HOTTEST TECH OF CES 2017
WE ROAMED THE FLOOR AT LAS VEGAS’ ANNUAL CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW TO GET A SNEAK PEAK AT THE UPCOMING GADGETS, PCS, WEARABLES AND TRENDS.
PC GAMING GEAR ACER PREDATOR 21 X US$8,999 | AVAILABLE FEBRUARY IN THE US; AU TBC
In what could only be seen as a show of force from Acer, it has announced the Predator 21 X gaming laptop. It comes with a 21-inch 1080p curved screen (a world first for laptops apparently), two GTX 1080 graphics cards, four 512GB SSD drives and 64GB of memory. Aside from the sheer grunt under the hood, it has premium features like a mechanical keyboard and built-in eye tracking, as well as four speakers and two subwoofers. As with some of the other excessive gaming laptops we’ve reviewed over the last six months, it also requires two power supplies to run at full tilt.
RAZER PROJECT VALERIE PRICING AND AVAILABILITY TBC
Although still a prototype and lacking concrete specs, Razer’s bold Project Valerie has one (or three) glaring feature(s). It is essentially a 17.3-inch Razer Blade Pro laptop, but instead of a single 4K display, this thing has three — the other two able to automatically slide out from behind the main display on sets of rails. Despite Razer having a history of its concepts not making it to market (such as last year’s ‘Project Christine’ modular desktop), Valerie was playable at CES 2017 and reportedly ran Battlefield 1 like a dream, albeit with a lot of noise.
TPCAST FOR HTC VIVE AVAILABLE Q2 2017 | US$249
HTC’s Vive is trying to go wireless, and we’ve known this for a while as the TPCast has been available for pre-order since November 11th, but now the unit has an official price and release date. This adapter should let Vive owners go wire-free for about 90–120 minutes on the standard battery (although an extended 5-hour battery is available), and consists of both a transmitter and receiver, which is how it delivers HD content wirelessly to the headset.
RAZER PROJECT ARIANA PRICING AND AVAILABILITY TBC
Ariana was another concept-stage prototype from Razer, again focusing on broadening your gaming display, but this time with a projector. Project Ariana will use a fish-eye lens to project your game’s display as well as its periphery, better mimicking the natural view of the human eye. It uses 3D cameras to warp the display so it will appear
AMAZON INVADES THE SMART HOME WITH ALEXA
Amazon wasn’t at CES this year, but its presence was felt. From dishwashers to security systems, even cars, Alexa has been unleashed. Westinghouse, Element and Seiki are set to launch TVs with the Fire TV software installed and an Alexa voice-controlled remote; LG’s added Alexa to a fridge and its robot companion ‘Hub’; there are portable speakers and charging docks with Alexa support; and Whirpool’s latest range of home appliances can be controlled (to some degree) with Alexa. You could even light and heat your home via Alexa. Plus, Ford wants to make Alexa a driver assistant.
ASUS VIVOPC X US$799 | AVAILABLE MARCH IN THE US; AU TBC
The compact VivoPC X looks to be a VR powerhouse for the lounge room, managing to stuff a 7th-gen Intel Core i5 processor and a GTX 10-series Nvidia GeForce graphics into a 5-litre chassis. This console-esque desktop is aimed at users looking for a PC that can handle the hardware demands of burgeoning VR tech and, as such, is compatible with all the latest VR headsets and sports four USB 3.1 and two USB 2.0 ports for plugging in the relevant peripherals.
ACER PREDATOR Z301CT US$899 | AVAILABLE FEBRUARY IN THE US; AU TBC
Acer’s 30-inch Predator Z301CT is pitched as “the world’s first 21:9 curved monitor with eye-tracking functionality”. Along with a 2,560 x 1,080-pixel resolution, the VA panel itself features Nvidia’s G-Sync variable-refresh tech and a rate that tops out at 200Hz. The eye-tracking bit comes in via Tobii, a technology which lets you do things in games just by moving your eyes (and is starting to become more useful as the list of supported titles grow), and it also features Acer’s ErgoStand which offers plenty of adjustability in positioning for some supreme comfort.
GET USED TO AIRPODSTYLE ‘TRULY’ WIRELESS EARPHONES
Truly wireless earphones (i.e. earphones that don’t even have a wire connecting one ear to another), have technically been around for over a year, and have been fantasised over long before that. With the recent release of Apple’s own Airpods, it’s no surprise to see a few hopeful entries into the category at this year’s CES. Some, such as the Bodytrak, offer the full “hearable” experience, which integrates smart ‘wearable’-style technology like biometric monitoring of multiple vital signs. Affordable options geared more toward pure listening pleasure, often with a fitness slant, were much more prevalent at the summit than the smarter hearable tech — a lot of these are being offered around the same $250–350 price point, hinting at a more consumer-friendly environment for our ‘truly wireless’ future.
SMARTPHONES HUAWEI HONOR MAGIC PRICING AND AVAILABILITY TBA
This new Android smartphone might only be available in China (at least for now), but it’s been the talk of the town at Las Vegas this year. It boasts a curved AMOLED display, an octacore processor, 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. But that’s not what makes this a standout. The front camera uses facial recognition technology to unlock the screen and locks it when you look away, displaying lockscreen notifications only for preregistered faces. Now, that’s magic.
CHANGHONG H2 PRICING AND AVAILABILITY TBA
For fans of Star Trek, the tricorder is just a phone away. The Changhong H2 is a smartphone with a built-in near-infrared spectrometer — technology that shines a light on an object and analyses the unique optical signature of the object. With this tech in the palm of your hand, you can measure body fat, scan nutritional content of food and drink, even detect authenticity of products. This technology even has the power to detect cancers.
BLACKBERRY MERCURY PRICING AND AVAILABILITY TBA
There’s a new BlackBerry coming in 2017. This as-yet-unnamed phone, dubbed ‘BlackBerry Mercury’, will be unveiled at the next Mobile World Congress. But what we do know is that it will run Android Nougat and the familiar QWERTY keyboard will still be there, with the ability to scroll through pages by gliding your fingers over the keys. What’s new is the fingerprint sensor neatly tucked into the keyboard’s space bar.
ASUS ZENFONE AR PRICING TBC | AVAILABLE FROM JUNE IN US; AU TBC
The amazing specsheet for the ZenFone AR includes a 5.7-inch 2,560 x 1,440 Super AMOLED display, 8GB of RAM, a 23MP motion-and-depth tracking camera system and powerful Snapdragon 821 guts. It’s the first phone to run both Google Tango and Google Daydream experiences, making it one of the most futureproof smartphones to hit the market. The ZenFone AR also boasts a Super Resolution in its camera setup that ASUS claims can capture four photos shot, then stitched into a single 92MP image.