Inside CES’s best booths
IF YOU want to take a step into the future, look no further than the mega booths at CES Las Vegas.
It’s like ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ with tech giants battling to capture consumer attention with the wildest, most outrageous displays.
And while Samsung and LG’s booths make them comparable to the richest neighbour in the street (‘Samsung City’ is massive and futuristic), some of the other top players have upped their game with quirky, immersive and super cool experiences.
Here’s our pick of the best booths at CES 2020:
LG
LG has one of the most captivating entrances with 200 140cm OLED TVs creating a ‘wave’ of stunning vision – a completely immersive experience and oh so instagrammable.
But once inside LG’s mega booth, the tech giant’s new range of appliances and smart home products has you considering splashing out a (likely) gazillion dollars to refit your entire home.
There’s the super crisp high-quality 8K TVs, there’s the InstaView refrigerators that with just a tap on the front screen reveals what’s inside the fridge without opening the door and then there’s the ‘crafted ice’ – a function that creates slow-melting ice balls and takes 18–30 hours just to freeze three balls.
LG has intelligent washing machines that are so clever they’ll identify when something isn’t right and advise if you need to call for repairs plus demos of ‘the car of the future’ which incorporates all the home comforts – Netflix streaming, a fridge and a dry cleaning closet to keep business shirts crisp during transit.
The booth also features a restaurant run by robots, a touchscreen ‘style lab’ that maps body type to an avatar who then models clothing options plus an in-built vertical farm fridge that grows leafy vegetables in the kitchen.
LG’s ‘smart door’ – which uses face and hand print recognition to unlock also had booth visitors lining up to try it out.
The door also has an inbuilt refrigerated compartment where grocery deliveries can be left.
Nikon
Over at Nikon, stunningly dressed models wander between tables of cameras as a speaker takes an audience through her experiences photographing wild animals and how she got the perfect shot.
But the show-stopper is an interactive photo studio where visitors jump into one of three sets for a quirky instagrammable photo op.
In one, the photo makes it look like the person is doing handstands and acrobatics in a living room (in reality, the person is lying on the ground amid upside-down furniture).
In another, a super-slow video captures people glamorously bursting through a colourful curtain wall and in the third, people appear to be lifting heavy weights.
The photos are taken by Nikon staff and sent direct to the user’s email, ready for that Insta-upload in seconds.
Samsung
Calling Samsung’s display a ‘booth’ doesn’t do it justice.
Samsung has mapped out its own city with trademark sky-high Samsung entry gates opening into a street complete with signposts.
One side has 8K TVs and the company’s mega The Wall MicroLED display – if you hate crowds, this ain’t the place for you.
Entering the Samsung booth is like battling the crush of people just as Myer opens sales.
The vision for our future lives is evident, in the kitchen is one of its customizable fridges and Bot Chef – the robotic arm that helps prepare food and can learn to use nonsmart appliances.
Across the ‘road’ are rows of Galaxy phones set up to show the speed difference between 4G and 5G.
Then there’s the augmented reality fitness area and demonstrations about how ‘Ballie’ the robotic rolling ball bestie works. for the Boxing Day
Hyundai
Hyundai went from car manufacturer to standout booth in the vehicle area this year, revealing
Uber air taxi.
The chopper is unmissable in the middle of the booth and with a 240km/h cruising speed and 100km range, it is easy to see why commuters are excited by the prospect.
its concept
After a flooding disaster in 2018 during a Vegas downpour (12mm of rain) Google’s marquee was forced to close.
This year, they’ve turned their display into a very solid building, promising ‘next level selfies’.
Inside is a Google playground complete with a slide into a ballpit – with the moment captured as a GIF … so instagrammable.