CIOInsider India Magazine

The giant trades show CES Innovation 2024 has taken over Las Vegas with the latest innovations in tech. The theme technology with sustainability promises to drive the best sustainable and affordable mobility ideas the industry has to offer. The world should get ready to embrace the sustainable electrified future with mobility innovations that are variously wearable, pocketable, audible, mobile, and assembly table. Here are the highlights of CES 2024.

Samsung Flex In & Out Flip Concept Phone
Samsung seems to be thinking about the future of its clamshell-style lineup. The company's new Flex In & Out phone concept is similar to the Galaxy Z Flip 5, except we can fold it in either direction. It can be unfolded, closed, and folded back to turn the screen into an external display.

Asus ROG Phone 8
The Asus ROG series is a series of smartphones designed for gamers. The latest model, the Asus ROG Phone 8, once again comes with the high-end specs we've come to expect from this range. The 6.78-inch phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and offers a 24GB RAM and 1TB storage option in the Pro model for those who want the extra juice.

This phone has an ultra-fast 165Hz refresh rate and a 5500mAh battery that supports 65W fast charging to make gaming as smooth as possible. Given its audience, the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro still puts a lot of emphasis on how the phone works horizontally for gaming, including sensors that can act as shoulder buttons. Apart from the gameplay, this phone also has some AI-based features like semantic search and noise cancellation. The Asus ROG Phone 8 starts at $1,100 and is expected to launch in the US in the first quarter of this year.

TCL 50 XL NxtPaper 5G
The TCL 50 XL NxtPaper 5G is a smartphone designed to be kinder to our eyes. It has a 6.8-inch display that uses reflective screen technology similar to e-paper displays. The company claims it filters out blue light by up to 61 percent. The display has a normal display for general use, a low-contrast color paper mode for comics, and a black-and-white mode that feels more like an e-reader. The graduated model, the TCL 50 XE NxtPaper 5G, also comes with a smaller 6.6-inch display.

While the technology isn't new to its phone (the company launched two phones with it last year), TCL's first NxtPaper phones for the US market are being launched as part of the wider TCL 50 range of phones.

Rabbit R1 AI Device
The Rabbit r1 acts like a personal assistant, taking some of what you might expect to be possible with Siri or Google Assistant and putting it in a cute little orange box. Unlike the voice assistants on your smartphone, it can take complex requests and break them down into various tasks and performs. Those tasks on your behalf eliminate the need for individual applications. For more than a decade, we have begun to witness the replacement of stand-alone hardware devices with applications and software services. The idea is that you only need one tool to rule them all, but Rabbit found, and CEO Jesse Lyu believes that actually made things more complicated.

The Rabbit r1 has a dedicated operating system called Rabbit OS that uses a large action model to call agents known as "rabbits." Each rabbit can perform a different assigned task to fulfill a request from the user.

For example, if you want Uber to get six people to a restaurant by 6:00 p.m., the rabbit will plug into the Uber API, find the options, and feed the selection back into the big language model. It then presents this to the user, who can then press a button on the screen to confirm the ride.

Once the user confirms that the next rabbit will return to Uber, it will send all relevant information, pre-sent payment information, and return with confirmation and tracking information.

AI devices are coming that hope to reduce (or eliminate) the need for smartphones. The Rabbit R1 is a $199 AI gadget that wants to be a better personal assistant than your phone. It's like having a friend order takeout instead of doing it yourself, the company's CEO said. Rabbit RI apparently achieves this by replacing apps with a push-to-talk button and an operating system that can learn to use apps on your behalf.

The company says the device can perform tasks such as scheduling appointments, setting reminders, and sending messages. The hardware it relies on includes a 2.88-inch display, a camera, 128GB of storage, and 4GB of RAM. It runs on a 2.3GHz MediaTek Helios P35 processor. The Rabbit R1 is expected to ship in late March.

Clicks Keyboard for iPhone
CES tends to show off the gadgets of the future, but the Clicks Keyboard Case for iPhone is a nod to the past. Clicks Technology's $139 iPhone case literally replaces your digital keyboard with a physical one. It features a retro keyboard with real buttons that click when pressed, offering the touchscreen smartphone that many old-schoolers crave. The Clicks keyboard is compatible with the iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, and no charging is required.

Doublepoint Remote Control Concept for WearOS
Imagine being able to dim the lights in your living room with a twist of your wrist. Or browse Netflix with a few taps of your fingers. Finnish startup Double Point's new software can turn an Android watch into a remote control for any device via a Bluetooth connection. It's up to developers and app creators to decide what a small gesture like tapping your fingers or turning your wrist actually does, but it still offers exciting possibilities. WearOS watch software is expected to drop in the first half of this year.

Everything Electric
The Big Three American automakers — GM, Ford, and Stellantis — may not have had the glitzy displays and product unveilings, but a number of others were there to help cement CES as a major auto show. Honda, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Sony, Turkey's Togg, and Vinfast showcased electric concepts and production cars at the event. At CES 2024, it wasn't just the big established car companies that took part. Electrification has penetrated all corners of transportation, from motorcycles and e-bikes to go-karts, big rigs, ships, and airplanes.

Hydrogen power is not new, but recently, it has taken a backseat to traditional battery-powered electric cars. This year's show floor was littered with hydrogen-powered vehicles of all sizes. Hyundai, which has a growing portfolio of battery electric cars, came to CES to talk about hydrogen fuel cells and its vision for an alternative fuel. Nikola has finally shown off one of its first US-made hydrogen trucks, which is starting to ship to customers, and Bosch, which already makes hydrogen fuel cells (like the one Nikola uses in his truck), has announced that it will make an engine that can burn hydrogen. Truck manufacturer PACCAR also demonstrated a hydrogen-powered truck.