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Android Authority's CES Top Picks 2019 Awards: Our favorite products
We’ve spent the last week meeting with companies and roaming around the halls of the Las Vegas Convention Center to find the very best of CES 2019. From laptops, to smart home devices, to drones, there’s certainly a lot to take in — that’s why we’ve created a list of the best products announced at CES 2019.
Here are Android Authority’s CES Top Picks 2019 Awards.
The best smartphone: Alcatel 1X
The Alcatel 1X is proof that you don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars to get a decent smartphone. For around 130 Euros, Alcatel’s new budget-friendly phone offers a 5.5-inch display, Android 8.1 Oreo, a 3,000mAh battery, and support for 4G connectivity. It also comes with this beautiful sandstone texture on the back that will instill nostalgia in any OnePlus One fan out there.
What’s more, it packs a dual 16MP and 2MP rear-camera setup, which actually turned out to be quite impressive during our hands-on time with the device. Portrait mode is surprisingly good too.
The best laptop: Dell Alienware Area-51m
Dell’s Alienware went back to the drawing board to overhaul its popular gaming laptop design. Called Alienware Legend, the move marks a significant change in the overall Alienware brand. That includes a reimagined shape and new color options: Lunar Light and Dark Side of the Moon. The underlying sci-fi theme fans love still remains highly relevant.
The first product based on this new Alienware Legend identity is the Area-51m. In addition to the new outward appearance, Alienware revised the internal design to provide better overclocking and a thinner form factor. All this plays host to the latest Intel Core processors and GeForce RTX 20 Series graphics. The Area-51m initiates a new era for Alienware and its fans.
The best smartwatch: Kate Spade Scallop Smartwatch 2
A ton of smartwatches were announced at the trade show this year, and the best one came from Kate Spade. We’re giving the Kate Spade Scallop Smartwatch 2 an award this year because it was clear the team listened to user feedback. With an on-board GPS and heart rate sensor, the Scallop Smartwatch 2 is now a capable fitness companion — not just a pretty watch.
Read and watch: The best smartwatches from CES 2019
Let’s be honest, this is still a pretty watch, though. The flower-like design surrounding the bezel adds to the classy aesthetic, backed up by the understated silicone strap and stainless steel case. Of course, the iconic spade icon is scattered throughout, adorning the rotatable crown and on the top of each Kate Spade watch face.
A pretty, feature-packed smartwatch. What more could you ask for?
The best fitness product: Withings Move ECG
The Withings team is back in full force after its brief time at Nokia, and it just announced two new fitness watches called the Withings Move and Withings Move ECG. The Move ECG won Android Authority’s Best Fitness Product Award due to the overall quality of product and benefits users will get out of the electrocardiogram.
ECGs can be literal lifesavers for some people, and the fact that it’s packed into an attractive, affordable, and customizable fitness watch should not be overlooked. At $130, the Withings Move ECG is a no-brainer if you frequent the doctor for heart problems.
The best smart home product: Google Assistant Connect
For years Google has been trying to become the one-stop-shop for smart home products, and the Google Assistant Connect is its next big push to bring even more Assistant-connected products to your life.
Assistant Connect is a set of capabilities that product manufacturers can use to connect their own products to Google Assistant-powered devices like the Google Home or Home Hub. If a product was developed with Assistant Connect, it’s able to talk to nearby Assistant devices and display your personal information (i.e. calendar events/weather) on the screen.
The most obvious example is if a company were to create a simple display without any mics or speakers, including Assistant Connect would allow it to show you content from your linked smart speaker. In this case, the smart speaker would handle all the computing on its own while using Assistant Connect to transfer and display that content on the display.
It’s an inexpensive and easy way for companies to bring Assistant to their products, which is why it’s deserving of our Best Smart Home Product award.
The best audio product: Audio Technica ATH-ANC900BT
Few audio companies have the professional history of Audio-Technica, and when they throw their hat in the ring, we pay attention. Taking aim at the top end of active noise-canceling headphones, the ATH-ANC900BT has the firepower to be a blast.
By using a more energy-efficient Bluetooth 5 connection, the ATH-ANC900BT has the specs to outlast the likes of Bose, Sony, and Sennheiser’s top-of-the-line headphones. Additionally, they’re also the most affordable entry into the top-end of ANC headsets, coming in at only $299.
The best concept: Whirlpool Connected Hub Wall Oven
While there were plenty of commercial products shown off at CES each year, there are also plenty of cool concepts. Some of these make it into a final product, some don’t. This year we awarded Whirlpool our Best Concept Award for its new smart oven, the Whirlpool Connected Hub Wall Oven.
While the oven may or may not ever make it to store shelves, we love some of the ideas behind this concept. Let’s face it, not everyone is a genius in the kitchen, but that’s where the Whirlpool concept oven comes in.
The Whirlpool oven features a 27-inch transparent LCD in place of a traditional oven door. This screen lets you view calendars, look up recipes, and will even suggest personalized meal ideas based on your dietary restrictions. But the real star are the oven’s AR features.
The Whirlpool Connected Hub Wall Oven uses AR for a number of things like telling you where exactly to place food in the oven for optimal cooking and how it should look when it’s finished. There are even AR step-by-step cooking guides that help walk you through the process.
The whole concept seems straight out of The Jetsons. While it’s not perfect, it’s always great to see companies trying radically new approaches to old problems — like how to improve your cooking. The good news is that Whirlpool’s WLabs have had several successes when it comes to turning concepts into final products, so someday this may very well be more than just a concept.
The best mobile accessory: Corning Gorilla Glass Personalized Phone Case
The Corning Gorilla Glass personalized phone case is a surprisingly fun new addition to the mobile protection market. Corning will print any photo you like on the back of its Gorilla Glass 5 which then gets embedded into a rubberized case for your smartphone. The final product is a sturdy case with a smooth, elegant glass back that also has a picture of your spouse, kids, family, pets, or anything, really.
Eventually, Corning will have vending machines that will print you a case in a matter of minutes. Just upload your photo to a web server, tell the machine which phone you own, and a few minutes later your brand new case will pop out. Keeping your phone free of scratches and dents has never been this cool.
Best innovation: LG Signature OLED TV R
LG’s Signature OLED TV R is something we’ve only ever imagined or seen in a movie or TV show. It may shape the future of TVs forever, which is why it wins our Best Innovation Award.
A prototype of the TV was shown off at CES 2018, but this year the rollable TV is a real product that consumers will actually be able to buy. The way it beautifully rolls and rises out of the soundbar feels like pure magic. The TV is there when you want it, and disappears when you don’t. It can even be there when you only partially want it. The horizon-line view shows only a fraction of the display for quick access to basic functions. It’s cool, futuristic, and will be a game-changer to the TV industry.
Spotlight Awards
It’s easy to focus on the biggest names in technology at trade shows as big as CES. That’s why Android Authority has chosen three of our favorite innovative tech products that may have flown under the radar.
Jabra Elite 85h
Elevating their wireless headphones game, the new Jabra Elite 85h are noise-canceling cans made for folks on the go.
Equipped with SmartSound, these over-ear headphones adapt automatically to produce the best sound for phone calls, music, and more. Coming in four colors with a rain-resistant build, enjoy ANC on the go for up to 32 hours of battery life, even longer with ANC turned off. ANC auto-switching turns on and off the service based on your environment. Of course, the Jabra Elite 85h also sound great, and you can adjust the EQ and sound profiles through the Jabra Sound+ app for extra sound clarity.
Insta360 ONE X
Whether you’re skiing down a mountain or hiking up a cliff, the Insta360 ONE X should be just the thing you need to capture great 360-degree video. This 4K-capable camera features Insta360’s FlowState Stabilization, which means smooth footage even in the bumpiest conditions.
NUU Mobile G4
NUU Mobile showed off its brand new G4 smartphone at CES 2019, and it provides some killer value at a cheap price. It comes with a big 6.2-inch display, a 2GHz MediaTek Helio P60 processor, dual 16 + 8MP rear cameras, and it runs Android 9.0 Pie.
The best part? You can get all of that for just $249 in March 2019.