The biggest tech show kicks off next week – here’s what to look out for
Your favourite wearable tech, VR or smart home company is probably going to announce something at CES in Las Vegas.
The news will kick off on Monday 4th January with indie startups vying for your attention. Then all the main news comes over the course of Tuesday 5th January and for the rest of the week.
Wareable will be out in force, elbowing European livebloggers out of our way, chatting to the CEOs, founders and designers you want to hear from and, you know, finally learning how to win big at craps.
New Fitbit trackers coming
Fitbit CEO James Park has been dropping big hints about what Fitbit, 2015’s most successful wearable tech company, has in store for 2016: advanced sensors, coaching and fashion partnerships are all on the cards.
It’s very likely we will see new devices land at CES – we haven’t had new wearables since late 2014 and Park will be at the Fitbit press conference. We’ll be there reporting live and Fitbit promises its “exciting news” will “ignite the world of health and fitness in 2016”.
When? 7.30am PST, Tuesday 5th January
Misfit will reveal two new wearables
That’s what Misfit’s CEO Sony Vu told us a few months back. He’s now also chief technology officer of Fossil’s connected devices after it swallowed Misfit whole earlier in 2015.
Vu also hinted that only one of the new Misfit devices will be a fitness tracker and confirmed moves into identification, smart home controls and payments via updates to Shine and Flash wearables. Vu also hinted at further fashion partnerships, so we could see more Swarovski accessories.
When? Probably Tuesday 5th January (official CES Press Day)
Second gen HTC Vive demos
A couple of pictures leaked of the second gen HTC Vive – which was officially announced as coming to CES this month – along with its redesigned controllers. We will be trying out the new Vive set up at CES to let you know what’s new and HTC has also been teasing a big technological breakthrough.
VR took the No.1 spot in our list of 50 wearable tech game changers for 2016 and what HTC and Valve are doing with their PC peripheral is set to blow gamers’ minds when the VR headset lands in April.
When? Wareable’s Vive demo is at 12.30pm PST, Tuesday 5th January
Samsung demos experimental concepts
Just this week we heard about three of Samsung’s wacky C-Lab concepts for new wearables including a motion controller for the Gear VR, a health tracking smart belt and a smartwatch strap that lets you hear audio from your device by pressing your finger to your ear.
We’ll be heading down to try out all three prototypes as Samsung is looking for feedback before turning these into real products. We’re real helpful like that.
When? Samsung’s Eureka Park stand opens on Wednesday 6th January, Samsung’s press conference: 2pm PST, Tuesday 5th January
Huawei set to launch a Watch for women
A smaller, more female-friendly version of the sleek Huawei Watch is set to drop at CES 2016 according to anonymous sources.
The Android Wear watch is one of the more unisex smartwatches on offer but it’s still a big, fairly chunky device – both Motorola and Pebble have since launched smaller, lighter and thinner smartwatches.
When? 10am PST, Tuesday 5th January
Under Armour’s smart scale might show
Remember the rumour about a HTC and Under Armour smart scale? Well, it seems the delayed HTC Grip hasn’t stopped the two companies forging ahead with other health and fitness plans.
We could see the Bluetooth enabled UA Scale make an appearance at CES. It should measure weight and body fat and pair to both smartphones and wearables. If it launches, it won’t be the first smart scale and we could well see other companies moving into this space at CES.
When? Your guess is as good as ours
We’re hoping for VR news from Sony
More of a wish than a solid rumour, we’re hoping for some more VR news out of Sony after it revealed a bunch of super exciting new PlayStation VR games. Top of our wish list is a price and release date for its PS4 compatible VR headset (now that we know Oculus is due Q1 and HTC due Q2).
But we could also see a mobile VR headset from Sony, perhaps restricted to its Xperia smartphones. Stranger things have happened…
When? 5pm PST, Tuesday 5th January
And there’s more
Asus, BlackBerry, Withings, Garmin, Polar, Jawbone, LG, Intel, Motorola – all these tech and wearable tech companies will be at CES 2016 and we’re not sure what wearables or smart home devices to expect just yet. We also have a FashionWare fashion tech catwalk show to look forward to.
And if you’re holding out for something in particular, it’s worth remembering that Apple, Xiaomi and Magic Leap will all be staying away from CES this year.
Keep an eye on our CES news hub for in-depth news, hands on photos and first impressions and interviews all week.
[Wareable]
