New laptops, TVs and smart speakers are the usual suspects at CES 2024, the world's largest consumer electronics trade show. But this year's show also highlights how people are increasingly craving niche devices, how much we long for the past, and how AI – particularly in the form of ChatGPT and similar generative AI chatbots – is becoming more integrated into our lives.
That's what fascinates us at CES 2024. We'll bring you more news about the best tech highlights we're discovering in Las Vegas this week.
Steam Deck has a new challenger
MSI's new gaming handheld runs Windows but has Intel inside.
MSI
After years of near misses like the Steam Machine, the Steam Deck was an unexpected success for Valve and the console is the current standard for mobile PC gaming. While the competing Asus ROG Ally looked cool, using Windows on it was apparently quite cumbersome. With the help of Intel, this situation could now change – the company has a lot of experience in making Windows machines. MSI's Claw handheld obviously has something to do with the Steam Deck, but it has Intel's new Meteor Lake chips on board instead of AMD. According to CNET's Scott Stein, this development means more manufacturers will have the opportunity to develop their own Steam Deck-alikes that can also run Windows.
This phone bends over backwards for you
As phones with screens that fold in half gain more and more consumer attention, Samsung appears poised to shake up the market again. The electronics giant unveiled a concept phone at CES 2024 called Flex In & Out Flip, which folds back in both directions and fully so you can use the phone's 6.7-inch screen even when the device is closed can.
Curved back, one side is slightly shorter than the other so as not to obscure the camera, while the larger side was large enough to display several icons in the phone's quick settings menu, media playback controls, and the time and battery level. Although the handset is currently only a concept design, CNET's Lisa Eadicicco points out that it could offer a hint at the future of devices that roll, bend, bend, fold and otherwise deform to accommodate the Adapting technology to our individual needs.
Get to work with this gaming laptop
More and more often, our laptops have to do double duty. In addition to strong gaming performance, we also want to be able to use these thinner, lighter devices for work or school. The HP Omen Transcend 14, which debuted at CES 2024, is light enough for your daily commute but features a 14-inch 2.8K OLED display with a variable refresh rate of 48-120 Hz, supported by an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H and higher to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070.
The 14-inch laptop weighs just 1.6 kilograms – light for a gaming laptop and has a battery life of up to 11.5 hours with integrated graphics and an eco mode. The new 14-inch size starts at $1,500. There will also be a 16-inch version with the option of a 4K OLED at 240 Hz, starting at $1,900.
This thermometer also checks your heart and lungs
If you've ever wanted to hold a single device to your head for a quick health check, the Beamo might be for you. The BeamO, which looks like a musical stick, is a four-in-one thermometer, electrocardiogram, oximeter and stethoscope from Withings and was introduced at CES 2024 this week. The device can give you clues about your health.
The device, which Withings describes as “portable and smaller than a smartphone,” combines the simplicity of taking temperatures at home with some of the wellness metrics of newer wearables and smartwatches, such as blood oxygen and heart rate measurements as chest sounds when called a “digital stethoscope.” is used.
After expected clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this June, you can get one for $250.
Forget a projector, get a huge TCL instead
The TCL 115QM891G is a 115-inch TV that measures 8.5 feet wide and stands about 6 feet tall on the stand.
David Katzmaier/CNET
CNET's projector reviewer Geoff Morrison has been extolling the virtues of projectors for many years, but even he has recently turned his attention to technologies like OLED and mini-LED. What would he think of the new TCL 115QM891G? This is a 115-inch 4K LCD TV that TV reviewer David Katzmaier says is up to five times brighter than most TVs and has better blacks too.
As TV reviewers ourselves, we've seen big TVs before, but they used to be limited to HD. For example, the pixels on Panasonic's 103-inch 1080p set were huge and easy to see. That's why 4K technology is so great – it means you can install a TV the size of a wall and not see black lines between pixels. The TCL will also be much cheaper than the $100,000 Panasonic at less than $20,000.
Look at that: This 115-inch TCL TV will make your screen appear tiny
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Stained glass receives a new strength for life
Do you think you know what solar panels look like? This thing captures the energy of light.
Jon Reed/CNET
Solar panels are great – they generate electricity from one of the most abundant resources we have, and they pay for themselves quickly – but no one has ever called them pretty. No fear! The Japanese company inQs has found a way to make solar cells out of colored glass. The company is exhibiting a number of objects at CES 2024, including a stained glass panel that generates electricity. The devices are small, and one of them could only power a table fan, but we like how they point to a rethinking of how solar panels should look and work.
Disguising strange-looking things is a constant trend at CES, like LG's ArtCool air conditioners. And this year, you can incorporate art into a smart speaker with the Samsung Music Frame.
Hey, Ida, which is better: Alexa or Siri?
AI is already omnipresent here at CES 2024 – expanding the list of products in which it will be used in cars. Volkswagen has announced a deal with ChatGPT that will allow users to ask all sorts of questions about their car, just like a traditional digital assistant. Currently, VW's voice assistant allows users to say “Hey, Ida” to ask a question about something basic, like requesting tire pressure. But the automaker's cars aren't capable of answering more complex questions like, “When did the New York Jets last win the Super Bowl?” If the car's assistant can't answer the question, it routes the query under the new one Contract to ChatGPT. (Yes, the Jets won one. But that was a very, very long time ago.)
It's worth noting that competitors like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri have been filling these queries natively for many years, so working with ChatGPT is an easier way for VW's Ida to keep up.
A must-see television
This transparent display, which currently features fish, converts into a 77-inch TV.
Tara Brown/CNET
TVs are getting larger every year, meaning a larger panel of black plastic takes up a significant portion of the living room wall when not in use. But what if we could make it disappear without actually ripping it off the wall?
LG has apparently done just that with a transparent OLED screen that transforms from an “aquarium” into a 77-inch TV (pictured above). Unlike Samsung's competing technology, it will apparently be a real product, shipping later in 2024.
Meanwhile, Samsung is unveiling the first transparent version of its Micro LED display technology at CES 2024. While transparent OLED and even LCD-based screens have been on the market for some time, Samsung says its Micro LED display technology produces brighter, clearer images that are more transparent than current technology. But Samsung says its transparent micro-LED technology isn't available on the market, so what Katzmaier saw (or didn't see?) is essentially a concept.
A 2 minute ice cream maker
We scream for ice cream.
David Watsky//CNET
Coming soon to a restaurant near you: freshly made ice cream, ready from start to finish in just 2 minutes.
We loved trying Quick ColdSnap's vanilla ice cream – first in 2021 and then again this year. We're still a year away from purchasing one of these innovative ice cream makers for our home, but the company came to CES this year with news that its restaurant partners will be receiving the machines much sooner.
The countertop ice cream maker uses Keurig-like pods to make a bowl of the cold mixture in under 2 minutes. The finished result has a gelato-like consistency that kept us wanting to try more every time we passed the ColdSnap stand.
Look at that: ColdSnap makes flavored ice cream in minutes
03:55
Robotic Stain Fighter
Samsung will unveil its custom Jet Bot Combo at CES in Las Vegas this week.
Samsung/CNET
Here is a product that cleans up in the truest sense of the word. Samsung's new Bespoke Jet Bot Combo, a smart robot vacuum and mop, can do more than just get rid of dust bunnies and dog hair. It's designed to scan your rooms looking for stains on hard floors and remove them so you don't have to.
The robot uses AI-powered object recognition to detect stains on hard floors. Yes, it can tell the difference between surfaces and presumably adjust its cleaning technique accordingly. You can also tell this probably $1,000+ household helper where it can and can't go, as it tackles stains as bad as a puppy prick or a Zinfandel spill with a rotating mop that reaches 170 revolutions per minute . (Pricing details are not yet available.)
Dental technology
Not only does AI help keep your floors clean, it also ensures your teeth are as clean as possible. The Oclean digital toothbrush
It also has Wi-Fi connectivity so you can pair it with your home network, and it saves information about your brushing history until you can download it to your app. It also offers 40 days of battery life through wireless charging. It will go on sale in the US this fall for $130.
What is old is new
If you consider yourself an old-school smartphone user, you might find yourself longing for the physical keyboards that were once a mainstay of phones of yesteryear. The iPhone's on-screen keyboard replaced the full-fledged physical keyboards that were popular on BlackBerry devices.
The Clicks Keyboard from Clicks Technology transforms your iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max with a keyboard that is actually built into a wraparound case. This $139 case slides onto your device and runs on the phone's battery, so no charging is required.
It's all in the watch remote control
What if your smartwatch could also control your lights, your Netflix programs, and more?
Nick Wolny/CNET
Imagine controlling everything around you with your wrist. By clicking here you can turn off the lights or scroll through what's on Netflix. Finnish startup Doublepoint has developed software that can turn an Android watch into a general-purpose controller for any device via a Bluetooth connection.
The software will come to developers in the first half of this year, but it will be up to developers and app makers to decide what a small gesture, such as tapping your fingers or turning your wrist, actually does.
Look at that: LG Transparent OLED transforms from television into animated art
03:04
Steven Musil, Sareena Dayaram, Katie Collins and Ty Pendlebury contributed to this article.