The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) brings the tech world together to show off their latest and greatest toys both in development and ready for consumer purchase. Here you see the latest computers, cell phones, appliances and yes even the latest cars. With CES now behind us, let’s look back at the trends that we saw this year that may not have been brand new ideas, but were definitely more advanced than before.
Wearable Technology
There were a ton of wearables at this year’s CES, but one thing was clear: wearables are definitely seeing a shift towards fitness. There were reportedly plenty of general smartwatches for attendees to oogle at, but what dominated the wearable category this year was the dedicated fitness trackers. Fitbit, Casio, and Misfit, among others, introduced new fitness trackers during CES showing that the market is strong. For example, The Fitbit Blaze may look similar to an Apple Watch without the GPS, but this high-end fitness tracker is still impressive and includes a ton of features to compete with the smartwatches such as automatic activity and sleep tracking, five-day battery life (which is nearly unheard of when it comes to smartwatches), and, reportedly, a great companion app.
Smart Appliances
Smart TVs have been around for some time now with great success. We even have the ability to control the power, color and brightness of our lights from our phone in addition to the temperature of our homes. The time is now upon us for other appliances to incorporate more “smarts” and integrate more with our daily lives. Samsung is bringing this to reality with the Family Hub Refrigerator. This smart fridge includes a 21.5 inch, 1080p display where you can create shopping lists, watch videos, and even utilize the internal cameras to see the contents of your fridge without having to open the door. As someone who is largely looking forward to the day when we have smart homes like the Jetsons, I am very excited about this.
Drones
To no one’s surprise, drones were in full force at this year’s CES and if one thing was learned it was that they are still awesome. Drones are becoming more and more capable with higher payload capacities, faster speeds, and better video. The Parrot Disco, for example, boasts a modular fixed-wing design and can reach top stable speeds of up to 50mph with a single rear 8-inch propeller. The DJI’s Phantom 3 even offers consumers the ability to record video in 4K for under a thousand dollars.
VR is just around the corner
The Oculus Rift is now available for pre-order and while this may be the first VR headset, aside from Samsung’s Gear VR, more are coming out soon. Also in attendance was the HTC’s updated Vive Pre headset, made in partnership with Valve. Although VR isn’t a new concept, this year saw many new advancements and how close we are to VR hitting the mainstream.
Cars are getting smarter
CES 2016 was filled with what carmakers are envisioning the future of car travel will be like. From autonomous cars from Ford, Kia and VW to the Chevy Bolt that can travel 200 miles on a single charge, the future of car ownership is looking very different. Kia is promising semi-autonomous vehicles as soon as 2020 and fully autonomous vehicles by 2030 as they announced at the first ever CES press conference.
Source: PC Mag