IFA: Top 10 products, from Samsung Gear S2 and Moto 360 to Xperia Z5 Premium
A round-up of the best devices from the annual gadget fest in Berlin
The annual IFA trade show in Berlin is always a good time for device manufacturers to show off their latest wares as the Christmas season approaches, and everything from laptops to smartwatches and washing machines is on the agenda.
V3 was in the German capital to see what the great and the good of the tech world had up their sleeves, and has put together a top 10 of what we think were the biggest announcements from the show.
Let us know what you like the look of in the comments box below.
10. Huawei Watch
Smartwatches continue to be the all the rage in the wearables market, if those on display at IFA are to be taken as an industry measuring stick.
And wading into this arena is Huawei with its take on the smartwatch. Not dissimilar to the Moto 360, the Huawei Watch features a circular design like traditional analogue watches that some people may still recall and even sport on their wrists.
Running Android Wear, Google's reimagining of its smartphone operating system for wearable devices, the Watch comes pre-loaded with 40 watch faces for people with New York Minute attention spans.
These faces are displayed on a 1.4in AMOLED display at a resolution of 400x400 and with a 286ppi, giving it the highest pixel density of any smartwatch to date.
Huawei boasted that it is the slimmest smartwatch on the market at 11.3mm supporting a diameter of 42mm.
A Qualcomm 1.2GHz processor and 512MB of RAM power the watch, while 4GB of storage helps support Android Wear apps.
To protect its innards the Watch has scratch resistant glass and a cold-forged stainless steel unibody design. Battery life appears to be an Apple Watch-beating 1.5 days and it can charge to full in 75 minutes if Huawei it to be believed.
The Huawei Watch is likely to be a rival for the Samsung Gear S2, also revealed at IFA.
IFA: Top 10 products, from Samsung Gear S2 and Moto 360 to Xperia Z5 Premium
A round-up of the best devices from the annual gadget fest in Berlin
9. Lenovo updates ThinkPad range
Lenovo used the IFA trade show to unveil some new business-oriented devices, as well as consumer ones (more on them later).
This included new ThinkPad E-Series models, available in 14in and 15.6in versions, with the latest Intel or AMD processors. These will be available from December starting at €500 (£370).
The ThinkPad E460 and E560 are Intel-based models, powered by the 6th generation Core processors up to a Core i7 6500U with up to 16GB memory and storage options including a 1TB hard drive or 192GB SSD. They also feature AMD Radeon discrete graphics hardware for improved performance.
Their counterparts are the ThinkPad E465 and E565, which are based on the latest Carrizo generation of AMD's processors up to the FX-8800P. The AMD versions are comparable with the Intel-based ones, with up to 16GB memory, the same storage options and AMD Radeon discrete graphics hardware.
IFA: Top 10 products, from Samsung Gear S2 and Moto 360 to Xperia Z5 Premium
A round-up of the best devices from the annual gadget fest in Berlin
8. Intel delivers Skylake 6th generation Core processor family
OK, not a device per se, but a new generation of Core chips from Intel is always big news, especially when it ushers in a new microarchitecture as the Skylake family does, making it a 'tock' in Intel's 'tick-tock' development model.
As the 6th generation of Intel's Core processor portfolio, the new chips are claimed to enable up to 2.5 times the performance and up to three times the battery life of older generations of PC hardware.
A pair of Skylake chips were sneaked out last month, but this week saw the main wave: the Skylake-U aimed at thin-and light laptops; Skylake-H for high performance systems; and Skylake-S which brings "desktop performance" to value-level systems, all-in-ones and mini PCs.
There is also Skylake-Y, which ushers in the Core m7, m5 and m3 mobile chips for tablets, 2-in-1 systems and Intel's Compute Stick.
The new family brings a slew of improvements, including DDR4 memory enhanced Intel HD graphics, support for high-speed PCI Express storage via Intel's Rapid Storage Technology, and capabilities to support new features in Windows 10.
Elsewhere at IFA, vendors lined up to announce new thin and light systems based on the Skylake chips.
IFA: Top 10 products, from Samsung Gear S2 and Moto 360 to Xperia Z5 Premium
A round-up of the best devices from the annual gadget fest in Berlin
7. Toshiba Satellite Radius 12
Boasting a 12.5in 4K HD display, running Windows 10 and powered by Intel Skylake processors, the Toshiba Satellite Radius 12 was definitely one of the most noteworthy devices at this year's IFA.
The screen has a resolution of 3840x2160 and 362ppi, four times the pixels of a Full HD display. The screen is made of Corning Gorilla Glass NBT reinforcement material, which should provide high levels of damage resistance and protection.
The device has a 360-degree hinge and can be set up in five different modes: laptop, tablet, tabletop, presentation and audience. It weighs 1.32kg and is 15.4mm thick, which the company said makes it ideal for on-the-go workers. The overall dimensions are 299.5x209x15.4mm.
It will be launched in the fourth quarter of this year, although pricing and specific availability dates were not released.
IFA: Top 10 products, from Samsung Gear S2 and Moto 360 to Xperia Z5 Premium
A round-up of the best devices from the annual gadget fest in Berlin
6. Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 700 could rival Microsoft's Surface device
Microsoft has largely shown the way with desirable Windows-based touchscreen tablet devices thanks to the Surface family designed to offer the advantages of a tablet but to replace a laptop for professional users.
One device that could prove a strong challenger is Lenovo's IdeaPad Miix 700, a 12in tablet based on Intel's Skylake 6th generation Core processors, which comes with a keyboard folio, kickstand and optional Intel RealSense Camera for Windows 10.
Sadly not due to be available until January, the IdeaPad Miix 700 weighs 780g and boasts a touchscreen with a 2160x1440 resolution, 8GB memory and a 256GB SSD. It is expected to go on sale for €999 (£737) when it does ship.
The IdeaPad Miix 700 was unveiled along with a wave of new systems from Lenovo, including new ThinkPad models.
IFA: Top 10 products, from Samsung Gear S2 and Moto 360 to Xperia Z5 Premium
A round-up of the best devices from the annual gadget fest in Berlin
5. Huawei Mate S
Huawei refreshed its smartphone line up with the Huawei Mate S and the mid-range Huawei G8. It's the former we're most interested in, a 5.5in, all-metal premium handset with an integrated rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.
The screen on the highest-spec 128GB model can also detect variable force. Gradually pressing harder in the image gallery app, for instance, will zoom in on an image, while softening the press will zoom back out.
The Mate S also borrows a few features from the Honor 7 from Huawei offshoot Honor. Namely, the fingerprint sensor doubles as a controller. Swiping the little pad will perform similar functions to swiping the screen, such as swiping down to open the notifications menu. Both smartphones also share the same octa-core Kirin 935 chipset and Emotion UI 3.1 Android skin, although the Mate S runs the latest Android 5.1 Lollipop version.
The flipside to these shared specs is that the Mate S has yet to prove it can seriously outperform the middleweight Honor 7, which it will need to do to avoid redundancy and to compete with other 5in+ handsets like the iPhone 6 Plus. We'll find out when the Mate S launches in September.
IFA: Top 10 products, from Samsung Gear S2 and Moto 360 to Xperia Z5 Premium
A round-up of the best devices from the annual gadget fest in Berlin
4. Acer Revo Build Mini PC
Acer became the first company to reveal a ‘build-it-yourself' PC tower at this year's IFA, seemingly taking tips from Google's Project Ara modular smartphone.
The pint-sized Acer Revo Build Series takes a modular approach to a tower PC, allowing buyers to customise the computer without opening the chassis. The tower is split into 'Blocks' so that different features - such as HDDs, wireless charging docks for smartphones, processors, discrete graphics, etc - can be easily stacked on top of the base unit. These are connected through pogo pins with magnetic alignment so there's no wires involved when swapping modules.
The Revo Build M1-601 desktop is packaged in a 1 litre chassis with a 125x125mm footprint that takes up less space. The base unit comes with an Intel Pentium or Celeron processor with integrated HD graphics, while the system memory of up to 8GB DDR4 RAM can be upgraded by loosening just one screw.
IFA: Top 10 products, from Samsung Gear S2 and Moto 360 to Xperia Z5 Premium
A round-up of the best devices from the annual gadget fest in Berlin
3. Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
Sony claimed a record at this year's IFA with the first 4K-screened smartphone in the form of the Xperia Z5 Premium.
Unveiled alongside the standard Z5 and Z5 Compact, the Premium version has an eye-popping 5.5in 3840x2160 resolution display, trumping the iPhone and Galaxy S6 with a pixel density of 806ppi and Triluminous TV screen technology.
This screen is powered by the same 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor seen inside the Xperia Z3+ and Sony promises upgrades in performance and battery life, despite the handset's improved screen resolution. The Xperia Z5 is expected to last two days on a single charge.
Getting one up one on the standard Xperia Z5 mode, the Xperia Z5 Premium features a larger 32GB internal memory and the ability to take a 200GB external microSD card for all those 4K videos and images.
IFA: Top 10 products, from Samsung Gear S2 and Moto 360 to Xperia Z5 Premium
A round-up of the best devices from the annual gadget fest in Berlin
2. Moto 360 2
Lenovo-owned Motorola announced the second-generation Moto 360 2 during a IFA press conference on Wednesday, ending months of speculation surrounding the device.
Much like its predecessor, and the new Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch, the Moto 360 2 features a round face in two sizes to suit different wrists.
The Moto 360 2 offers a number of different strap options too, and can be customised via Motorola's Moto Maker tool with over 300 combinations to choose from. It is IP67 certified, making it resistant to dust and water.
The Moto 360 improves on last year's model with support for iOS and Android, thanks to the newest update to Google's Android Wear OS.
It has an upgraded 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, WiFi and a bigger battery than its predecessor that Motorola promises will last two days on a single charge.
The firm also unveiled a Sport edition (below) equipped with GPS so that movement and data can be tracked without having to use a smartphone, a feature the Apple Watch lacks.
IFA: Top 10 products, from Samsung Gear S2 and Moto 360 to Xperia Z5 Premium
A round-up of the best devices from the annual gadget fest in Berlin
1. Samsung Gear S
The new Samsung smartwatch line hasn't just been given a circular design for fashion reasons. The rotatable bezel, like that of a traditional timepiece, offers an excellent alternative to the usual touch controls.
Giving it a spin will flick through menus, articles and albums much faster and more cleanly than repeatedly jabbing at the screen with a finger. The bezel is complemented by smartphone-style Home and Back buttons on the side of the case.
There will be three editions to choose from when they appear in October: the standard Gear S2; the more formal Gear S2 Classic; and the Gear S2 3G, which looks like the standard model but integrates an e-SIM card.
This allows it to go online and send or receive messages without being tethered to a smartphone. None of them are quite as thin as the Apple Watch, but the Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic we tried out at Samsung's press event were perfectly light and comfortable.
The Gear S2 family's success will partly depend on the Tizen OS gaining more compatible apps, but if it can these Samsung devices will give Apple quite the fight.