The holidays might be ending, but Christmas in January for the tech obsessed is about to be in full swing starting January 7th. We’re talking about the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) happening in Las Vegas. CES is one of the biggest tech trade shows and has been the highlight of every tech lover’s new year since 1967. Thousands of companies from around the world gather to unveil their new gadgets and gizmos.
This year, we’re making our own predictions about the game-changing technology that those companies will be unveiling. Here are three things we’re excited to see at CES 2020.
Give me more 5G
Take the excitement surrounding 5G and triple it. 5G will transform the way we use our smartphones by making it faster to do things like check out a website or watch a YouTube video. And all that VR and AR we’ve been talking about? It is 5G that will help those technologies evolve. This wireless technology is going mainstream in 2020 and we think CES will be all about it. Samsung dipped their toes into the 5G pond in 2019 with the release of the Note 10 5G. Will other companies follow suit in 2020? We think so. Qualcomm CTO, Jim Thompson, said that every high-end phone launched in 2020 will support 5G. We’re going to take Jim’s word for it and prepare to see a surplus of 5G connected phones at CES.
The 5G fun won’t stop there. The roll-out of new devices beyond phones at CES is a given. But we’re betting 5G will be a major component of other new devices including 5G laptops. Just like making our phones better and faster, 5G will do the same with laptops. Accessing your email, browsing a website or downloading the latest app will all happen with the snap of a finger (or less!). Lenovo announced its plan to create a 5G connected computer in 2020. We’re expecting other companies to jump on the 5G bandwagon and unveil laptops with 5G connectivity.
We Need Voice Assistance
The battle of voice-controlled assistants from Amazon, Google, Samsung and others will continue. Since their release, voice-controlled assistants have made our lives easier. They can tell us the weather, control our security systems, turn lights on and off, schedule appointments, and even keep a running grocery list. So, what will 2020’s next wave of improvements bring us? We’re giddy with excitement over the possibilities.
One of the most anticipated panel presentations centers on Samsung’s NEON. We don’t have much to go off of besides what they have posted on their Twitter, but we do know NEON is an “artificial human” that will be unveiled during the panel. We can only guess what artificial human means and Samsung has been super tight-lipped about the reveal. From what we’re gathering from NEON’s social media, an “artificial human” is a realistic computer-generated imagery (CGI) human that users will be able to interact with. NEON also makes it clear through social posts that it is different than Samsung’s current AI assistant, Bixby.
A New and Improved Reality
VR and AR have been two technologies making waves at CES for the past few years. We expect them to continue dominating this year with new ways for consumers to further immerse themselves into a different reality. While we have continued to see new headsets and glasses in past years, this year will be more about how to improve other features of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) beyond vision. Amazing features like haptic feedback is predicted to be huge. Haptic feedback involves wearable vests and sleeves to allow touch sense. Imagine playing a game that immerses you into a jungle. You arrive at a waterfall, reach out and touch it, and can feel the cold water hitting your fingers – that’s haptic feedback! And we are PUMPED for it.
We’re also excited to learn more about Augmented Audio. This is another feature that allows the sensation of touch to be added to audio-visual listening experiences. Think skydiving and being able to hear and feel the wind against your skin. Amazing! For the moment, these technologies are mostly geared towards the entertainment industry but could transform other industries in the very near future.
With thousands of innovators gathering in one place, one thing is for sure – there will be plenty of shiny, new tech gadgets to cause all of us to salivate. Find us on Twitter for the next four days retweeting some of the biggest product unveils from CES 2020. Until then? We impatiently wait.