CES 2015: Top 10 announcements from Sony, Samsung, Intel and others
The biggest, best and weirdest announcements at the annual tech frenzy
So CES 2015 has come and gone for another year. It leaves behind a mountain of announcements ranging from new laptops and wearable gizmos to all kinds of weird and wacky inventions from firms that may well not exist by 2016.
With so many products being unveiled and announcements being made it can be hard to keep track of it all, especially coming in the first week of the new year.
So V3 has put together a top 10 of what we think were some of the biggest announcements from major companies at the show.
10. Samsung
The Galaxy S6 predictably failed to make an appearance, and the firm disappointed many with the lack of a major product launch, but Samsung still made a few interesting announcements. Here are our top picks from the Vegas show floor.
Samsung Portable SSD T1 Samsung unveiled the Samsung Portable SSD T1, a solid state drive (SSD) available in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB storage capacities. The Portable SSD T1 will launch globally in 15 countries across the US, Europe and Asia later this month, including the UK.
Samsung said that the Portable SSD T1 is ideal for business travellers, creative professionals and content creators who need secure local storage that they can take on-the-go and use to quickly transfer large amounts of data.
Built with the same technology as Samsung's internal SSDs, the drive has sequential read/write speeds of up to 450MB/s with a USB 3.0 super speed interface and random read/write speeds of up to 8,000 inputs/outputs per second and 21,000 IOPS respectively.
Depending on the file size, the Portable SSD T1 has a data transfer speed four times faster than an external HDD. It takes only eight seconds to transfer a 3GB movie file and 27 seconds for a 10GB movie file compared with an external HDD, which takes 26 seconds and 85 seconds respectively.
The Portable SSD T1 comes with a three-year limited warranty, and is available in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB models with a starting price of £154.79.
SUHD televisions
Samsung revealed a new standard in UHD content, which aims to elevate the viewing experience in its new range of TVs.
The SUHD standard aims to offer a better colour quality in TV displays and Samsung claims it to be the most colour efficient available.
"For the most accurate colour display, we achieve this from a combination of hardware and software to make TV look as good as on the big screen," said Samsung.
SUHD is a proprietary nano-crystal technology, which uses an engine to remaster picture quality. Samsung will use it to improve curved TV products.
Internet of Things funding Samsung chief executive BK Yoon used CES 2015 to promise more than $100m in funding for developers and to create an open system to kickstart an Internet of Things (IoT) revolution.
Samsung sold 665 million devices last year, many of which already have internet connectivity. But Yoon promised that by 2017 90 percent of those devices will plug into the IoT ecosystem, and 100 percent in five years.
"I've heard people say they want to create a single operating system for IoT, but these people only work with their own devices," Yoon said in his CES 2015 keynote.
"We can deliver the benefits of IoT only if all sensors can talk to each other. I'm making a promise that our IoT devices and products will be open. We will ensure that others can easily connect to our devices."Galaxy E5 and E7 Samsung went for the mid-range and low-end phone market with the launch of the Galaxy E5 and E7.
Offering 5in and 5.5in screens respectively, they cost a good deal less than Samsung's other large-screen phones.
The Samsung Galaxy E5 and E7 have been announced only for the Indian market at present, but their INR19,300 and INR20,500 prices put them around the £200/$300 mark.
CES 2015: Top 10 announcements from Sony, Samsung, Intel and others
The biggest, best and weirdest announcements at the annual tech frenzy
9. Sony
Sony did not showcase any new mobile devices in Las Vegas, but did unveil new 4K TVs and a smartwatch with a metal strap, and even tapped into its past with a new Walkman.Walkman NW-ZX2 Sony shipped 220 million portable cassette players before the tech became largely obsolete, but the firm has brought the Walkman brand out of retirement.
The new Walkman NW-ZX2 has 128GB of solid state storage, designed to hold music in the high-quality LDAC format, rather than the MP3 format used on many smartphones and tablets.
The storage can be expanded to 256GB with a microSD card, which is likely to be useful as each song in LDAC format takes up to 150MB.
The NW-ZX2 aims to deliver high-quality audio in a portable format, with features that should appeal to audio enthusiasts. Due in spring 2015, the NW-ZX2 will cost an eye-watering £949.
CEO hacked-off at hackers Sony took the opportunity at CES to discuss the impact of the Guardians of Peace hack on its servers and systems.
Chief executive Kazuo Hirai said that he is proud of Sony and its reaction to the incident, and that the company will always strive to protect freedom of speech.
Hirai did not dwell on the details, nor did he name any suspects, despite many suggestions that North Korea was behind the attack.
"Sony, former employees and current employees were the victims of one of the most vicious and malicious cyber attacks in recent history," Hirai said in his keynote speech.
The hack in late 2014 exposed personal details on celebrities, Sony's business partners and members of staff, current and old.
Bravia X90C TV Last year's CES saw a bevy of 4K ultra high resolution TVs and this year Sony revealed the latest 4K TV additions to the Bravia line, the 71in X90C taking centre stage.
Featuring a Floating Style form factor, the X90C is thinner than Sony's Xperia Z3 smartphone, allowing it to sit flush against a wall.
Despite its thin frame, the TV manages to squeeze in the Android TV operating system powered by Sony's 4K Processor X1, a chip that Sony says delivers 4K pictures by "evolving greater clarity, brilliant colour and high contrast" with any input.
The X90C displays images in 3840x2160 resolution, and has PlayStation Now functionality enabling PlayStation 3 games to be streamed to the TV via the cloud service.SmartEyeglass Clearly not keen to remain corralled in the smartwatch area of wearable technology, Sony also showcased its take on smart glasses.
Ready for developers, Sony’s SmartEyeglass takes the step into augmented reality made by Google Glass and builds on it. However, unlike Google Glass, the display is projected in front of both eyes to prevent any jarring visual crossover.
Control of the interface is delivered via a small puck-shaped unit with a couple of buttons and an area to rest the thumb.
Developers are being offered the SmartEyeglass software development kit so that they can explore the potential of the wearable display, from navigation instructions to augmented reality games.Smartwatch 3 Stainless Steel Sony did little to update the third generation of its smartwatch, but it did add the option of a stainless steel strap.
The watch was first released with a rubber strap, making it suitable for sport and running, but the metal strap gives the Smartwatch 3 a premium finish more like traditional watches.
The Smartwatch 3's module is easily detached from its strap, so fans of wearable technology will soon have the option to swap straps to suit the situation.
Keen wearable technology spotters could argue that Sony's addition of a metal strap is an answer to the premium and yet-to-be-released Apple Watch.
CES 2015: Top 10 announcements from Sony, Samsung, Intel and others
The biggest, best and weirdest announcements at the annual tech frenzy
8. Car tech goes auto
Driverless cars and autonomous systems were the running theme for the car tech showcased at CES 2015 as major car brands demonstrated their take on technology that assists or even replaces the driver.
Most eye-catching of all the vehicles on display was Mercedes' driverless car, the F 015 Luxury in Motion (pictured). The concept car is not likely ever to be seen on the road, but indicated Mercedes' intention to develop autonomous car systems.
The car was stuffed full of digital displays controlled via touch, gesture and even eye-tracking.
BMW demonstrated how automated systems can make life easier and safer for motorists. A BMW i3 equipped with the carmaker's ActiveAssist system showed how the technology can prevent the car hitting obstacles, no matter how hard attendees at CES tried.
The ActiveAssist system uses multiple laser sensors to detect when a driver is at risk, and overrides the accelerator input and applies the brakes, in some cases avoiding crashes by mere inches.
BMW and Volkswagen showed off driverless systems that allow cars to park themselves and be summoned remotely from parking spaces to their drivers' location.
Audi decided to show off the maturity of its driverless systems by having an A7 Sportback saloon drive itself along 550 miles of US highway between San Francisco and Las Vegas.
Audi's Piloted Driving system bridges the gap between cruise control and fully autonomous driving by allowing a car to navigate open roads without driver input, handing control back to the driver when it approaches urban areas.
Other car tech was also on display, including audio technology from Harman that creates individual sound zones for each person in a car, and a platform from Nvidia that aims to put a powerful mobile chip at the heart of future cars.
CES 2015: Top 10 announcements from Sony, Samsung, Intel and others
The biggest, best and weirdest announcements at the annual tech frenzy
7. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon
Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon has been widely regarded as one of the premier business ultrabooks since it launched in 2012, and the firm has usually picked CES to unveil a refreshed version.
This year is no different. The latest ThinkPad X1 Carbon is equipped with Intel's 5th-generation Core processor, which was also officially launched at the show.
This new platform enables the 1.31kg system to offer a claimed battery life of up to 10.9 hours despite its thinner and lighter design compared with previous models.
The carbon fibre construction, from which the model gets its name, also helps to make it more durable, and the 2015 ThinkPad X1 Carbon also benefits from support for optional PCI Express solid state drives for greater performance.
Lenovo also took the opportunity of the launch to mark the milestone of 100 million ThinkPad systems shipped since the brand was introduced by IBM over 20 years ago.
CES 2015: Top 10 announcements from Sony, Samsung, Intel and others
The biggest, best and weirdest announcements at the annual tech frenzy
6. Asus ZenFone 2
Asus may not be the first name that comes to mind when you think of top-end cameraphones, but this may soon change if the ZenFone 2's specifications are anything to go by.
Asus unveiled its first Android 5.0 Lollipop smartphone, the ZenFone 2, at CES 2015 claiming that it will offer imaging performance never before seen in the Android ecosystem.
Featuring a 13MP rear camera with an f/2.0 wide-aperture lens, Optical Image Stabilsation and a 5MP PixelMaster front camera, there's a good chance there may be some truth to this claim.
PixelMaster is a custom technology designed to improve the ZenFone's imaging performance by adjusting the pixel size and image-processing algorithms to "improve low light performance by 400 percent" and "enhance noise reduction and colour contrast by up to 200 percent".
Add to this the ZenFone 2's upgraded camera application, which allows the manual adjustment of settings like ISO and shutter speed, and we can't help but get a little excited about Asus' latest smartphone.
CES 2015: Top 10 announcements from Sony, Samsung, Intel and others
The biggest, best and weirdest announcements at the annual tech frenzy
5. The Lenovo Yoga 3
Lenovo has been innovating in the tablet and PC space since Microsoft first released its touch-focused Windows 8 operating system, creating a diverse range of hybrid 'Yoga' devices.
Designed to be flexible laptops that can convert into a tablet using a custom hinge, the Lenovo machines are the best Windows 8 devices currently available
So we were pleased when Lenovo unveiled its latest Yoga 3 line of laptops at CES 2015. Lenovo's new line offers 14in and 11in display options, and each comes with different internal specifications.
The 14in model is the premium product and is powered by Intel's upcoming 5th-generation Core processor, based on the Broadwell architecture. The smaller 11in laptop uses Intel's less powerful Core M processor.
Considering the huge performance claims made about the latest Broadwell chips, and our previous positive experience using Core M devices, we have high hopes for the new Yogas come their release later this year.
CES 2015: Top 10 announcements from Sony, Samsung, Intel and others
The biggest, best and weirdest announcements at the annual tech frenzy
4. The LG G Flex
Technology companies have been experimenting for quite some time with ways to differentiate their smartphones using display technology. Traditionally the race has seen companies improving the resolution, colour balance and brightness levels.
However, the race took a detour in 2014 as firms, including LG, Samsung and Amazon, began experimenting with new screen shapes and 3D technologies with their respective G Flex, Galaxy Note Edge and Fire Phone handsets.
LG was the first company to build on this legacy in 2015 when it unveiled its second curved screen smartphone, the G Flex 2.
Featuring a 'flexible' 5.5in, 1080p, OLED display which, according to LG, is 30 percent more durable and crack proof than its predecessor, the G Flex 2 is one of the most interesting smartphones to hit the headlines in recent memory.
In a clear move to show the G Flex 2 isn't a gimmick, LG has also loaded the handset with a wealth of top-end components.
These include an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor and Android 5.0 Lollipop mobile operating system, and add up to make LG's latest G Flex 2 one of the most promising handsets to arrive at CES.
CES 2015: Top 10 announcements from Sony, Samsung, Intel and others
The biggest, best and weirdest announcements at the annual tech frenzy
3. Nvidia Tegra X1
Nvidia turned heads on the opening day of CES with its Tegra X1 mobile processor, claiming that it would deliver supercomputer power to fuel the graphics and artificial intelligence capabilities in future cars.
The Tegra X1 sports the same 256-core Maxwell graphics processing architecture found in powerful PC graphics cards, but with an eight-core, 64-bit processor.
Nvidia claims that the Tegra X1 is the world's first mobile supercomputer chip and the most "super energy efficient architecture in the world".
Nvidia co-founder and chief executive Jsen Huang said that the Tegra X1 will be targeted at the automotive industry to provide better graphical interfaces and enable cars to "see and understand what is happening around" them through better processing of data gathered by sensors.
"We believe future cars will be the most advanced computers in the world, with rich displays all round and more computing horsepower than any other systems," he said.
Huang explained that side mirrors could become smart mirrors, complemented by rear seat entertainment and curved sides that could become displays.
"We can imagine curved displays within cars to expand rapidly. The combined resolution inside your car will grow like nothing you've ever seen. We'll become accustomed to rich displays," said Huang.
To enable this vision, Nvidia has developed Drive CX, a platform powered by Maxwell which includes software called Drive Studio to "take computer graphics to whole new levels".
Nvidia said that designers won't have to understand the coding and tech involved in Drive CX, as they can work with Design Studio and translate their vision for the future into something they can easily deploy.
A video below showcases the Tegra X1.
CES 2015: Top 10 announcements from Sony, Samsung, Intel and others
The biggest, best and weirdest announcements at the annual tech frenzy
2. Dell XPS 13
Dell unveiled a band new model in its XPS laptop line-up at CES this week, the XPS 13, which we think is especially unique because it crams a 13.3in screen into an 11in-sized chassis.
Showing off the laptop for the first time at a low-key press briefing on Tuesday, Dell claimed that the XPS 13 is the "smallest 13in notebook in the world" and compared it with the size of a 13in Macbook Air, holding it up side-by-side to show just how much smaller it is.
The XPS 13 is also lightweight for its power at just 1.18kgs. The smaller frame with bigger screen means it feels slightly heavier than you'd expect for an 11in laptop, but considering this is actually a 13.3in device we were especially pleased with its size and weight when having a close-up look in our hands-on.
Its super-thin bezel left us screaming: "Why on Earth didn't they do this before?!"
CES 2015: Top 10 announcements from Sony, Samsung, Intel and others
The biggest, best and weirdest announcements at the annual tech frenzy
1. Intel
Broadwell CPUs
Intel's stand-out announcement at this year's CES was the long-anticipated 5th-generation Core processors based on the Broadwell architecture.
The Core update packs in 35 percent more transistors than the previous 4th-generation Haswell CPU, according to Intel, while also shrinking die size by 37 percent.
The update's biggest draw will be for gamers, as Intel has promised 22 percent better graphics processing owing to two thirds of the die area being dedicated to graphics.
The Haswell successor also touts 50 percent faster video conversion, four percent better productivity, and a 1.5-hour improvement in battery life.
The 5th-gen Core processor family, which is aimed at high-spec laptop and desktop devices, will offer 10 new 15W processors with Intel HD Graphics, and four new 28W products with Intel Iris Graphics. The first systems will arrive in February.
Cherry Trail
In a bid to make Android and Windows tablets slimmer and more powerful, Intel unwrapped the Cherry Trail system on chip (SoC) at this year's CES.
The new 14nm range is the successor to the Bay Trail SoCs, and looks to challenge current offerings from rival ARM by bringing desktop-quality graphics to affordable tablet devices.
Cherry Trail brings HDMI 1.4b for enhanced 3D rendering capability, while easy pairing with Intel's LTE modem range will make mobile data a breeze.
There's also an upgrade for the GPU cores which will double in number, improving the performance of reasonably priced Android and Windows tablets.
Cherry Trail devices will also support the new Intel RealSense technology allowing for gesture control and depth perception.
Curie wearable SoC
Intel also unveiled the Curie at CES, a SoC for wearables that it has touted as the world's smallest wearable computer.
Intel boasts that Curie can go into different types of wearables - including rings, pendants and bags - and that it comes with Bluetooth Low Energy, an accelerometer and gyroscope, a charging circuit and a 32-bit Intel Quark microcontroller.
Intel Curie is scheduled to ship in the second half of 2015.
Diversity
Intel also made an interesting announcement regarding its efforts to boost diversity, revealing that it plans to invest $300m to attract more women and ethnic minorities into its business.