In recent years, LG has rolled into every CES with an update to its Gram series of super thin and light laptops. And each time, I delight in seeing how hard (or easy) it is to squeeze in a quick arm workout on the showfloor with the newest version. This year at CES 2024, the company is launching a pair of Pro models that feature upgraded OLED panels that support touch input and variable refresh rates. They also come with Intel's Meteor Lake processors and up to NVIDIA's RTX 3070 graphics cards. 

This generation of LG's Gram Pros come in 16- and 17-inch models, with OLED and IPS display options to choose from. The company also upgraded its stylus so it recharges when magnetically attached to the laptops. The stylus available at the showfloor was not working, so I wasn't able to see if its slimmer body affected the writing experience at all. Plus, the sample model of the Gram Pro 2-in-1 also stuttered every now and then when changing the screen's orientation as I flipped it between landscape and portrait modes.

Cherlynn Low for Engadget

I'm willing to chalk that up to the units running pre-production software, which is also why I didn't get to check out the software features that LG is rolling out with these laptops, either. For one thing, the Gram Pros' processors are equipped with Intel's AI Boost, which is supposed to help the machines perform AI tasks more quickly. LG is also offering its Link software that can let you use Windows, Android and even iOS devices as companion secondary displays to the Grams. Neither of these features were shown off at the CES 2024 demo area, though. 

What I did get to check out in person is the build, which an LG representative told me is more durable than before. It uses a nano-magnesium alloy, and impressively houses a dual-fan cooling system. For a system that contains that hardware, and includes two USB-A, two USB-C and an HDMI port (along with a headphone jack), the 17-inch Gram Pro that I picked up was surprisingly sleek. It has a contoured edge that is thicker at the port end and tapers off to a strikingly sharp end. 

Photo by Cherlynn Low / Engadget

The 2-in-1, which only comes in a 16-inch size, has won a Guinness World Record for "lightest 16-inch 2-in-1 laptop." It weighs 3 pounds, which made it not at all challenging for the bicep curls and shoulder presses I was doing with it. But that also means it won't add too much to your load when you're on the go. 

We've had concerns with the Gram laptops' build quality in the past, as they've been so thin that their chasses have exhibited flex. This year's model is similarly sleek, with a profile measuring 12.4mm, and it has a nano-magnesium frame like the non-2-in-1 version. The unit I checked out certainly felt a little stronger than those I've seen in previous years, but I can't give you specifics since I wasn't trying hard to break it. 

You can choose between OLED or IPS panels, with the former offering a variable refresh rate between 48 and 120Hz and the latter stretching that range to 31Hz and 140Hz. The Gram Pro series will be available in February and start at $1,499. For more details on what's new with the 2024 Gram Pro laptops, check out our news post here.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Mui is no stranger to CES — the company's first wooden smart home control board was shown off way back in 2019, and the company has been working on a second generation model for at least a year now. But, finally, it looks like the new Mui Board will be something you can order, and hopefully get before the end of 2024.

Like the original, the new Mui Board is a wooden, touch-sensitive surface that lets you control smart devices around your home. When it's not in use, it looks like a minimalist little wooden ledge, but when you tap it, the display lights up. It's kind of like a classier, less obtrusive version of a Nest Hub. The smart home controls apply, like adjusting thermostats, turning lights on, locking doors, starting the charger for your electric car and more. Perhaps the most significant change with this new board is that it works with Matter, the smart home standard that may have broad enough support to finally be successful. So while it's a little early to say exactly how that'll affect its usefulness, chances are good it'll be a lot more compatible with your smart home than the original was. 

Despite the fact that the second-generation Mui Board has been in the works for a while, the company says it won't be shipping until the end of 2024. But a Kickstarter campaign for the device opens up on the morning of January 8, with the Board sporting a $499 price tag. Mui's latest feels like a classic CES product from a small company, something with a nice design and intriguing features that is far from guaranteed to be something that makes sense for many people. But if Mui can make its utility can match its whimsy (c'mon, look at these adorable pixelated animals enjoying the forest!), it might be worth having in your home.

Photo by Nathan Ingraham / Engadget

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

The annual Consumer Technology Association (CES) trade show is nearly upon us, having already turned Las Vegas into a high-tech wonderland. Sony’s holding a press conference the day before CES 2024 exhibitions open, on January 8 at 8PM EST. You can stream it live via Sony Square or on the company’s YouTube channel.

What we expect

Sony is being particularly cagey about what it has in store, saying it will “showcase various technologies and initiatives that support creators.” An official company press release also says Sony’s purpose here is to “fill the world with emotion, through the power of creativity and technology.”

There was a holding image on Sony’s website that seemed to indicate that the presser would focus on technology involving movie production, professional sound and VR. Those three together could certainly, uh, fill the world with emotion. The original teaser image showed the Ghostbusters logo, a man singing into a microphone and a film crew. However, Sony replaced this image with a simple visual showing a bunch of nondescript circles.

While we don’t know what Sony will focus on, we have some ideas of what the company is likely to avoid. Last year, Sony didn’t mention TVs at all, saving that for an event in March. It’s possible we’ll get something PlayStation related, but with the recent launch of the PS5 Slim and the befuddling PlayStation Portal, don’t hold your breath.

We could, however, get some game announcements for the PSVR2. Sony revealed a VR Gran Turismo 7 update at last year’s press conference. It’s also possible that Sony will announce some home theater products to go along with that whole “creativity and technology” thing.

Sony likes to use CES to reveal experimental tech that may or may ever see an actual release. Last year we got the Afeela EV concept vehicle, a partnership with Honda, so who knows what wacky tech will take center stage this year. Sony also revealed a truly innovative kit for PS5 controllers to help players with disabilities during 2023’s event.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Withings has a knack for turning up at CES with a gizmo that garners plenty of attention in the health-tech space. This year, at CES 2024, it’s showing off something called the BeamO, an all-in-one diagnostic tool that follows in the footsteps of its existing contact-free thermometer. Dubbed a “multiscope,” the $250 device will tell you how warm (or not) you’re feeling, measure your blood oxygenation, run a one-lead ECG and even act as a digital stethoscope. Put this to your chest and you can listen to the sounds your chest is making, or send the file to your physician for further analysis.

As much as Withings markets its products to the worried well, the company says this may have some real impact in the telemedicine space. After all, these sorts of basic tests are the ones you’ll experience most of the times you visit a doctor, but aren’t that easy to do online. (Especially given the dangers of self-reporting, the ability for a professional to hear what’s going on in the chest cavity seems key.) The company adds that, pending the usual long delay with the FDA, BeamO will also be able to detect atrial fibrillation.

Once it has won its numerous approvals, it’ll be interesting to see if BeamO — silly name aside — will be seen as valuable by telehealth professionals. Certainly, paired with its class-leading Health Mate app, it’ll offer users an easy way to look at all of this data. We’ll just have to see if this helps doctors feel the same way, or if they’ll roll their eyes and stick to what they know. We’ll find out more when the device begins shipping in June.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Kia is returning to CES for the first time in five years and the company is set to take center stage for a spell by hosting a press conference. You'll be able to watch all the Kia CES announcements on January 8 at 6PM ET by visiting its website.

What to expect

The company says it will offer interested parties a closer peek at several of its concept models including the EV3 and EV4, as well as the EV9 and EV6 GT. Kia is also promising a look at its first so-called "platform beyond vehicle" (PBV) that's scheduled for mass production in 2025.

Kia describes PBV as a mobility solution that blends "fit-for-purpose EVs with advanced software solutions that will open the door to new businesses and lifestyles." To that end, the automaker will talk through some PBV tech, "its software-defined vehicle strategy" and partnership plans.

The brand has been teasing out some of its EV ambitions over the last year or so. For instance, we test drove the EV9 concept, which has seven seats and a large cargo space. In October, Kia offered more details on the EV3, EV4 and EV5 before providing a closer look at the first two of those the following month. It seems like it won't be too long before the public can get behind the wheel of at least one of these vehicles.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

The theremin isn’t an instrument known for being easy to learn or budget-friendly, but it is cool as hell — and a new synth from Dubreq could be a good starting point for anyone wanting to dip their toes into the theremin experience. The Stylophone Theremin is the latest addition to Dubreq’s family of synths, and much like the classic contactless instrument, it has an antenna that responds to movement to create experimental sounds. It’ll cost about $110 when it becomes available, and the company has started taking signups for pre-orders on its website.

The Stylophone Theremin isn’t a straight-up theremin but a synth that uses an element of the design. It has a single antenna to control pitch only, rather than the usual two (one for pitch and one for volume). It’s battery-powered and portable, and has a built-in speaker and headphone/amp out. There’s no word yet on when exactly it’ll be released, but if you sign up for the pre-order, you’ll be sent a link when it goes live.

Xreal, formerly Nreal, hosted one of the busiest booths at CES in recent years, so it's no surprise that the company is back with new AR glasses for this year's show — especially given the much anticipated launch of Apple's Vision Pro. Following the Nreal Light from 2019, the brand new Xreal Air 2 Ultra finally brings back 6DoF (six degrees of freedom) spatial tracking and hand tracking, along with a wider 52-degree FOV (field of view) and a 42-pixel-per-degree sharpness within an 80-gram titanium package. The firm goes as far as claiming that these specs make the $699 Air 2 Ultra a compelling alternative to the $3,499 Vision Pro. 

Unlike the standalone mixed reality headsets, the Air 2 series of glasses need to be powered by an external computing unit, such as a smartphone, a computer or Xreal's Beam module, via USB-C. While the earlier Air 2 Pro and Air 2 were positioned more as personal display wearables, the Air 2 Ultra emphasizes on its 6DoF spatial computing capabilities, meaning virtual objects can be mapped to the real world while you walk around. This is powered by the front-facing dual 3D environment sensors, as well as the Qualcomm Snapdragon processors on the Samsung Galaxy S23 or S22, or any Mac that can run Xreal's Nebula launcher. 

If you already own an Xreal Beam, you can also plug the Air 2 Ultra in for a 3DoF experience (read: just simple head tracking) with video playback or console gaming. Oddly enough, the company doesn't plan on supporting more smartphones at the moment, but it is prepping a new custom computing unit to go with the Air 2 Ultra at some point.

Xreal

Like the Pro, the Air 2 Ultra's front layer supports three electrochromic dimming levels for increased immersion (without the need of a physical shield), as well as directional audio technology for improved privacy, and dual microphones for voice interaction. You'll find the same old Sony micro OLED panels with 1080p resolution per eye, a refresh rate of up to 120Hz (90Hz in 3D mode) and brightness of up to 500 nits (250 nits in 3D mode). Xreal added that these glasses can cast a virtual 2D screen "at an equivalent of 154 inches from a distance of 13 feet," and that they are "TÜV Rheinland-certified for Color Accuracy, Eye Comfort, Low Blue Light, and Flicker Free usage."

The $699 Xreal Air 2 Ultra is available for pre-order now, and if you bought an Nreal Light a while back, you're most likely eligible for a $100 discount. That's still not quite as aggressive as the Meta Quest 3's $500 base price, but then again, the Air 2 Ultra is largely aimed at developers for the time being. For one, Xreal's upcoming Unity-based NRSDK 2.2 won't be available until these glasses start shipping in March. Only then will developers be able to leverage the improved hand tracking, hand gesture recognition, spatial anchors, depth mesh and more. That is to say, Xreal will need to win over as many developers as possible to build up its mixed reality ecosystem, before getting consumers' attention at all, if not enterprises — the latter has been the case for HTC, which announced that it was sending VR headsets to the International Space Station back in November.

The holidays are over, but there’s one winter tradition left. CES is back, once again turning Las Vegas into a haven for the tech-obsessed. Samsung is holding its annual CES press conference on January 8 at 2PM PT / 5PM ET, a day before exhibitions officially open. Engadget will have a dozen staffers on the ground at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, and you can follow along from home by watching the livestream on Samsung’s Global Newsroom site or tuning into the YouTube video below.

Samsung is, of course, a big company with its hands in just about every cookie jar, so you may wonder what the press conference will focus on. And you know the answer already. It’s AI. The presser is titled “AI for All: Connectivity in the Age of AI”, which manages to somehow squeeze in the term twice.

What we expect

The event will be led by Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Samsung’s DX (Device eXperience) Division, Jong-Hee Han. Samsung has remained fairly tight-lipped regarding the specifics, instead relying on the overarching theme of “AI for all.” Maybe we’ll get more information on the company’s forthcoming chatbot Gauss, which can write emails, code and, well, you know the rest. It can, however, also upscale low-resolution images, which is pretty neat.

According to The Korea Times, Gauss is set to launch in forthcoming Galaxy S24 devices, so CES 2024 would be a great time to make that official. The S24 line is expected to release in mid-January, so in just about a week or so.

Of course, Samsung is primarily a hardware manufacturer, so it’d be strange if it spends the entire keynote on AI. Last year’s press conference found the company announcing everything from a smart oven with an interior camera to MicroLED and 8K televisions. In any event, we don’t have long to wait.

What Samsung announced

In case you missed Samsung's CES news conference live, here's the tl;dr version: the company unveiled the world's first transparent MicroLED screen — a real showstopper. Samsung also surprised us by bringing back its Ballie robot, which now has a built-in projector and an overall different look. On the hardware-you-can-buy-soon front, we also got new TVs, projectors, an HDMI 2.1 soundbar, a Music Frame speaker to go with the company's Frame TVs (which we also got hands-on with), a smart monitor that works without the need for a PC, and a new interface for its TVs that lets you use your television as a smart home hub.

So far at the show, we've gotten an up-close look at Ballie. Engadget's Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham concluded that, while it sure is cute, it still doesn't do a whole lot.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

The holidays are over, but there’s one winter tradition left. CES is back, once again turning Las Vegas into a haven for the tech-obsessed. Samsung is holding its annual CES press conference on January 8 at 2PM PT / 5PM ET, a day before exhibitions officially open. Engadget will have a dozen staffers on the ground in Las Vegas, and you can follow along from home by watching the livestream on Samsung’s Global Newsroom site.

Samsung is, of course, a big company with its hands in just about every cookie jar, so you may wonder what the press conference will focus on. And you know the answer already. It’s AI. The presser is titled “AI for All: Connectivity in the Age of AI”, which manages to somehow squeeze in the term twice.

What we expect

The event will be led by Vice Chairman, CEO and Head of Samsung’s DX (Device eXperience) Division, Jong-Hee Han. Samsung has remained fairly tight-lipped regarding the specifics, instead relying on the overarching theme of “AI for all.” Maybe we’ll get more information on the company’s forthcoming chatbot Gauss, which can write emails, code and, well, you know the rest. It can, however, also upscale low-resolution images, which is pretty neat.

According to The Korea Times, Gauss is set to launch in forthcoming Galaxy S24 devices, so CES 2024 would be a great time to make that official. The S24 line is expected to release in mid-January, so in just about a week or so.

Of course, Samsung is primarily a hardware manufacturer, so it’d be strange if it spends the entire keynote on AI. Last year’s press conference found the company announcing everything from a smart oven with an interior camera to MicroLED and 8K televisions. In any event, we don’t have long to wait.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

Automaker Hyundai is one of the many companies that are holding a press conference at CES 2024. You'll be able to find out more about some of the brand's intentions starting at 4PM ET on January 8. You can watch the livestream on Hyundai's YouTube channel.

What to expect

Hyundai has already shed some light on what it will be focusing on at CES 2024. The automaker says it will share a blueprint for its vision of a hydrogen-powered energy ecosystem. Among other things, Hyundai will reveal a modular hydrogen toolbox that it says will help forge a clean hydrogen value chain.

It's also looking beyond mobility to make people's everyday lives more comfortable with the help of "human-centered innovations." The company has pledged to share plans regarding software and artificial intelligence related to its theme of "Ease every way."

In addition, Hyundai Mobis (the parts and service supplier for Hyundai, Genesis and Kia) says it will unveil 20 new pieces of mobility tech that are ready to go into mass production. Those include what it claims are the world's first in-vehicle rollable display and swivel display. In addition, it plans to show off a transparent display for cars that uses "holographic optical elements" tech.

We're reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.