It's the tech industry's nerd mecca. The Consumer Electronics Show is the place where companies big and small debut their newest products. And interestingly, the winds of change are afoot. Drones, 3D cameras, robots, 4K televisions, and especially cars dominate the show floor this year.
As pundits toss around confusing, navel-gazing terms like the Internet of Things and Big Data, the reality is that everything you can see or touch is becoming more connected—and in many cases, with huge benefit.
With that, here are the most significant trends we saw at CES 2015 this year. (And for a more granular look at what's in store for the next 12 months, be sure to take a look at our Best of CES 2015 picks.)
Drones and spycams. Watch out above! Drones were everywhere at CES, often hovering over attendees heads. And these gadgets are only getting more affordable and more powerful. The DJI Inspire 1 is the most impressive drone we saw, thanks to its 20mm wide-angle lens, 4K video recording, and dual remote controls. Parrot's less-expensive Bebop also looks pretty menacing; we first saw this one in November. Will the FAA step in to regulate consumer air space below 400 feet? It's looking likely, because all of this drone activity continuing unabated could eventually get messy. But for now, at least, the skies are clear.
Wearables. Smartwatches may or may not eventually be a thing—while Sony and LG showed off new efforts, it appears the industry is on hold for whatever Cupertino brings to the table this spring. But for fitness, it's a completely different story. Garmin's Vivoactive melds fitness and smartwatch. The attractive Withings Activité looks like a real watch, while Misfit's Swarovski crystal activity trackers are downright blingy. FitLinxx's AmpStrip is an adhesive bandage that monitors your skin, letting athletes know how hard to train and when to take a break. And Blue Spark Technology's TempTraq lets you monitor a baby's temperature; it sends alerts to your smartphone, graphs temperature over time, and isn't something a kid can easily shake off.
4K goes mainstream. We've been seeing UHD TVs for two years now, and last year, Netflix introduced 4K streaming for House of Cards and some other programming at CES. But without enough media to watch, it was a wait-and-see proposition. That part's over. Unlike with 3D, 4K is something everyone can appreciate immediately, and without wearing dorky, uncomfortable glasses. This year, CES had plenty of 4K HDTVs, computer monitors, and cameras. And Roku is building its interface into more HDTVs with an eye toward 4K compatibility. Many of us will still be satisfied with Blu-ray, 1080p streaming, and even standard-definition DVDs. But for the videophiles out there, 4K is pure gold, and it's finally becoming relatively affordable.
3D cameras and printers. XYZprinting's slick $349 da Vinci Junior, announced at the show, could be the catalyst for consumer 3D printing adoption. Lenovo, Dell, and Acer are among the PC manufacturers to unveil PCs with 3D cameras. The Dell Venue 8 7000 tablet has four cameras; three on the back, including two for Intel's RealSense depth-of-focus, plus one on the front for selfies. Why do you need a 3D camera? Well, to name a few instances: Mid-air gesture control, 3D object scanning, and playing games (Kinect-style). It's all pretty experimental now, and not all of it works perfectly. But there's a ton of potential here.
Virtual reality and curved screens. Granted, virtual reality has been a thing since the 1990s, and it's been largely baloney throughout. But it's different now. HP demonstrated an incredible 23-inch VR-enabled display, the Zvr, for 3D imaging workstations. Samsung demonstrated its own VR goggles, joining Oculus and Sony's Project Morpheus in targeting consumers. And then there are the curved displays. HDTVs, computer monitors, phones—you name it, and there's a curved version of it now. All of this brings the display from in front of your head to encompass your peripheral vision—as well as above and below.
The return of high-quality audio. I've been an audio buff for decades. I love me some high-end components and speaker systems. But that's history for the most part—and more and more, so are the speaker docks and hulking units that defined the first decade of the new millennium. Now we're seeing stereo systems that practically disappear into your room. Sonos was first with multi-room audio, but now everyone seems to have a solution, and where everything from showerheads to Christmas tree ornaments can deliver audio, it's clear people are tired of seeing audio equipment mar their home décor—but they also want better sound quality. And interestingly, there's a bit of a resurgence of high-end audio, thanks to Neil Young's Ponoplayer and Sony's reboot of its iconic Walkman, both of which focus on better-than-CD-quality—and way-better-than-compressed-MP3-quality—sound.
Fast, lightweight PCs. Lenovo's LaVie laptop and convertible are the lightest we've seen yet—just 1.7 and 2.0 pounds, respectively. They run on fifth-generation Broadwell Core i5 and i7 processors and SSDs, and the 13-inch displays can be configured with up to qHD resolution. Keep in mind that the laptop version, with keyboard, weighs just a tenth of a pound more than the original Apple iPad, which had a smaller screen and lacked a keyboard. Dell pumped up its own laptops with Broadwell. Acer introduced a giant 15.6-inch, 4.85-pound Chromebook that will start at just $249. And both HP and Lenovo unveiled tiny desktop PCs—modular, in the case of Lenovo—at very low prices as well. And if lightweight's not your bag, check out CyberPower's beefy Trinity gaming PC.