The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is the biggest, glitziest tech show in the world. CES 2019 kicking off on Sunday January 6 ahead of the first full day of press conferences taking place on Monday January 7. The show opens to the public on Tuesday January 8, so here’s a mini round up of what to expect at CES 2019.
There’s plenty happening behind the scenes in the Qualcomm camp this CES, with the semiconductor giant following up its Snapdragon 855 reveal late last year with plenty more fighting talk about its new flagship SoC, which is ready to help usher in a new era of 5G phones. There’s also loads of developments within the firm’s automotive arm, namely that car giant Ford has committed to full adoption of 5G-ready C-V2X (cellular vehicle-to-everything) communications technology – something that’s underpinned by Qualcomm’s 9150 chipset and also currently being rolled out by the likes of Audi and Ducati.
Smart home technology is one of the biggest themes at this year’s CES, and Ring has made one of the biggest reveals so far in its all-new Ring Door View Cam. Fitting over the traditional peep hole, it transforms your door’s existing viewing portal into a fairly full-featured smart security cam, coming with motion detection, two-way talk, door activity detection, night vision and full HD video.
Leading wearable brand Withings also brought its A-game to Vegas this year in the form of the Withings Move ECG watch. Like the most famous ECG-capable watch, the Apple Watch Series 4, it’ll take an ECG reading when you place your fingers on its bezel for a short time, and therefore is useful for spotting heart conditions and sending alerts to medical professionals about the user’s health. Unlike the Apple Watch, it’s competitively priced at around £100, making it a potential breakthrough product once it goes on sale.
Samsung has been busy at CES 2019, especially on the TV front. Looking ahead, we got a further peek at the Samsung microLED modular TV, which now looks nearly ready to start hitting shelves in the form of a finished product; while already go-to-go is a gargantuan new 98-inch version of the hugely impressive Samsung QE85Q900R 8K TV launched last year.
We also learned that Samsung’s 2019 TVs will come with a pretty killer new feature: an Apple iTunes app. This might sound like a modest reveal compared to a new 8K set, but considering that this is the first time iTunes will be available outside of Apple’s own hardware ecosystem – and the chequered history between the two firms – this is a damn big deal. Here’s where you can find out more about iTunes on Samsung TV.
2019 is also likely to be the year of the so-called ‘hole-punch’ notch, with Samsung apparently right at the front of that particular trend. The South Korean firm hinted at the Galaxy S10’s design back in November, and we’re hoping to be treated to a few more teasers at CES.
5G is also set to be switched on in several countries around the world in 2019, so brace yourself − perhaps for the last time ever at CES − for an avalanche of 5G hype.
What are you most looking forward to at CES 2019?
