Why You Can Trust CNET Best of Show: Our Most Exciting, Innovative and Impactful Tech Winners of CES 2024
When it comes to innovative or life-changing new tech, it takes a lot to be the best of the best. Here are the products we think have the power to improve everyday life.
- More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.
The LG OLED T is a transparent television set you can see -- and see through.
CES 2024 didn't disappoint. We expected a whole lot of AI and that's what we got -- and then some. Naturally, that wasn't all we saw. We saw a huge $200,000 folding TV. We played with an upcoming handheld gaming device. Samsung showed up with a phone display that folds forward and backward. And then there was the obligatory flying taxi unveiling.
There was also Apple playing CES spoiler once again by announcing the availability of its highly anticipated Vision Pro mixed-reality headset. But that's just a fraction of what we saw at the world's biggest consumer tech show.
We've already rounded up the biggest trends of CES 2024, the most futuristic tech, the weirdest gizmos and gadgets and the stuff you'll actually be able to buy in 2024. Below, though, is our curated list of the absolute best of CES 2024.
All of our Best of Show winners meet at least one of the following criteria:
- The product includes a never-before-seen concept or idea.
- The product attempts to solve a major consumer problem.
- The product is a redesign or different take on an existing product in a way that sets a new bar in performance or quality.
Nominees were submitted by CNET's editorial staff, with finalists voted on by a panel of editors in attendance at CES 2024. Finally, to avoid giving awards to products that may never see the light of day, we gave more weight to those with at least a calendar year release window or timeline, as opposed to products with no planned release date or a more nebulous one.
LG's 77-inch transparent OLED TV is really something to see (through)
LG's OLED T is a leap forward in solving the "problem" of a big, blank screen in your living room.
Ever wished the big black screen in your living room could just disappear when not in use? Meet the OLED T, LG's transparent OLED TV that does just that. Or at least it comes really close to disappearing when its mechanized black film rolls up, leaving nothing but a see-through display revealing the wall behind it.
The transparent screen can turn into a virtual fish tank or display art, screensavers or widgets LG includes in the Always On options of the TV's settings menu. CNET's veteran TV reviewer David Katzmaier got a private demo of the OLED T at CES and said it was one of the coolest TVs he's ever seen and, although the transparency isn't perfect, it succeeds brilliantly as a TV that effectively disappears.
The OLED T is also wireless (but there's still a power cord), so devices like a cable box or game console can live up to 30 feet away from the TV. The transparent OLED technology is years old for commercial applications, but LG expects this 77-inch consumer model to hit the market in mid-2024. Pricing isn't set yet, but it's likely to be extremely expensive.
Volkswagen is using ChatGPT AI to talk to your car
Volkswagen will integrate ChatGPT into its cars, giving its Ida voice assistant the full AI treatment.
VW's Ida voice assistant can already pull up directions to get you home or adjust the interior temperature with basic voice commands. But sometime in Q2 2024, Ida's going to get a lot more conversational. Thanks to a partnership between Volkwagen and automotive-assistant developer Cerence, you'll be able to get answers to more complex questions powered by ChatGPT.
For the driver, there will be no change in how they interact with Ida. However, once the over-the-air update hits, you'll be able to ask more complex questions, such as "What's a good authentic Chinese restaurant nearby?" or, request Ida to generate a short story to entertain a child in the car, said CNET's Auto Editor Antuan Goodwin, who was at the CES 2024 announcement. And, while he admitted he wouldn't want to listen to Ida's robotic voice reading at length, the capabilities are promising.
Among the first vehicles to support ChatGPT natively will be VW's electric ID 4 and ID 3; the upcoming ID 7 and ID 5 EVs; and the combustion-powered Tiguan, Passat and Golf.
Asus put two 14-inch OLED displays in a 3-pound laptop
Asus' Zenbook Duo blew our mind.
Asus announced a lot of devices at CES 2024, including new gaming laptops and a gaming phone. But it was its latest Zenbook Duo dual-screen laptop that really got our attention. While earlier Zenbook Duo models had one full display and one smaller screen, this is the first with two full 14-inch OLED touchscreens. It's basically a portable all-in-one desktop with a combined 19.8 inches of workspace and a 14-inch laptop in one 3-pound package.
This isn't the first time we've seen a design like this; last year's Yoga Book 9i two-in-one from Lenovo isn't too far off from the Zenbook Duo. However, Asus' design improves on the Yoga Book's design by adding a sturdy built-in kickstand that can be used to prop it up horizontally or vertically, and a Bluetooth keyboard that can be stored in between the screens. Those improvements result in an eminently more useful design.
You're not sacrificing on performance, either, with as fast as an Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, integrated Intel Arc graphics and up to 32GB of memory. Asus says it'll be available sometime in Q1 with a starting price of about $1,500. It would be easy to dismiss the Zenbook Duo as a novelty but, having seen and used the Zenbook Duo for a bit, it's a laptop I would actually buy.
EcoFlow made a whole-home battery that can go on the road
This powerful portable battery is a Tesla Powerwall on wheels.
During CNET Home Energy Editor Jon Reed's search for the most interesting energy tech at CES 2024 he wheeled around the EcoFlow Delta Pro Ultra, the company's most powerful entry in the whole-home battery market. You read that right: he wheeled it around. A whole-home backup battery. And he said even at 200 pounds, it was surprisingly easy to move around.
Most whole-home batteries are a stack of lithium-ion-phosphate batteries with an inverter on top to convert the DC electricity stored in those battery cells into the AC power your appliances use. They're stationary. You install them or, more accurately for most, pay to have them installed. For the Delta Pro Ultra, the only thing that has to be installed by an electrician is a smart panel the battery connects to in your home.
The Delta Pro Ultra is designed to be easily connected and disconnected from its smart panel. You can then wheel it away on its cart, whether that's on a camping trip or a new home or wherever. You can also add more battery capacity or another inverter (or both) on your own. It's $5,800, but as someone who paid nearly $15,000 for a whole-home gas generator that's permanently attached to my house, this seems like a bargain and much more useful.
The Evie ring is the discreet health tracker we've been waiting for
Stylish, and study enough for soap and sanitizer, the Evie smart ring is tuned to women's health.
The Evie ring isn't the typical health tracker we've seen over the years at CES. It's not even like other smart rings we've seen. Designed specifically for women, it can track your period, ovulation, menstrual symptoms, daily steps, active minutes, sleep and mood tracking among many health details. All, again, from a ring on your finger that looks like regular jewelry.
CNET's Bridget Carey has been using one while running around the convention floors and said the impressive bit of tech has held up. It's kept up with steps and, unlike her Apple Watch, she could wear it while she slept without worrying about waking up to a dead battery.
What she liked the most, though, was its unobtrusive ability to just track your health, and when you want to check your data you pop open the mobile app. The Evie ring is available to order now for $270, and it doesn't require a subscription -- but it is iOS only at the moment.
Samsung's glare-free OLED TVs are a blessing for unavoidably bright rooms
With glare-free OLED technology, you'll be able to stop closing the curtains every time you watch TV.
Not everyone has the luxury of having a dark room to put a TV in, myself included, so glare from windows, lights and other sources of brightness are something you just learn to live with. However, Samsung says its OLED glare-free technology reduces reflections to help improve the picture in bright rooms and does so without affecting color or viewing angle.
CNET's David Katzmaier checked out the TVs in person at Samsung's demo and walked away really impressed. The glare-free screen finish did a remarkable job of making reflections in the screen, including a light he held up, look dimmer and less intrusive. A standard OLED TV was set up next to the glare-free version and reflections were much worse: brighter and distracting, as usual. No pricing or availability was announced at the show, but Katzmaier expects them to ship in the spring.
Weber Summit Smart Grill is unlike any outdoor grill we've seen
Perfectly seared meat in the grill, without drying your food? That's just the beginning.
What's pictured above is an infrared broiler inside the Weber Summit FS38X Smart Grill, the first of its kind. The broiler can be raised and lowered to add a quick, heavenly crust to steak, fish and chops, in the words of CNET Home and Kitchen Editor David Watsky, who saw it in action at CES. The broiler is an attention-grabber for sure, but the Summit also has a host of in-grill sensors that send info straight to a mobile app that lets you control temperatures remotely without disrupting the cooking process by lifting the lid.
The grill has the brand's first-ever full touchscreen control panel and can suggest an optimal cooking method -- direct or indirect -- and it'll even tell you where on the grill to place what you're grilling. And should one of its five burners go out while cooking, it will automatically try to relight it and failing that, shut off gas to the burner and alert you.
Lenovo's ThinkBook Plus Hybrid puts a new twist on 2-in-1s
Laptop, Android tablet... why not both?
There are plenty of Windows laptops that turn into tablets and Android tablets that can be used as a laptop. The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid is somewhere in between. It looks and functions like any other Windows laptop. But you can detach its 14-inch 2.8K OLED screen from its base and it almost instantly switches the OS, turning into an Android tablet powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip.
That's something we've seen before. What is different is that the base has a processor of its own, an Intel Core Ultra 7. The base can be connected to an external monitor and essentially used as a Windows desktop. Reattach the tablet and it'll automatically switch back to being a Windows laptop.
CNET's Lisa Eadicicco got some hands-on time with the ThinkBook Plus Hybrid at CES and the switching between platforms was smooth and simple. She also noted that instead of trying to make Android more productivity-oriented and Windows more mobile-friendly, the design marries the full versions of both: a mobile OS for the tablet and a desktop OS for the laptop.
LG will have the fastest OLED gaming monitor to date
LG doubled the refresh rate of last year's 240Hz 4K gaming monitor.
Prior to CES at the end of December, LG revealed a dual-refresh 32-inch UltraGear 32 OLED that does 4K at 240Hz and 1080p at 480Hz. But then, just before the show, it announced it would have a 27-inch, 480Hz, 2,560x1,440 OLED gaming display by the end of June 2024. (CNET's Lori Grunin reviewed last year's 240Hz 4K model.) Fast refresh rates are crucial for esports titles and other games that hit high frame rates and need superfast response, such as Overwatch, League of Legends and Call of Duty.
While LCDs can hit those high refresh rates, OLED displays are prized for their large color gamut (95% to 100% P3), almost infinite contrast and fast pixel refresh of 0.03ms (meaning individual pixels can change color or brightness really quickly). But so far OLED has been limited to relatively low refresh rates of around 120 to 144Hz, though they've hit as high as 240Hz.
Also, starting with this 480Hz panel, LG is introducing a microlens array layer that it brands as Meta Technology. On-pixel microlenses are used to concentrate light, in this case the light coming off each pixel, and increase brightness, which means there should be a broader range of tones available to render the darker areas of an image so you can see who's lurking in the shadows, Grunin said.
