Android Authority’s favorites from the show

CES 2024 has brought an impressive array of new tech products to the forefront, everything from smartphones to televisions to audio gear. This year’s event featured a diverse range of gadgets and innovations, each vying for attention in their respective fields.

At Android Authority, we’ve taken a close look at these launches to identify the most notable and impactful ones. In this post, we’re excited to share our selections for the Best of CES 2024 Awards, focusing on products that stand out for their innovation and potential impact on the industry.

TCL continues to innovate on its LED technology with impressive updates to its existing series of televisions and a brand new 115-inch panel that provides an unforgettable immersive experience. The QM891G is a QD mini-LED panel, producing a peak of 5,000 nits of brightness and stunning video output. AIPQ-Pro and AIPQ-Ultra processors can drive tens of thousands of dimming zones, crystal clear 4K content, and up to 120Hz native refresh rates. Integrated 6.2.2 audio offers robust sound from the 115-inch TV, though you can always opt for one of TCL’s new soundbars as well.

The next generation of robot floor cleaners is here. With several world’s firsts and a focus on privacy, the Narwal Freo X Ultra sweeps, vacuums, and mops almost any floor surface in your home. LiDAR and laser sensors replace cameras for accurate mapping and navigation, while the new tangle-free brush roller lives up to its name, avoiding the mess of hair common on vacuums.

The base station includes DirtSense technology for the ultimate clean of the mop brushes and uses automatic water and detergent delivery for ease of use. Freo doesn’t just pass over your floors; it can sense where things are extra dirty and return for multiple passes.

The vacuuming suction routing and HEPA filters allow for dust-free cleaning, which compresses the captured debris to give you several weeks’ worth of collection before you replace the disposable bag or empty the environmentally friendly dust bin. Launching in March at $1,399, the Freo X Ultra is simply one of the best robot vacuums we’ve ever seen.

At every CES, we see a lot of “world’s first” claims. LG, though, has really done it: this is the world’s first monitor that delivers an OLED panel, QHD resolution (2,560 x 1,440), a bonkers 480Hz refresh rate, and a market-leading 0.03ms response time. It is, without question, the new display standard for competitive gamers. Of course, you’ll need a very, very beefy system to push a 480Hz refresh rate at 1440p, but if you’ve got the hardware, this monitor can do it all. LG says this monitor will hit the market in the first half of 2024 but didn’t disclose a price (spoiler alert: it’s going to be expensive).

TCL’s NXTPAPER technology, now in its 3.0 version, delivers a paper-like viewing experience free from glare. Evolving over a few years, this latest update marks the technology’s readiness for mainstream use. Unlike its earlier iterations, NXTPAPER 3.0 is notably brighter and more colorful, while remaining resistant to fingerprints and as easy on the eyes as ever. TCL still has some work to truly perfect this tech, but we’re eager to see where it goes.

Lenovo introduced the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid at CES 2024, a versatile device that transforms from an Android tablet into a Windows 11 PC when docked. Priced at $1,999, this innovative hybrid features a 14-inch OLED screen running Android 13 and shifts to Windows 11, which is running on a laptop base. It offers the flexibility of an Arm-powered Android tablet for mobile use and a powerful Intel-powered Windows laptop when docked. It’s definitely one of the most adaptable designs we’ve seen at the show.

At CES, Withings has introduced BeamO, a new multi-functional health checkup device for home use. Priced at $249.95 and set to be available in June pending FDA approval for its ECG features, BeamO is a compact device that offers a range of health monitoring functions. It can measure body temperature in a contactless manner, check blood oxygen levels, perform a medical-grade ECG, and act as a digital stethoscope. It can even detect atrial fibrillation and other dangerous conditions, which could make it an excellent health management tool for millions of people.

MSI is entering the handheld gaming PC market with its new MSI Claw A1M, featuring a 7-inch 1080p display and powered by a Meteor Lake Intel Core Ultra 7 processor. It’s the first handheld console with this chip, which supports Intel’s XeSS tech for AI-based FPS upscaling. With other key features like Windows 11, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and Intel Arc Graphics, the MSI Claw could really challenge the Steam Deck or ASUS ROG Ally.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 16p Gen 5 has an interesting new feature called Magic Bay. At the top of the rear lid, you’ll find a magnetic strip with some pogo pins. In this area, you can magnetically snap accessories that will instantly connect to the laptop. The inaugural Magic Bay accessory is a 4K webcam complete with a speaker system — perfect for meetings where you want to look your best and make sure you hear everything. Lenovo also showed off other concept accessories, including an SSD and even a 10-inch secondary display (there are no plans yet to bring these to market, but Lenovo is interested to hear the consumer response). The ThinkBook 16p Gen 5 comes out in early 2024 with a starting price of $1,599. The 4K webcam accessory, officially known as the Magic Bay Studio, will cost $199 and be available in April.

As far as gaming laptops go, the MSI Cyborg 14 is a pretty standard affair. It’s got a 13th-gen Intel processor, a 14-inch FHD LCD display with a 144Hz refresh rate, and up to RTX 4060 graphics. It also has a nifty transparent design, which we think looks great. However, what made us love the Cyborg 14 was the introductory price. At just $1,099, this is a gaming laptop that will deliver everything 99% of gamers could want in a cool chassis at a terrific price. Sometimes, the best products are not the most fancy and expensive but the ones that are the most accessible, and MSI should be applauded for this one.

Rope lights have been around for a long time and smart rope lights nearly as long. However, that hasn’t stopped Govee from innovating some new ways to use them. The Govee Neon Rope Light 2 can be shaped on your wall into all manners of designs, thanks to its new adhesive system and more flexible construction. Things get really cool, though, when you snap a photo of what you’ve created. In the connected app, you can upload that design and then control the specific colors of each area, which is really fun. After seeing these, we wanted them in every room.

An enormous 14-inch Android tablet, the TCL NXTPAPER 14 Pro has an innovative switch at the top. By flicking the switch, you swap in or out of NXTPAPER Mode. This mode changes the wallpaper, icons, and other aspects of the Android operating system to look more like paper. When you combine this with the paper-like display that NXTPAPER 3.0 provides, you get a very easy-on-the-eyes experience, perfect for long reading sessions. We were astonished by how quickly this swap happened, too. It doesn’t require a restart, and going back and forth between modes takes just a few seconds. The NXTPAPER 14 Pro will come out later this year.

The ROG Phone line is known for its unabashed gaming phone approach, but ASUS is adopting a more conventional flagship strategy with the ROG Phone 8. The phone brings a number of mainstream features we haven’t seen on an ROG handset before, such as an IP68 rating, wireless charging, a telephoto camera, and a slimmer design. The device largely retains major gaming features, though, such as capacitive shoulder triggers and a side-mounted USB-C port.

MicroLED screens are cutting-edge today, but Samsung is upping the ante in a big way by showing off a transparent microLED screen at CES 2024. Yep, you can see what’s on the other side of the TV with this tech, with little refraction here. This is just a concept for now, though, which might be for the best given that non-transparent microLED TVs can cost six figures. But it still gives us a window (pun intended) into the future of display technologies.

What happens when you combine a neural interface with earbuds and AR glasses? You get the WiseAR Pod, letting you control AR glasses, your smart home, and more via eye movement and jaw clenching. This innovative interface means you can skip music tracks, adjust smart home gadgets, and play AR games without lifting your finger or nodding your head. In other words, this could be a major plus for physically impaired people, but not only.

Samsung previously launched The Frame line of TV sets, which are designed to look like picture frames. Now, it’s taking this same approach with speakers as it launches the Samsung Music Frame. This wireless speaker indeed looks like a work of art, and Samsung will let you customize the printed art on the front when you order it. The device can either operate as a standalone wireless speaker or pair to a Samsung TV or soundbar. There’s no word on pricing just yet, though.

ASUS is taking laptop multitasking on-the-go to the next level with the ASUS Zenbook Duo. This laptop has two full 14-inch OLED 3K displays, and features a magnetic detachable keyboard that can be used either on top of one of the screens in laptop mode, or completely detached. The included stand makes this set-up a breeze to use in any orientation or environment, too.

While we’ve seen similar implementations in the past, we feel ASUS has finally refined the experience. The specs are pretty good too. It can be customized with up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 and up to 32GB of RAM. And despite all the mechanical moving parts and screen real estate, it has a MIL-STD-810H, making it very resilient. And while it isn’t necessarily cheap, the price is pretty accessible at $1,499.