[CES 2022] Even if major players have withdrawn, the 2022 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas remains the opportunity to preview the main technological innovations of the year.
Since its creation in the late 1960s, the THOSE has continued to grow in size to become the unmissable global meeting place for high-tech. The winter edition of the Consumer Electronics Show, which is traditionally held in January in Las Vegas, the city of one-upmanship, has thus become over time the showcase where all the technologies of the year are exhibited, the players of “tech” scrambling to preview their upcoming novelties, whether electronic products, digital services or even concepts. Builders, publishers, creators of start-ups, resellers, media and – sometimes – politicians rush there with great communication reinforcements not to miss the great train of innovation. An innovation that does not only concern computers and consumer electronic products such as television, the CES now bringing together all kinds of fields ranging from 5G to artificial intelligence, including connected objects, health, sport, robotics, 3D printing, drones, security and even transport.
However, if the 2019 edition was a great success by bringing together nearly 4,400 exhibitors from some 110 countries, things have turned sour since due to the Covid-19 pandemic, to the point that the show was held in fully dematerialized form, remotely, in 2021, for the first time in its history. 2022 should have marked the big return of CES in standard version, but the meteoric progress of the Omicron variant has changed the situation a few days before the opening. To the point that several major players like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta (ex-Facebook), Twitter, Pinterest and Lenovo gave up at the last minute to come physically, many being satisfied with a “virtual” presence. Despite the serial disaffection which raised fears of an outright cancellation of the event – as was the case in 2021 for the Mobile World Congress, the famous Barcelona trade fair dedicated to telephony and mobility – the organizers maintained the demonstration. But by shortening its duration by one day. In fact, the CES 2022 takes place from January 5 to 7, with some 2,200 confirmed exhibitors. And the appropriate sanitary measures, so as to welcome visitors in good conditions.
As always, the CES constitutes a privileged framework for identifying the main market trends. For the players, it is above all an opportunity to exhibit their products, technologies and innovations, and to make international announcements, especially at major conferences. Some, like Samsung and LG, did not wait for the official opening to unveil new products, just to take full advantage of the resonance chamber that constitutes this show, which is widely covered by the press. Here is a small selection of announcements, which will grow naturally over the days and hours. Note that you can find all the product launches on a dedicated page of the official CES website.
LG Oled: bigger and brighter TVs
A major specialist in Oled – it supplies panels for all the other brands – LG is expanding its range of televisions with two major new products. First, the manufacturer introduces an improved version of its fetish technology, called Oled EX, which promises maximum brightness even that of the Oled Evo presented in 2021, with a gain of up to 30% in some cases. To achieve this, the Korean acted both on the material level, by using deuterium in its panels, and on the software level, by exploiting a new algorithm for a more precise management of the pixels. Another advantage, anecdotal, of the Oled EX, even thinner screen borders, which can be reduced to 4 mm, to practically eliminate the frame and gain in elegance. At the same time as this technological evolution, LG is extending its family of Oled Evo TVs with the C2 and G2 models, available in sizes ranging from 42 to 97 inches, and, above all, equipped with a new version of the A9 in-house processor, whose rise in power doped with artificial intelligence (AI) significantly improves image processing and quality, especially for scaling (upscaling) in 4K or 8K of SD, HD or Full HD content. Support for video games – a great specialty of LG TVs – is also improved with a Game Optimizer mode giving access to specific parameters (VRR, ALLN, 4K 120 Hz, etc.) and to presets adapted to different types of games. In addition, all new LG televisions benefit from a new version of WebOS, the home interface, which now allows the creation of six user profiles and which has an Ambient mode, allowing you to display an animation, a work. artistic, a personal photo or simply the time and weather as a screensaver.
Samsung Eco: a TV remote control that recharges by radio waves
Along with the presentation of its new screens, Samsung created a surprise by unveiling a very special remote control, stamped Eco. Like the model released in 2021, the newcomer has a built-in battery instead of traditional batteries. This accumulator can be recharged at the same time by USB, via a USB-C socket, like many mobile devices, but also via solar collectors, which, according to the manufacturer, can work as well with the sun as with the light. ambient. Above all, and this is the great innovation, this remote control can draw its nourishing energy from radio waves – therefore electromagnetic waves -, in particular from those emitted by Wi-Fi routers and other Internet boxes which now equip all households. . If this principle, which has been dreaming for years, is not sufficient to charge greedy devices such as smartphones, it would seem suitable for accessories requiring very little energy such as remote controls. Admittedly, the savings achieved by this “passive” method may seem negligible on an individual scale – especially since the batteries often last more than a year -, but for Samsung, which puts forward an ecological approach, this nice innovation would avoid the regular disposal of millions of batteries every year across the planet. The Korean manufacturer even indicates that it has explored other avenues, for example by seeking to recover the kinetic energy created when we shake the remote control. A case to follow therefore …
Withings Body Scan: a scale connected with ECG
Well known for its connected scales, the French manufacturer Withings has unveiled a new model, the Body Scan. Much more sophisticated than the previous ones, it presents itself as a “connected health station”, capable of weighing – with an accuracy of 50 g – but also of performing electrocardiograms (ECG) using electrodes by displaying the results on its LCD screen or on the associated application. According to its manufacturer, it would even be able to detect cases of atrial fibrillation, a cardiac arrhythmia responsible for a third of cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) and certain peripheral neuropathies. The Body Scan also has a retractable handle fitted with sensors capable of analyzing and mapping the body composition (muscle mass, fat mass, bone mass, water) by segments (trunk, arms and legs). The Body Scan will in principle be marketed in the second half of 2022 at a price of 300 euros.
Sony Bravia XR: very high-end mini-Led TVs
If Sony has lost its status as an innovator in the field of images, the Japanese manufacturer is a past master in the art of sublimating existing technologies by making the most of certain components. This is particularly the case in the world of televisions, with the long-awaited introduction of two mini-Led models (or Mini LED, depending on the school) in its Bravia family: the Z9J, the brand’s flagship 8K, available in two sizes, 75 and 85 inches and the X95K, “limited” to 4K and available in 65, 75 and 85 inches. Concentrating all the brand’s know-how in image processing, these new, very high-end TVs use a process called XR Backlight Master Drive to precisely control the backlighting of each mini-LED and a Cognitive XR processor responsible for calibrating finely colors and brightness. Remember that the main advantage of mini-Led backlighting technology is that it offers very deep contrasts with an LCD panel, like OLED, while maintaining very high brightness, without fear of the phenomenon of “burning” which may occur with prolonged display of still images in Oled. In addition, Sony claims to have worked carefully to mitigate the two defects of LED LCD panel screens, namely the variations in contrast depending on the viewing angles and the appearance of a halo in certain bright areas (the famous effect of blooming). To be verified in the facts, as the prices, not specified, which should be very high.
Dell XPS Plus: a resolutely premium ultraportable PC
Dell has completely revised the design of its famous high-end ultraportable, the XPS. Equipped with a 13-inch screen with ultra-thin borders, its new flagship model, the XPS 13 Plus, thus benefits from a chassis entirely in aluminum alloy with very clean lines, with an “invisible” touchpad, because it is fully integrated. on the palm rest, a keyboard with enlarged and narrowed keys, and a multifunction touch strip replacing the traditional function keys, like the famous TouchBar of the old Apple MacBooks. As light as the previous model (1.2 kg), this ultra-thin model has an Intel Alder Lake processor (12e generation) which, according to Dell, should be able to perform at its maximum capacity thanks to an improved and silent ventilation system.
