Andrew Heinzman
January is an exciting month for tech, largely due to the annual Consumer Electronics Show that’s held in the dangerous desert of Las Vegas. While this is a good time to get a glimpse into the upcoming year (and beyond!), it’s rare that a manufacturer announces and releases a product during the CES timeframe. If you hate the waiting game, here’s a look at some of the coolest products we saw at CES that are already available.
The PopPower Wireless Charger
We love and respect the PopSocket, along with the many PopSocket knockoffs and remixes that are on store shelves. But we can’t pretend that everything’s hunky-dory. PopSockets, in all their glory, actually prevent wireless charging. Well, until now.
There are clearly some galaxy-brain geniuses working at the PopSocket company. To get around the PopSocket wireless charging dilemma, the company invented a donut-shaped wireless charger called the PopPower Home. It’s a little expensive, but hey, progress ain’t free.
The Modular Insta360 Action Camera
Shopping for an action camera is harder than it should be. You’ve got your standard 4K action cameras and your 360 action cameras—and that’s it. But what if you could have it both ways?
That’s the idea behind the Insta360 One R. It’s a modular action camera that’s composed of small building blocks, including interchangeable lenses. There’s a standard 4K lens, a 360 lens, and even a Leica 5.3K wide-angle lens. For a camera that’s only about 3 inches long, the Insta360 One R’s capabilities are pretty incredible, and it starts at just $300.
The Affordable Wacom One Pen Display
Wacom is a leader in digital art hardware, but the company has faced stiff competition in the last few years. Even the iPad is encroaching on Wacom’s popularity, as its robust digital art apps and accessories are often more convenient (and cheaper) than traditional desktop drawing tools.
But Wacom is holding firm. At CES 2020, the company unveiled its $400 Wacom One Pen Display. $400 certainly ain’t cheap, but it’s an amazing price for a drawing tablet of this caliber. The Wacom One has a 13.3-inch 1080p display (bigger than the iPad Pro), with a 26ms latency and pressure sensitivity at up to 60-degree angles. It’s sold with a battery-free stylus (and interchangeable nibs), and it’s compatible with Windows and Android devices—including some Android phones.
The Muse S Headband Puts You to Sleep
Muse, a company that’s sold brain-sensing headbands since 2013, unveiled its fancy new Muse S headband at CES 2020. Like the old Muse 2 (which looks like something out of a black-mirror episode), the Muse S gives you real-time feedback on your meditation by monitoring your heart rate and brain waves. But unlike the Muse 2, the Muse S is made of a breathable fabric, and it features some “Go-to-Sleep Journeys”—guided meditations and soundscapes that cradle you into a deep slumber.
At $350, the Muse S is an expensive offering. But it’s one of the best health and wellness products of CES 2020, especially if you want to gain insight into your meditation (or fall asleep without a cocktail of melatonin and beer).
The Marseille mClassic Upscaler for Retro Gamers
Modern HD and 4K TVs boost low-resolution video through a process called upscaling. That’s why a PS2 can run full-screen video on a 4K TV—the TV uses algorithms to paint in missing pixels and expand the image. But as you’re probably well aware, upscaling can make retro games look like crap. And that’s where the Marseille mClassic comes in.
The Marseille mClassic is an external upscaling unit that’s built specifically for retro games with 480p or 720p resolutions, including the Wii. It upscales video to 1080p or 4K, and even has an option called “retro” mode that retains the aspect ratio of old games while still upscaling the content.
The Edgeless Dell XPS 13
The Dell XPS 13 is already one of the best Windows laptops on the market. It looks and acts like a premium, almost futuristic machine. But if you’ve had your eyes on the XPS 13, then you may want to save up for the new 2020 model, which was unveiled earlier this month at CES 2020.
Dell’s new XPS 13 ditches the bottom bezel for a totally edgeless look (and a new 16:10 aspect ratio). It’s thinner than last year’s XPS 13, yet it also has a larger keyboard and trackpad than previous models. Naturally, it uses Intel’s newest 10th gen processors, and it sports a pair of DisplayPort-compatible USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports.
The new XPS 13 is sold as a laptop or a 2-in-1, with a variety of different configuration options (including a 4K HDR display).
Epson’s Smart Mini Laser Projector
Every year, the CES showroom floor is filled to the gills with fancy new TVs. But we ought to show some love to projectors, which are growing more powerful and cheaper every year.
The new Epson EP-100 is a stellar example of where projectors are heading. It’s a small 1080p laser projector that’s packed with powerful color and keystone technology, so your image will always look straight, color-accurate, and distortion-free. It runs Android TV (so it’s technically a smart projector), and it pushes out 2,000 lumens of brightness, so you can actually use it during the daytime.
There were hundreds of thousands of new gadgets announced at CES, so this is far, far from a definitive list. It’s just a look at some of the stuff we thought was cool that also has the upside of being available now. I mean, who doesn’t need a new projector, laptop, and wireless charger?
Yeah, that’s what we thought.
