot Retail is aimed at restaurants and retail stores to help serve food and find products—shoppers can even make purchases right on the robot. Samsung Bot Care is a healthcare-specialized robot that can measure user’s blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, and sleeping state as well as remind them to take meds. Samsung Bot Air can detect the source of pollution and then even purify the air.
