Apple Vision Pro
Announced last year, the spatial computing headset from Apple launched this year. The company has its eye on the future as the headset can change the way we watch content or work. A marriage of premium hardware with custom Apple software makes the headset feel both familiar and futuristic. What we are now waiting for are a few killer apps.
Trifold phone
Huawei’s tri-fold Mate XT is the world’s first dual-hinged, triple-screen foldable phone. If we overlook the eyewatering price tag of 21,999 yuan ($2,809), the inverse dual-hinge design folds in a “Z” shape. The OLED display measures 6.4 inches when fully collapsed as a traditional single-screen device. When fully unfolded, the display increases to 10.2 inches (2,232 x 3,184) and can still be used when partially unfolded in a smaller 7.9-inch configuration. Foldable phones aren’t still doing good business even though they have been in circulation for some years but things might quickly change next year.
Kindle goes colour
Seventeen years since its launch, Kindle finally got a colour display with the launch of Kindle Colorsoft. It is based on E Ink’s Kaleido technology but uses a new display stack — a newly designed oxide backplane that makes it easier for e-ink panel’s tiny bits of ink to move around quickly. The Colorsoft has new LED pixels, and a new way of shining light through them individually to enhance colours. It’s among the most exciting product launches for the Amazon-owned brand so far.
Transparent display laptop
A step into sci-fi world, Lenovo ThinkBook Transparent Display Laptop Concept comes with a 17.3-inch MicroLED display that is see-through. The display offers up to 55 per cent transparency when its pixels are set to black and turned off but as its pixels light up, the display becomes less and less see-through, until eventually you’re looking at a completely opaque white surface.
Wireless earbuds become hearing aids
Apple AirPods Pro 2 wireless earbuds have been available for a couple of years. Still, everything changed since the company announced a trio of major new hearing health features, including clinical-grade hearing aid functionality, a hearing test and more robust hearing protection. All these helped Apple instantly turn the world’s most popular earbuds into an over-the-counter hearing aid. It also means the dawn of an era when we will get comfortable with people wearing earbuds at all times.
Boost for mirrorless cameras
Nikon Z6III has the world’s first partially stacked 24.5MP CMOS sensor. It offers higher continuous shooting rates, faster autofocus, higher video frame rates, and less rolling shutter effect. The half-stacked sensor reads out faster, allowing for faster burst speeds. You can push up to 60 frames per second in JPEG-only mode or 120 frames per second with a 1.5x crop factor. The RAW images out of the Z6 III also maintain 14-bit quality without dropping down to 12-bit to provide those faster burst speeds.
A new chapter for smart rings
Smart rings are not new but the device category required a boost from a big tech company. So far, smart rings have been synonymous with Oura Ring, like the one Kim Kardashian and Prince Harry have been seen wearing. Samsung’s Galaxy Ring can easily become a household name because of its branding. It is the thinnest and most comfortable smart ring available and it comes with a charging case.
Bimotal Elevate
The simple gadget turns a pedal bike into an e-bike. Toby Ricco came up with it to keep mountain biking after he recovered from tearing cartilage in his left knee. It has four main parts — a 750W motor that sits above the rear brake, sharing the existing brake mounts; a system-specific brake rotor that has a toothed gear on the inside, which replaces the existing rotor; a cylindrical 250-Wh lithium battery, and a handlebar-mounted remote.
reMarkable Paper Pro
The tablets from reMarkable live up to their names. This tablet has a colour e-ink screen, a front light that makes it visible in the dark, and a stylus paired with a responsive display. E-ink allows long battery life because the display doesn’t require much energy to power it. It relies primarily on ambient lighting as e-ink is a reflective display which is the reason it looks great under bright lights. It offers the freedom of distraction-free note-taking, drawing, document annotations, and reading with support for PDFs and eBook file formats.
Starlink Mini
No, Elon Musk’s satellite Internet constellation company is not yet available in India but it’s making plenty of noise globally. Starlink Mini launched this year and it can change the game for portable connectivity. The $599 Starlink Mini combines the terminal and Wi-Fi router into a single dish and can be powered by a portable battery, despite needing to lock onto a constellation of Starlink satellites travelling at speeds of 17,000mph about 350 miles above earth.
