Top 5 coolest devices announced at CES 2016
It's been a wild week in Las Vegas, Nevada, but as with all things in life, the show eventually came to a halt. Looking back at this year's edition of the Consumer Electronics Show, we can only appreciate the lengths that some companies went through in order to stand out from the crowd. In this piece, we'll take a look at five devices unveiled at CES 2016 that caught our attention.
Before moving on to what we believe are the coolest devices of CES 2016, we'd like you to bear in mind that coolness is a terribly subjective word. As such, feel free to drop us a comment in the section below and talk about other amazing devices announced at CES 2016 that we did not include here.
LG's Rollable Display
Meet the future
Although it's not exactly a device itself - it's rather more of a component that is going to be used in upcoming products - the rollable display that LG unveiled this week in Las Vegas is, in the eyes of many, the coolest thing announced at the 2016 edition of CES. The display, which replaces the traditional glass substrate with a more malleable plastic material, can be rolled up to fit various form factors.
In the future, LG imagines that this type of rollable display will lead to devices that can extend or contract their footprint depending on the use-case scenario. In particular, LG's demonstration hinted at a device with a display that can be rolled up like a newspaper, but we're sure that other products could make use of this new display type.
LeTV Le Max Pro
Are you ready for the new (Snap)dragon?
Smartphone maker LeTV may not be a popular brand outside its home market of China, but after this edition of CES, the brand is likely to ring a bell to many smartphone enthusiasts. The reason for this sudden boost of popularity was the unveiling of the LeTV Le Max Pro, the world's first Snapdragon 820-powered smartphone.
Obviously, the Snapdragon 820 is the star of the show here. Among others, the chipset integrates a 2.2GHz quad-core Kyro CPU, an Adreno 530 GPU, Quick Charge 3.0, LTE Cat. 12, and a tri-band Wi-Fi radio. Speaking of cool devices, we certainly hope that the LeTV Le Max Pro will keep its cool during intense gaming or 4K recording sessions. The previous-generation Snapdragon 810 chipset was involved in many overheating scandals in 2015, complaints that we're hoping to be a thing of the past now that Snapdragon 820-powered devices are making their way to the market.
The LeTV Le Max Pro scores bonus cool points by integrating an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, a feat made possible by technology that Qualcomm has baked right into the Snapdragon 820. In essence, ultrasonic fingerprint readers create a 3D image of the user's fingerprint, complete with information such as the depth of skin ridges. Now, how cool is that?
Obviously, the Snapdragon 820 is the star of the show here. Among others, the chipset integrates a 2.2GHz quad-core Kyro CPU, an Adreno 530 GPU, Quick Charge 3.0, LTE Cat. 12, and a tri-band Wi-Fi radio. Speaking of cool devices, we certainly hope that the LeTV Le Max Pro will keep its cool during intense gaming or 4K recording sessions. The previous-generation Snapdragon 810 chipset was involved in many overheating scandals in 2015, complaints that we're hoping to be a thing of the past now that Snapdragon 820-powered devices are making their way to the market.
The LeTV Le Max Pro scores bonus cool points by integrating an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, a feat made possible by technology that Qualcomm has baked right into the Snapdragon 820. In essence, ultrasonic fingerprint readers create a 3D image of the user's fingerprint, complete with information such as the depth of skin ridges. Now, how cool is that?
Note: For a closer look at the handset, make sure to check out our LeTV Le Max Pro hands-on!
Huawei Watch Elegant and Jewel
Classy smartwatches
The original Huawei Watch was already one of the coolest Android Wear smartwatches, but the new Elegant and Jewel versions of the Huawei Watch, unveiled this week at CES, take the game to a whole new level when it comes to the aesthetics. Before leaving you to drool over pictures of the new Huawei Watch Elegant and Jewel, we'd like you to bear in mind that these are full-blown smartwatches, not just analog watches with added smart functionality (like many of the other watches announced in the past few months).
The new Huawei Watch Elegant and Jewel feature specs such as a 1.4-inch AMOLED display running a resolution of 400 by 400 pixels, a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of integrated storage space. All of these specs are powered by a 300mAh battery said to last well through the day on a single charge. Check out our Huawei Watch Elegant & Jewel hands-on piece for a closer look at these two classy smartwatches.
The new Huawei Watch Elegant and Jewel feature specs such as a 1.4-inch AMOLED display running a resolution of 400 by 400 pixels, a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC, 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of integrated storage space. All of these specs are powered by a 300mAh battery said to last well through the day on a single charge. Check out our Huawei Watch Elegant & Jewel hands-on piece for a closer look at these two classy smartwatches.
MyFC Jaq
First hydrogen fuel cell smartphone charger
If you've ever wanted to break off the power grid but still be able to rely on your ever-connected smartphone, then the MyFC Jaq is the perfect answer to this problem. Announced by Swedish startup MyFC at CES 2016, the Jaq is a hydrogen fuel cell charger - the first of its kind to reach the consumer market - that ensures complete power autonomy.
The physics are a bit more complicated, but as far as end consumers are concerned, the principle is fairly simple: whenever you need to get some "juice" from the Jaq, all you need to do is insert a new water and salt cartridge. One of these cartridges provides 1,800mAh of current. That's not enough to fully charge large-screened smartphone such as the Huawei Nexus 6P, but the cool trick is that you can keep sliding in new cartridges and keep getting current from the Jaq. Furthermore, the device gets extra cool points for providing 100% clean energy. Looking into the future, the startup says that the cartridges themselves will also be fully recyclable.
MyFC will give away the device itself through carriers, but only if you agree to pay a subscription for monthly cartridge refills. The exact pricing details have yet to be finalized, but the company expects to ask about $5 per month for a monthly supply of cartridges.
Huawei MediaPad M2 10
Coolest CES 2016 tablet
While the tablet market has been contracting in the past few quarters, this doesn't mean that tablets aren't cool anymore. Take the Huawei MediaPad M2 10, for instance, a 10-inch Android tablet that Huawei officially unveiled this week in Las Vegas at CES 2016.
The specs of the tablet are not bad on their own: the MediaPad M2 10 integrates a 10-inch display with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, a Huawei Kirin 930 chipset paired with 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of onboard storage, all of which are not bad for a $349 tablet. However, it's the design and the build of the MediaPad M2 10 that make it the coolest tablet unveiled at this year's edition of CES. Check out the pics below and feast your eyes on the aluminum build and the sandblasted metal finish of Huawei's new tablet:
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