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An LG robot at CES in Las Vegas - in 2018 (archive image)
Photo: David Becker / AFP
For the first time in its history, the CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, is not taking place in Las Vegas.
The pandemic still does not allow such major events.
But instead of canceling the fair, the organizers have moved it to the Internet.
Many of the companies that have participated year after year are also there now, such as Samsung, Sony and LG.
One might think that such an online event would also make use of the possibilities of the Internet.
For example, by making the press conferences, which are ultimately pre-recorded videos, available in a kind of mini-Netflix for non-linear viewing.
Instead, however, the exhibition company tries to reproduce the feeling of a live exhibition.
The online press conferences are streamed “live”.
A few minutes after the live event, however, the shows can actually also be called up “on demand”.
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Internet show on the big stages: Hisense press conference
Photo: Hisense
With all this it is remarkable how hard some companies try to give their video shows a live look by having their speakers talk to a non-existent audience on large stages.
Or - as the Chinese TV manufacturer Hisense did - even let dancers in glittering costumes paddle across the stage.
Others, such as LG, on the other hand, make full use of the medium's possibilities, showing professionally choreographed and edited video presentations.
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Screenshot from the Hisense press conference: "Dirty Dancing" in the washing machine
Photo: Hisense
The air should be clean - even when camping
What LG presented so professionally was not always completely new.
A highlight are, for example, so-called QNED televisions with mini-LED backlighting (Samsung and Sony have just shown similar things).
The first special feature: Up to 30,000 tiny LEDs enable a contrast ratio of 1,000,000: 1 with deep black to very bright white.
The second specialty: The company had already sent the press release on December 29th.
Very trendy, but sometimes also very curious, LG advertised its room air filters, which are available in various sizes, from child-sized free-standing devices to electronically controlled breathing masks to mobile PuriCare Mini.
The latter is of course not a real novelty, as it was shown in November 2019.
The demonstration was still original because it suggested, for example, that the device should also be taken when camping.
Apparently, fresh air is only really fresh for LG once it has been electrically cleaned.
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Sonic, the mop
With vacuum robots, it has become hip in recent years not only to vacuum but also to wipe them.
But as good as the idea is, the implementation is usually that bad.
Because so that the robot can mop hard floors, you not only have to fill up its water tank, but also attach a mop and remove it again after the work is done.
The devices can either only wipe or only vacuum.
The new Roborock S7 is supposed to do better because, according to the manufacturer, it has a “Sonic mop wiping system with intelligent lift technology”.
Sounds strange, but it's actually very simple.
The lift ensures that the robot lifts its mop as soon as it hits a carpet.
The S7 should be able to wipe and vacuum in one operation.
That already brings back memories of Loriot's legendary Heinzelmann ("Heinzelmann sucks and blows ...").
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The underside of the Roborock S7: The robot can lift the mop, even if only a few millimeters
Photo: Roborock
Roborock, on the other hand, describes the ability to wipe the mop back and forth up to 3000 times per minute as the »Sonic Mop«.
In this way, it should also be able to wipe up the "most stubborn, dried-up dirt", something which vacuum-mopping robots have so far failed to do.
The fact that he still has a mode called »Thorough«, in which he wipes the surfaces twice, suggests that it doesn't always work right away.
In Germany, the S7 will go on sale in the second quarter for 549 euros.
Bosch builds a moon navigation system for robots
The German electronics company understood sustainability as a marketing argument and announced that, according to its own calculations, the company has been working CO2-neutral since the end of 2020.
In line with this, the “Like a Bosch” advertising slogan introduced last year has now been expanded to “Live sustainable like a Bosch” - “live sustainably like a Bosch”.
The company justifies this with the fact that, thanks to zeolite drying, its washing machines consume up to 20 percent less energy than comparable devices.
However, this technology is not new, it has been used for a number of years.
It is more fitting that Bosch is making a substantial contribution to the introduction of contemporary mobility technology with its e-bike motors, batteries, and computers.
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Bosch smoke detectors are now also air purity detectors
Photo: Bosch
The way Bosch satisfies current needs with new functions in existing products is also contemporary.
For example, the company has built a new function into its networked smoke alarms from the TwinGuard series, which is intended to warn of bad air and prompt ventilation in order to reduce the risk of infection.
The update is free for all users.
But the company has even more news: Together with the companies Astrobotic and WiBotic as well as the University of Washington, Bosch is developing so-called CubeRovers.
The robots, the size of a shoebox, are to examine the lunar surface autonomously or in groups and send data to larger lunar probes.
The big problem with this is that there is no GPS on the moon, so the little robotic scouts have to find their way back to their wireless charging stations somehow differently.
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A cuberover should look something like this
Photo: Bosch
A smart phone becomes a baby monitor
Samsung is serving its core business areas at CES, announcing new televisions, refrigerators and washing machines, but also the JetBot 90 AI + robot vacuum.
Equipped with 3D sensors, artificial intelligence and cameras, it should not only keep the apartment clean.
If desired, it can also show what is going on at home via the app.
The video demonstrated how to supervise your pets.
But theoretically you could also use the function to check whether the children are doing their homework or sitting in front of the game console.
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Screenshot from Samsung's CES presentation: old cell phone becomes baby monitor
Photo: Samsung
However, the group also had a new idea of how old smartphones can continue to be used.
After all, according to the industry association Bitkom, almost 200 million old devices were lying around unused in German households in 2020.
Samsung has now announced a program called Galaxy Upcycling at Home, which is intended to show users options for using old Galaxy smartphones - and only those - for example as baby monitors.
How this should work in detail and for which devices there will be such offers was not explained.
Rock and roll
The electronics manufacturer TCL, who always likes to show display prototypes at trade fairs and does not disappoint at the virtual CES, provided a glimpse into the possibly near future.
In a short video, the company showed a smartphone with a rollable screen that can be expanded from 6.7 inches to 7.8 inches at the push of a button.
This is very reminiscent of a model that we were able to try out in Barcelona in early 2020:
This smartphone is just as little a specific product as the rollable 17-inch display that TCL showed as a computer animation.
This makes it a typical example of the prototypes that the company shows again and again: They often look great, but it is better to wait patiently whether they will ever become real products.
The smartphones and tablets that TCL presented as novelties at the CES, in any case, all still come to customers with rigid displays.
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