CES So Far: Smarter Homes, a More Quantified Self, and Many, Many TVs

January 6, 2015

The 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show is heating up Las Vegas this week with dozens of product launches and upgrades from some of the world’s largest technology brands.

3,600 exhibitors across 2.2 million square feet means many, many new products being shown off. This year, smart and 4K televisions seem to be taking centre stage, with new products in the space from several major companies, including Sony, Sharp, and Samsung. Self-driving cars are also creating buzz. Another white-hot trend appears to the Internet of Things, which Samsung in particular is openly betting its farm on.

“The Internet of Things is about people, not things,” emphasized Samsung’s Boo-Keun Yoon onstage. By 2017, Yoon said, 90% of all Samsung devices will be IoT-enabled; by 2020, all Samsung devices will be connected to the IoT.

Other areas of interest include wearable tech—nothing ground-breaking yet but lots of iterations—and “smart home” products, which essentially are baby steps toward a more fully fleshed-out IoT.

Here’s just a small sampling of what’s been unveiled at CES this year (so far):

Child Angel – Wearable device for children that enables parents to track movements via wifi and GPS, in an effort to avoid being lost in crowded public places.

Epson – Cinema 600, compact digital projector that can scale up its display to 25 times larger than a 60-inch TV screen.

Hisense – VIDAA Max 100” Laser Cinema TV, features a blue laser diode light source offering 25,000 hours of viewing with no degradation of brightness or color.

Mobilehelp and Honeywell – Mobile Vitals, a small wearable device that provides long-term vitals monitoring; Seymour, unified platform to pull health data and secure communication between health provider and patient.

Panasonic – First native 4K Blue-ray player; and Panasonic Home Monitoring System KX-HN6002W, DIY remote home monitoring system, features smart plug, window/door sensors, indoor/outdoor cameras and cordless handset.

Sharp – AQUOS Crystal, a frameless smartphone; the first spec’d 85” 8K LCD; the world’s largest 4K Ultra HD LCD commercial display; and free form LCD display, allowing displays of virtually any shape to be integrated into consumer products.

TCL – TV+, the H9700, is a Quantum Dot TV which includes apps, gaming and voice control in the TV without any accessories.

Volkswagen – Golf R Touch Concept Car, incorporates gesture control to reduce driver distractions while attaining personalization and intuitive operation in the car; Trained parking, future Park Assist drives into garage semi-automatically.