*Steve Makris is a technology expert who does a monthly Tech Talk segment during Edmonton’s Sunday Morning News. You can watch the segment above.
EDMONTON – The 2015 International Consumer Electronics Consumer Show held last week in Las Vegas is nirvana for tech geeks like me.
People ask me what I thought the coolest product was at CES… I can’t say. That’s like going to a tasting of more than 20,000 food samples and picking your favourite. The mind numbs after walking more than 40 km in four days amid the equivalent of 393 basketball courts of floor displays.
But the emerging trends for technology this year are clear — personal-use technology will be huge.
Small, affordable devices, most worn on your wrist, will keep your phone in your pocket or at home, and let you know at a glance who is trying to reach you, give you weather, news, sports updates as well as letting you know how far you have walked, and much more.
Sensors measuring your runs or walks are embedded in running shoe sole inserts from footlogger.com, or a thin wrap-around ribbon belt from myvert.com measures your vertical height. Binatoneglobal.com showed a dog-collar-mounted GPS/camera device so you can see your dog’s location, webcam view and talk to it.
And as if the world really needed this, a sensor embedded in a baby bottle holder from slowcontrol.com that measures how much your baby consumes and helps you keep the right angle to avoid bubbles. An included app keeps track of all baby feedings.
Over the top, and full-featured budget phones will sway both big and small wallets. The soon-to-be available in Canada curved side glass Samsung.ca Note Edge will cost $200 more than the iPhone 6 Plus. For folks on a budget, Chinese-made phones such as the full-featured ZTE Grand X Plus, free with a two-year plan at fido.ca or at Bell.ca for $200 or less, outright, will be invading the country soon. The phone was designed in ZTE’s Ottawa-based research labs.
I saw new phones from Kodak and Polaroid. Unfortunately, the overseas third parties who produce these products purchased the famous brand names, but not the quality. And it’s too early to tell how these phones will do in the marketplace. I shuddered at the Kodak IM5 with mediocre features, a poor camera with a simple interface to attract those who still love film cameras. The slightly better Polaroid models are also mid-level with an amusing “Polaroid” photo app that coaxes you to blow or shake the phone as a picture “develops” on the screen.
Curved screens are big as well, from LG’s stunning second-generation curved G Flex 2 smart phone (lg.ca), to curved personal computer monitors, and of course the 90-inch UHD resolution TV screens (four times that of a current HD screen). Despite all the marketing efforts from curved TV screen makers, the main advantage of a curved LED/LCD screen is a better view from different angles, something the phased out flat plasma screens did naturally.
In my opinion, there is no breaking news in TV technology. LG’s current and new OLED screen technology still trumps any new LED/LCD screen from all TV makers. I saw marginal improvements from every brand, some sadly misrepresented against less stunning side-by-side comparisons with sibling and competitor models on showroom floors.
The good news is that the announced UHDAlliance.com will bring a stop to misleading high-resolution TV claims made by big and lesser known brands. Soon, a universal logo will let TV buyers know what they are getting.
I was, however, impressed with smart innovations in home appliances. LG’s twin-wash system replaces the base on some of its models with a smaller, more gentle washer that rolls out like a drawer (lg.com/ca). Samsung’s new washing machine has a removable, built-in sink for laundry rooms too small for a real sink (samsung.com/ca).
For more information on this week’s products, check out Steve’s new blog: www.techuntangled.ca.
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