Drones, electric cars, and AI Assistants are set to take over 2020
If you want to see what’s the biggest and brightest as far as upcoming tech, then CES is where you want to be. Organized by the Consumer Technology Association, CES is a yearly conference held in Las Vegas where companies exhibit and show off all the new gadgets and technologies they have been working on. This year’s conference, which took place January 7 through January 10, featured tech from every category imaginable. The conference featured electric cars, foldable smartphones, and food delivery drones as just some of the best new tech to look out for. After researching a lot of the new tech myself, here are my picks for some of the most innovative, cool, and student budget-friendly options featured at CES 2020.
Check out other Editor’s picks for gadgets in the December 2019 issue, available as a pdf here.
Antimicrobial Screen Protectors
Sure, a screen protector seems more like a tech accessory than tech itself, but OtterBox and Corning brought something new to the table. These new screen protectors have EPA-registered antimicrobial technology, keeping our phones clear of the microbes that can make us sick. We all know that phones can get gross, and most of us don’t disinfect them regularly. Phone cleaners definitely exist, but not many people buy and use them. This solves those problems and creates an easy “set it and forget it” option for keeping us just a little bit healthier.
Sony’s PS5
Sony created one of the highly-anticipated reveals at CES for the upcoming PlayStation 5. Up until now, we knew very little about the upcoming console. The presentation left us hanging and gave us nothing new except the logo. Of course, this resulted in frustration and memes from the gaming community. However, we DO know that the console will have 3D audio capabilities and a solid state drive for faster load times. It is set to be released for 2020’s holiday season.
Gaming…Phone?
Among the various new smartphones and computers, one phone in particular stuck out to me: Xiaomi’s Black Shark 2 Pro. The Razer phone already broke the mold with specs geared toward phone gaming. Other phones revealed during the conference discussed dedicated gaming modes. But the Black Shark Pro 2 sets itself apart. The phone boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus processor, a multi-layer liquid cooling system and a 240-Hz touch-report rate, resulting in one of the fastest response speeds of any phone out there. Xiaomi provided no official release date for the US yet, but it is set to retail for $599.
Foldable Phones, Tablets, and Laptops
The past couple years introduced the public to a new type of flip phone. Most of us remember the small, single screen that everyone wanted in the mid-2000s. Now, manufacturers bring old technology into a new age. These new flip phones have two screens that flip to merge into one large screen, perfect for gaming and entertainment.
Samsung leads the pack with the Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Fold. TCL and Motorola hope to continue the trend with their own models. TCL’s concept shows promise with a sleek iridescent green design and multiple cameras. Motorola’s reveal excited many more with its revival of the Razr. The new model folds vertically, reminiscent of the phones from our childhood. It’s designed to be able to fit in one hand, which is great for people that find holding larger phone models awkward. Motorola delayed the launch of the new Razr, but I’m impatient to feel a bit of pre-teen nostalgia when it’s finally released.
Even laptops and tablets are beginning to adopt this new tech in 2020. Lenovo and Dell both feature laptop models with this technology, although they feel more like a tablet than a laptop. The screen stretches across both sides of the laptop with little more than a small ripple at its bending point. Dell’s Ori concept doesn’t have a date yet, but Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Fold will retail for $2,499 later in the year.
CES 2020 featured so many new tech innovations and gadgets that I can never fit it all in the parameters of this article. Nonetheless, it excites us to learn about everything that’s coming in the near future. Bernard Marr of Forbes magazine claims that we are in the middle of the fourth industrial revolution. With tech like this, I can’t help but agree.
For more details on releases and gadgets featured at CES 2020, check out CNET’s full coverage of the conference at cnet.com/ces.