The Best of CES 2020

The Best of CES 2020

It's that time of year again, when the biggest names in tech come together to showcase their latest inventions at the world-famous CES. Taking place at the Las Vegas Convention Centre, CES 2020 kicked off the year, running from the Tuesday 7th January to Friday 10th January.

From flying taxis by Uber and Hyundai, foldable laptops by Intel to Samsung's adorable robot Ballie, CES is the place to be if you want to witness the world's most innovative tech first. Discover some of the most exciting moments at CES 2020 below.

Samsung's Ballie

Introducing its vision of robots becoming 'life companions', Samsung's Ballie was unveiled on the 6th January to eager CES attendees. A small, ball-shaped AI robot, Ballie acts as your very own personal assistant around the home.

Ballie runs on a mobile interface, uses AI voice activation technology and has a built-in camera to help you carry out a number of tasks. Whether you want to use Ballie as a wakeup call, have the robot act as your own fitness coach or manage smart home devices like kettles and vacuums, it can do it all.

Highly interactive, and reinforcing Samsung's concept of companionship, Ballie has pet-like mannerisms, and responds to commands like 'good boy' and 'say hi'. Even better, Ballie won't just keep you company, it'll be a great friend to any pets left alone in the home when owners need to leave a property too.

Introducing Quibi

Taking an interesting new approach to video streaming, Quibi sets itself apart from other big names in the industry by limiting the length of its content to 10 minutes or less. Available as a mobile-only platform too, Quibi is all about bitesize entertainment - and it's due to launch first in the US on the 6th April 2020.

Short for "quick bites", Quibi will feature 4 to 10-minute videos across all genres, as well as providing its very own news snippets fuelled by content from NBC, BBC, Telemundo and more. With $1 billion behind Quibi in funding, and names like Steven Spielberg, Chrissy Teigen, Idris Elba and Reese Witherspoon on board, Quibi is one of the most exciting announcements of CES 2020.

Intel Foldable Laptop

CES 2019 was all about foldable phones, and it seems CES 2020 is all about the foldable laptop - or at least it is for Intel. While still a concept, Intel introduced its intentions to create a laptop that featured a 17.3-inch flexible display inside.

Known as the 'Horseshoe Bend' display, the prototype at CES looked like a 12-inch laptop when folded. Open it up however, and you'll find a vivid OLED screen inside. It can sit like a regular laptop, you can flip it round and hold it like a book or you can open up the screen and sit it on its side with a kickstand - just attach a keyboard and you basically have a 17-inch desktop PC whenever you need one.

While this won't be hitting stores anytime soon, Intel gave CES attendees a view of what's to come - and demonstrated what its latest processor Tiger Lake can do at the same time.

Uber x Hyundai

Ever thought about booking a helicopter with Uber? While it might seem completely bizarre to some, this is actually already possible in certain locations across the world through the Uber app.

CES 2020 saw Uber take a step closer to making flying taxis a regular thing by revealing a collaboration South Korean firm Hyundai. The S-A1 is currently still a concept, but the model at CES shows an aircraft powered completely by electricity, that can transport up to four people and any accompanying luggage up to 60 miles at 2,000 ft.

Eventually, Hyundai and Uber plan to make the aircraft drive autonomously, but for now plans for pilot-driven helicopters to be created for the mass market will hopefully be complete by the late 2020s.

Razer Kishi Controller

If you're into gaming, make sure you keep your eyes on the upcoming Razer Kishi Controller by Gamevice. A gaming controller that you can attach to your phone to make it look like a handheld console (think Nintendo Switch when it comes to looks), this device is going to transform what you previously thought of smartphone gaming.

A collaboration between Razer and Gamevice, the Kishi Controller is an improvement on Gamevice's original smartphone controller. The older model no longer supports the latest iPhones, as well as some Android handsets, and lacks a range of internal tech improvements and L3 and R3 sticks the upgraded Razer Kishi has.

The Kishi Controller has been built with a full set of controls - think D-pad, A/B/X/Y buttons and clickable sticks - and completely eradicates game latency. Improving your gameplay and making it easier to navigate more complex games like those appearing on Apple Arcade, it's a great accessory for new and experience gamers to have.

Gamevice debuted some of the Kishi Controller's tricks at CES, and as its release date gets closer (it remains TBC for now) we're sure more details will be announced.

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