IFA 2017: Everything from day 1 of Europe's biggest tech show
Samsung, Acer, Asus, Bosch, Panasonic and more. Here's everything we learned in Berlin.
- Self-taught tinkerer, informal IT and gadget consultant to friends and family (with several self-built gaming PCs under his belt)
IFA is Europe's biggest tech show. But like all modern trade shows, most of the high profile announcements happen before the show floor opens. That's doubly true in 2017: The exhibition halls in Berlin don't open until Sept. 1, but a torrent of press conferences and announcements will dominate your feeds for the last two days of August.
The press conferences and announcements in Berlin ended hours ago, but here's a roundup of the big news from Wednesday, Aug. 30 -- with a few earlier announcements thrown in, too.
(The second day of IFA 2017 has wrapped up as well. Check out all the device announcements, from phones and headphones to smart appliances and TVs.)
Samsung
The Galaxy Note 8 was already announced to much fanfare last week in New York City. But Samsung's giant product portfolio means there's always something even newer to announce. In this case, the Korean giant unveiled two new wearables, new appliances and some TVs for the European market.
On the fitness front, the Samsung Gear Fit 2 Pro and Samsung Gear Sport offer GPS, swim-friendly water resistance, heart rate tracking and support for offline Spotify playback. And the new Samsung Icon X 2018 wireless headphones now have 5-hour battery life -- more than three times that of their flawed predecessor.
Turning to appliances, Samsung unveiled its new QDrive washer, which should do a full load of wash in half the time. And the company threw down the gauntlet to the Dysons of the world with its new Powerstick Pro cordless vacuum.
Samsung also showed off the C49HG90, its high-end 49-inch curved screen PC gaming monitor with an ultrawide 32:9 aspect ratio that uses the same QLED technology found in Samsung's top-end TVs. (It was actually announced about 2 months ago, but it's cool enough that we'll forgive the rerun.)
Additionally, Samsung announced a smaller 43-inch version of its Frame TV and a flat (not curved) Q8 QLED TV for the European market. The company also called for open standards in the video and home appliance space, doubling down on its commitment to the HDR10+ HDR standard (which it uses instead of rival Dolby Vision), as well as the Open Connectivity Foundation, a standards body for internet of things devices.
Read: Everything Samsung announced at IFA 2017
Panasonic
While it's become far less visible in the TV space since plasma display technology died, Japan's Panasonic brand has been turning to smart home tech. Case in point is the GA10, one of the new wave of speakers with Google Assistant built-in.
The Panasonic GA10 has Google Assistant built-in.
Look past small appliances like hand blenders and a Hydrating and Detoxifying Facial Steamer (really!), though, and the company's more traditional consumer electronics pedigree lives on. The EZ-1002 TV pairs Panasonic's plasma-honed video processing know-how with a monster 77-inch OLED display (no doubt from an LG factory), while the SP-10R direct drive turntable keeps the beloved Technics brand alive to fight another day.
Acer
In some ways, IFA is the kickoff to the fall PC season. Acer had plenty of new models to show, including the promising Switch 7, a Surface alternative with a fanless design despite a muscular Core i7 CPU and GeForce MX150 dedicated graphics processor. If you want no-compromise gaming performance, meanwhile, consider stepping up to Acer's monster Orion 9000 PC tower, which rocks an 18-core Intel Core i9 Extreme, four-way Radeon RX Vega or dual GeForce GTX 1080 Ti GPUs and up to 128GB quad-channel DDR4 RAM -- all liquid cooled, of course.
Acer's monster gaming rig.
Acer also has some products a bit more off the beaten path, including the Holo360, an Android-powered 360-camera with a touchscreen (no paired device required) and the Pawbo Munch, an interactive treat dispenser for pets.
Dell/Alienware
Like its PC brethren, Dell and its Alienware gaming subsidiary have timed a boatload of PC and accessory upgrades for IFA week. The most notable new products Dell will be exhibiting in Berlin include updated version of the Dell XPS 13 and Inspiron 5000 and 7000laptops, all of which will be getting new, cutting-edge eighth-generation Intel Kaby Lake R processors. The PC giant is also upgrading its awesome budgetInspiron 15 7000 gaming laptop to an Nvidia GTX 1060 video card.
Ready for VR battle with the Dell Visor.
Speaking of gaming: the company's long-promised Windows Mixed Reality headset, the Dell Visor, is finally official, and Alienware upgraded its 34-inch gaming monitors, too.
Fans of Panasonic Toughbooks, meanwhile, should check out the Dell Latitude 7212 ruggedized tablet.
Asus
Taiwan's Asus -- not to be confused with Taiwan's Acer, above -- dropped a veritable phonebook-sized list of PC updates, flipping a huge swath of its existing line to those aforementioned eighth-gen Intel processors.
The ZenBook Flip 15, bending over backwards.
But there were some all-new products, too: Asus says that the 13.9mm thick ZenBook Flip 14 (UX461) is the world's thinnest two-in-one laptop with discrete graphics. It weighs just 1.4 kg (3.1 lbs), but has an eighth-gen Core i7 quad-core CPU, 16GB of memory, Nvidia GeForce MX150 graphics and a 512GB PCIe x4 solid-state drive. The larger ZenBook Flip 15 (UX561) takes that performance a step further by including an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU and up to a 2TB HDD and 512GB SSD.
The company also showed off its Asus Mixed Reality headset (its version of the Dell Visor), the ROG Chimera jumbo gaming laptop and ROG Strix XG35VQ 35-inch curved monitor.
Read: Asus overflows with Windows gear at IFA 2017 event
Electrolux/AEG
The Electrolux PerfectCare washer/dryer units.
Sweden's Electrolux controls a bevy of appliance brands, from AEG in Europe to Frigidaire, Eureka and Tappan in the US. For its European customers, the company unveiled the AEG 9000 series Okokombi washer-dryer combo with "SensiDry" technology, which is supposed to customize the cleaning cycle based on fabric type. For the US market, the updated line of Electolux PerfectCare washing machines and dryers makes the bold claim of limiting your trip to the dry cleaners, pledging that the units will ensure that "clothing continues to perform and look its best, with the right care for a variety of garments, from denim, cashmere and wool to technical wear and even delicates."
Bosch
Shhhh. They're washing. And drying. Quietly.
Bosch, meanwhile, is focusing on noise -- or, more specifically, the lack thereof. The company claims that its new HomeProfessional WAY287W5 washing machine and companion HomeProfessional WTY887W6 dryer range between just 44 and 68 decibels when in use. They'll also have integrated touchscreen displays, auto-dispensing detergent reservoirs and sensors to help determine the right amount of water.
Miele
It's coming from the shadows... to clean your floors.
German appliance manufacturer Miele utizlied its home turf to announce the Scout RX2, a robot vacuum with twin cameras. Also unveiled was the Dialog Oven. What makes the wall oven special, as Ashlee Clark Thompson reports, "is that it cooks your food with electromagnetic waves (microwaves also use this same type of energy), traditional radiant heat from the top and bottom of the oven and a convection fan." Yowza.
Bang & Olufsen
The eclipse sequel you weren't expecting.
What do you get when Denmark's top electronics luxury brand teams up with LG? Exactly what you'd expect: A crazy-expensive OLED TV with amazing industrial design, down to and including the motorized wheels that angle the TV to your optimal viewing angle. The BeoVision Eclipse also includes an integrated 450-watt sound system, so your mansion won't be wanting for good audio. The price tag is pure one-percenter -- £8,290 (approximately $10,700 or AU$13,500) for the 55-incher, or £11,590 ($14,980 or AU$18,900) for the 65. But if you have to ask, you really can't afford it, anyway.
August 31: Press day 2
On tap for Thursday, expect news from LG -- including full details on the V30 phone -- as well as product announcements from Toshiba, Haier, DJI, Garmin and Sony.
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