From the cavernous halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center to various subsidiary display spots located around Wynn Las Vegas, CES 2023 – the latest Consumer Electronics Show – was dispersed across two million square feet and 11 separate venues, not to mention the numerous pop-ups, temporary galleries, and invite-only spaces that arrived in town for just a few short days. Here’s our pick from the deluge of new devices.
BEST OF CES 2023
Icoma Tatamel e-scooter
Japanese brand Icoma’s Tatamel e-scooter is all kinds of adorable. A bike-in-a-box concept, the Tatamel is a compact two-wheeler with a range of around 30 miles and an impressive top speed of 25 mph. Wheels and handlebars fold into the body to create a compact yet hefty box that’s small enough to slot under a desk or in the boot of the most compact car. When folded, the diminutive scooter can be pulled along like a wheely bag and it also doubles as a mobile power source. The ‘box’ can also be fully customised.
Project Leonardo by Sony
Up until now, Microsoft has led the way for accessible mainstream tech design. Sony hopes to change all that with the reveal of Project Leonardo, a fully accessible controller for the PlayStation5. Although the device is still in development, Sony hopes it’ll open up its console to those who find the traditional games controller far too limiting. The circular controller is fully customisable, allowing buttons and functions to be entirely user selected and clustered for ease of access.
Lenovo Yoga Book 9i
In amongst a tidal wave of new releases from the Chinese computer maker, the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i stood out. Effectively a dual screen laptop, the 9i has a separate dockable Bluetooth keyboard Smart Pen connectivity, offering up a number of varied use cases, whether you’re using the laptop for communication, coding, or just consuming media like a traditional paper book, ie, reading. The Yoga Book 9i is expected to arrive in early summer 2023.
Skyted Audio Mask
A collaboration between PriestmanGoode, Airbus Development and the European Space Agency, French company Skyted’s concept face mask is a response to every conceivable contemporary anxiety about air travel. For a start, it has N95 grade filtering to keep you and your fellow passengers virus-free. Crucially, it’s also designed to help you speak without causing a disturbance. The catalyst for the mask is forthcoming EU legislation that will allow people to use their phones freely on flights. Skyted surely isn’t alone in having a ‘vision of silent inflight calls’.
Ring Always Home Cam
The home security drone mash-up you didn’t know you needed, the Ring Always Home Cam takes flight inside your empty house and buzzes about keeping its HD-eye on things. You can set up custom flight paths to check windows and doors, using the existing Ring app to control and save the content; once the patrol is over the drone returns to its charging dock to get ready for the next sortie. With recent stories about personal imagery from Roomba test data ‘accidentally’ ending up online, you’ll need cast-iron trust in this new generation of electronic overlords. If you’re still interested, the Amazon-owned company will soon be selling the device via invitation only through the online megastore.
Ring.com, available via Amazon
Samsung MicroLED TV
MicroLED technology offers two advantages over other forms of flat screen display. For a start, the microscopic LEDs that make up the pixels have a much lower energy draw and a longer lifespan. They’re also brighter, faster, and with a greater colour depth. Samsung is at the forefront of bringing this once-expensive tech to a much wider market, with models that start at 50in and go all the way up to 140in.
Movano Evie ring
The Evie ring is a new smart device from Movano Health designed primarily for women. The discreet ring packs a lot of metric tracking into its compact form, including temperature, resting heart rate, step and activity tracking, sleep data and menstrual cycle tracking. The key to all such devices is the quality and coherence of their app, as well as the advice and information gleaned from the data. Evie launches in 2023; Movano is stressing that the device will thrive on difference, helping to tailor health goals to each and every user.
Loona Petbot
Practical robotic pets have felt on the edge of practicality for decades, with occasional hits like Sony’s Aibo and plenty of toy-like knock-offs. The Loona Petbot is the latest unfurry friend to be revealed, designed to safeguard your home, give you peace of mind and tug at your emotions at the same time. The diminutive, wheeled machine conveys what it’s ‘feeling’ through an animated face and mechanical ‘ears’ that allow the Petbot to offer ‘over 700 expressions’. Doubling as a petcam-stroke-patrolbot, you can operate Petbot remotely from your phone, with microphones, facial recognition, and 3D environment mapping all tucked away beneath the cute outer skin.
Available via IndieGoGo.com
Chrysler Synthesis Cockpit
Whilst other companies (BMW, Sony) displayed whole cars, Chrysler preferred to break down its auto tech into a concept interior. The Synthesis Cockpit showcases a mix of new materials and new technologies, with the former placing an emphasis on recycled yet still premium-feeling surfaces like the ‘recycled mélange heather instrument panel’ and ‘textile-infused walnut flooring’. As you might expect from a vision without an obvious steering wheel, the concept imagines a world where Stellantis’s STLA AutoDrive system is up and running to provide Level 3 autonomous driving. Changing driving modes are on hand to reflect the level of driver focus required.
For more from CES 2023, see our reviews of automotive innovations, the Afeela EV prototype, from a new brand born of a partnership between Sony and Honda Mobility, and the candy-coloured BMW i Vision Dee concept, swathed in E Ink panels.
-
Johanna Parv’s ‘engineered formalwear’ is made for the woman on the movePart of our monthly series ‘Uprising’, Wallpaper* meets Johanna Parv, the London-based designer whose stealthily beautiful clothes are designed to take women from boardroom to dinner by way of the bike lane
-
Pretty in pink: Mumbai's new residential tower shakes up the cityscape'Satguru’s Rendezvous' in Mumbai houses luxury apartments behind its elegant fluted concrete skin. We take a tour.
-
Federica Biasi is encouraging designers to play through experimentation with her new Kimono tile collectionInspired by Decoratori Bassanesi’s heritage and traditional Japanese fashion, the Kimono tile collection offers a myriad of configurations to transform interiors.
-
The OM System OM-3 camera blends heritage design with cutting-edge technologyThe OM-3 from OM System is the newest must-have mirrorless camera design, classically styled and comprehensively equipped to create the ultimate contemporary digital camera
-
Type without the tyranny of distractions: eight new ways to get the words outLooking for a way to divert you from doom-scrolling? This selection of eight distraction-free typing devices will keep you offline and away from the socials to help you meet that deadline
-
Layer conceptualises a next-gen AI-powered device: introducing the PiAPiA, the Personal Intelligent Assistant, is a conceptual vision of how AI might evolve to dovetail with familiar devices and form factors
-
Point, shoot and process with Lomography’s two new colourful Instax camera editionsWith the Pemberley and The Blues editions, the Lomo’Instant Square Glass camera provides stylish and pocketable analogue photography
-
We put the new ultra-compact Dyson Car+Boat handheld vacuum through its pacesA cordless handheld vacuum pitched at a plethora of tasks, Dyson has tasked the new Car+Boat with far-reaching functionality without compromising performance
-
The Century Series, Philips goes retro to celebrate over 100 years of audio innovationDutch audio brand Philips has drawn on its extensive archive to shape the form of the five Century devices, all of which offer stylish ways to enjoy vinyl, radio and more
-
E-ink comes of age: the best new tablets for distraction-free reading and writingWe explore the world of E-ink tablets to find the best device for handwriting input, editing, sketching and light computing duties
-
Loop’s quiet revolution: design-conscious earplugs that really workThe makers of Loop earplugs offer ever-more colourful and functional options to allow anyone to turn life down a little
