CES last year in Las Vegas, Nevada, last time for a long time, many of us would have talked face to face, exchanging invisible breath drops, manipulating the same germinal gadgets and enjoying food and drinks in windowless restaurants.
This year, due to the ongoing pandemic, the annual CES takes place entirely on our computer screens. The first complete remote launch of the tentpole event in the consumer technology industry begins on Monday, January 11th.
Experiencing CES from afar poses some obvious challenges for those of us who relate to the show. We can’t walk on the almost 3 million square meters of the exhibition space or actually try the new products presented. But we will do our best to provide you with expert analysis of this year’s technology festival, based on a bunch of virtual briefings and decades of collective coverage of CES in the past. So turn on Zoom, stick to your VR headset, and get ready to continue.
Let’s get small
In addition, if you want to check out CES this year, you don’t need to spend money on registration fees, airfare or accommodation. You can watch all your ads and activities in your pajamas.
But without a doubt, this year’s CES is low. The Consumer Technology Association, which hosts CES, says about 1,800 exhibitors will be part of this year’s exhibition. It is less than half of the 4,400 exhibitors who presented the technology last year. The CTA also stressed that, being a fully digital event, “the show will be accessible to audiences around the world,” but declined to say how many people actually signed up for this year’s virtual CES. Last year, about 170,000 people attended in person.
Some technology companies are dropping out of CES this year or leaking product news into their own programs. Amazon will not have an official presence, although you can probably expect to see its voice assistant Alexa appear in hundreds of products. Google, which recently installed massive Google installations at CESes in Las Vegas, says it will host partner meetings, but otherwise it leaves the show. Microsoft President Brad Smith will give a keynote address on technology that is both a weapon and a tool – a particularly relevant topic – but most of the news about Microsoft at CES will be from its PC partners. . Also, Facebook and its Oculus division will not participate. Instead, the company chose to tease its future “smart glasses” in a blog post earlier this week. And most of the focus on Facebook right now is its role in disrupting American democracy.
Samsung and LG Electronics will host virtual press conferences and provide information about their new displays and appliances. But it is worth noting that Samsung is organizing the annual launch of the Galaxy phone on January 14 –during CES, but not part of CES. We will also be closely following Monday’s press conferences with Intel and Sony. And some of the biggest attractions include discussions from CEOs of General Motors, Verizon and AMD.
Look, but don’t touch
So what new technology Vol see you practically next week? There are some interesting things going on in TV territory, says Parker Hall of WIRED. The most amazing TV I saw before the conference is a new 110-inch MicroLED model from Samsung. (MicroLED is a relatively new display technology that uses small, inorganic, three-pixel LEDs and should provide perfect contrast.) Several TV manufacturers are pushing and 8K screens, including Samsung, LG and Sony, as well. and lower-cost kit manufacturers such as TCL and Vizio. And this may seem like a small thing, but many new TVs will ship with updated HDMI 2.1 ports this year – so the new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X game consoles can run at their full 120 Hz potential on displays.