Day two of CES all in five minutes, with news from Dell, HP, LG, Razer, Lenovo, Sony, and Nokia.
Transcript
For January 9, the second day of CES 2018, you’re tuned into The Wrap, Australia’s fastest technology round-up, and this week, we’re live from Las Vegas for the CES 2018, the Consumer Electronics Show.
If you don’t know, this is where most of the year’s technology will be launched, setting the stage for gadgets like TVs, home theatre, headphones, gaming, and more, and computing is playing a big part today.
While Intel launched its Radeon-equipped processor yesterday, Dell is ready to start talking about where that cool technology will be placed, announcing the XPS 15 two-in-one, a 15 inch tablet laptop that offers a touchscreen and the combined Intel AMD graphic processor, making it fast and capable, but there’s one feature on the laptop that actually grabs us more than any: the keyboard.
Maybe it’s because we’re writers, but a good keyboard is one of those things that can make or break a laptop for us, and we’re particularly intrigued by Dell’s idea of a maglev keyboard, with keys that magnetically sit on the board as a way of cutting down on space and parts.
Dell isn’t the only company with a new computer, mind you, because HP is ready with a new 15 inch Spectre x360, HP’s take on the two-in-one category with eighth-gen Intel Core technology at the heart, though you’ll get two choices there, with either the AMD Intel hybrid chip, or an Intel chip and an Nvidia GeForce chip separate.
It’s your call, and depending on the type of hardware you need, there could be differences.
LG even showed us a laptop that weighed virtually nothing, and made us wish the company was still releasing laptops in Australia, while gaming hardware company Razer showed off Project Linda. No, it doesn’t involve Bob’s Burgers, but what it does do is allow the few owners of the Razer phone a way to integrate their phone in a 13 inch laptop.
We’re certain we’ve seen this kind of thing before, because a few years ago, Motorola’s Atrix did something similar. Perhaps it was before it’s time, because Razer seems keen to try it again, though with its own take.
Lenovo also introduced something that had us surprised, with a new Miix laptop that not only arrives with the hum drum Windows 10 S — don’t worry, you can upgrade to Windows 10 Pro — but also features a Snapdragon processor and support for an eSIM, making it a Windows 10 laptop tablet hybrid that can stay online pretty much all the time.
Lenovo is also dabbling more in virtual reality this year, introducing the world’s first dedicated Google Daydream VR headset, with the phone essentially built in and world sense 1support. That means it will pick up on moving your head more in real space, and you don’t need to plug in your phone, since it has that taken care of, as well.
Of particular note is Lenovo’s camera, which will shoot a human view in 3D for the Lenovo headset. It’s not 360 video like you might think, but it is 3D, and could make for a truly immersive home video like you’ve never seen.
And Lenovo’s 3D camera was just one of the crazy gadgets that got our attention this today, with Sony’s Aibo being another.
You might remember Aibo is the first truly robotic dog, and engineers in Australian universities still use the old Aibo as a form of artificial intelligence training, competing in robot soccer matches with the thing.
Well this year, Aibo is back, and while he’s Japan-bound only, the robotic dog is not only cuter than ever, but has OLED eyes, a camera in the nose to watch and a camera at the tail to scan the home and work his way around, kind of like a robotic vacuum cleaner.
He’ll also have his own personality, and has four microphones as well as touch sensors on his head, back, and chin, so you can talk and touch him, almost like a real dog, but without the mess.
Except you can’t because Sony hasn’t yet announced if or when Aibo will be coming to Australia, and that’s the case with pretty much everything we’re seeing at CES.
One thing that will likely hit Australia, however, is Nokia Sleep, a unique little gadget that Nokia would like you to put under your mattress so you can sleep on it and have it monitor your habits.
If you happen to suffer from sleep apnoea, it’s possible that Nokia Sleep could help, but even if you don’t, Nokia’s flat gadget could also work as a way of controlling other smart gadgets in your home, from lights to speakers, and anything else that’s connected.
Or you can just use it to get to bed, and get some sleep, which is what we need to do, because that’s day two of CES, and we’re exhausted.
We’ll be back tomorrow with more news from the event, which is just a plethora of tech and gadgets and software of stuff, most of which you can find more about at the Pickr.com.au website, and we’re trying to get it all online as quickly as possible.
Tomorrow you can probably expect us to focus on sound, so if you like sound, that’s what you can expect to hear.
Until then from Vegas, take care.
Leigh :) Stark travelled to CES in Las Vegas as a guest of Dell.
