CES 2023: nine new devices to desire

From the cavernous halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center to various subsidiary display spots located around Wynn Las Vegas, CES 2023 – the latest Consumer Electronics Show – was dispersed across two million square feet and 11 separate venues, not to mention the numerous pop-ups, temporary galleries, and invite-only spaces that arrived in town for just a few short days. Here’s our pick from the deluge of new devices.

BEST OF CES 2023

Icoma Tatamel e-scooter

Japanese brand Icoma’s Tatamel e-scooter is all kinds of adorable. A bike-in-a-box concept, the Tatamel is a compact two-wheeler with a range of around 30 miles and an impressive top speed of 25 mph. Wheels and handlebars fold into the body to create a compact yet hefty box that’s small enough to slot under a desk or in the boot of the most compact car. When folded, the diminutive scooter can be pulled along like a wheely bag and it also doubles as a mobile power source. The ‘box’ can also be fully customised. 

Icoma.co.jp

Project Leonardo by Sony

Up until now, Microsoft has led the way for accessible mainstream tech design. Sony hopes to change all that with the reveal of Project Leonardo, a fully accessible controller for the PlayStation5. Although the device is still in development, Sony hopes it’ll open up its console to those who find the traditional games controller far too limiting. The circular controller is fully customisable, allowing buttons and functions to be entirely user selected and clustered for ease of access.  

PlayStation.com

Lenovo Yoga Book 9i

In amongst a tidal wave of new releases from the Chinese computer maker, the Lenovo Yoga Book 9i stood out. Effectively a dual screen laptop, the 9i has a separate dockable Bluetooth keyboard Smart Pen connectivity, offering up a number of varied use cases, whether you’re using the laptop for communication, coding, or just consuming media like a traditional paper book, ie, reading. The Yoga Book 9i is expected to arrive in early summer 2023. 

Lenovo.com

Skyted Audio Mask

A collaboration between PriestmanGoode, Airbus Development and the European Space Agency, French company Skyted’s concept face mask is a response to every conceivable contemporary anxiety about air travel. For a start, it has N95 grade filtering to keep you and your fellow passengers virus-free. Crucially, it’s also designed to help you speak without causing a disturbance. The catalyst for the mask is forthcoming EU legislation that will allow people to use their phones freely on flights. Skyted surely isn’t alone in having a ‘vision of silent inflight calls’.

Skyted.io

Ring Always Home Cam

The home security drone mash-up you didn’t know you needed, the Ring Always Home Cam takes flight inside your empty house and buzzes about keeping its HD-eye on things. You can set up custom flight paths to check windows and doors, using the existing Ring app to control and save the content; once the patrol is over the drone returns to its charging dock to get ready for the next sortie. With recent stories about personal imagery from Roomba test data ‘accidentally’ ending up online, you’ll need cast-iron trust in this new generation of electronic overlords. If you’re still interested, the Amazon-owned company will soon be selling the device via invitation only through the online megastore. 

Ring.com, available via Amazon

Samsung MicroLED TV

MicroLED technology offers two advantages over other forms of flat screen display. For a start, the microscopic LEDs that make up the pixels have a much lower energy draw and a longer lifespan. They’re also brighter, faster, and with a greater colour depth. Samsung is at the forefront of bringing this once-expensive tech to a much wider market, with models that start at 50in and go all the way up to 140in. 

Samsung.com

Movano Evie ring

The Evie ring is a new smart device from Movano Health designed primarily for women. The discreet ring packs a lot of metric tracking into its compact form, including temperature, resting heart rate, step and activity tracking, sleep data and menstrual cycle tracking. The key to all such devices is the quality and coherence of their app, as well as the advice and information gleaned from the data. Evie launches in 2023; Movano is stressing that the device will thrive on difference, helping to tailor health goals to each and every user. 

EvieRing.com

Loona Petbot

Practical robotic pets have felt on the edge of practicality for decades, with occasional hits like Sony’s Aibo and plenty of toy-like knock-offs. The Loona Petbot is the latest unfurry friend to be revealed, designed to safeguard your home, give you peace of mind and tug at your emotions at the same time. The diminutive, wheeled machine conveys what it’s ‘feeling’ through an animated face and mechanical ‘ears’ that allow the Petbot to offer ‘over 700 expressions’. Doubling as a petcam-stroke-patrolbot, you can operate Petbot remotely from your phone, with microphones, facial recognition, and 3D environment mapping all tucked away beneath the cute outer skin. 

Available via IndieGoGo.com

Chrysler Synthesis Cockpit

Whilst other companies (BMW, Sony) displayed whole cars, Chrysler preferred to break down its auto tech into a concept interior. The Synthesis Cockpit showcases a mix of new materials and new technologies, with the former placing an emphasis on recycled yet still premium-feeling surfaces like the ‘recycled mélange heather instrument panel’ and ‘textile-infused walnut flooring’. As you might expect from a vision without an obvious steering wheel, the concept imagines a world where Stellantis’s STLA AutoDrive system is up and running to provide Level 3 autonomous driving. Changing driving modes are on hand to reflect the level of driver focus required. 

Chrysler.com

For more from CES 2023, see our reviews of automotive innovations, the Afeela EV prototype, from a  new brand born of a partnership between Sony and Honda Mobility, and the candy-coloured BMW i Vision Dee concept, swathed in E Ink panels.