CES 2023 brought CES back in pretty fit form. It was kind of like the days of yesteryear – 2020 a before. We saw an $800,000 flying car, a crazy huge wireless TV (more on that one below) and yes, a pee home sensor for your toilet (definitely more on that one below).
CES 2023 marks the return of full in person CES. The show is expected to have brought in over 100,000 people and over 2,200 companies to the world’s largest consumer show to talk up what they think are the next big thing. This year, – and for the first time in three years, CNET editors walked the floors to see new products and services being shown.
Before we dive into the best of CES 2023 list, here’s the criteria we used to determine the final candidate. We tried to keep the number of those awarded to 5 to 7.
Here’s how we awarded our Best of CES awards. All on this list meet at least one of the criteria listed below.
- Product includes a never before seen concept or idea
- Product attempts to solve a major consumer problem
- Product is a redesign or different take on an existing product in a way that sets a new bar in performance or quality
Lastly, in order to avoid awarding products that may never see the light of day, products with at least a calendar year release window or timeline were weighted over ones with no planned release date or a more nebulous one.
LG M3 Series 97-inch wireless OLED TV
James Martin/CNET
The LG M3 Series 97-inch wireless OLED TV is a huge wireless TV that doesn’t skimp on normal high-end TV features. This gargantuan behemoth of a TV combines fantastic picture technology with its huge size to be one of the most exciting TVs in recent memory. What really takes it over the edge however is that it’s entirely wireless.
Yep, no more fussing with a bunch of wires behind your entertainment center to get them to look as if they’re not there. With this TV, they aren’t.
LG says the 97-incher should be out in 2023 along with an 83- and 77-inch version. Don’t expect it to be cheap though. The wired version of LG’s 97-inch TV costs $25,000, while its 77-inch OLED is only $2900. Just to set expectations.
Withings U-Scan
Withings
Ever imagine you could get on-the-spot health data at home, just by going number 1? You’ll soon be able to with the Withings U-Scan (pee) sensor. The device sits at the front of your toilet. When you pee — and apparently it’s best to sit when you do so to get an accurate sample – it collects the urine, analyzes it and then sends the results to your phone via WiFi.
What type of results you might ask, well for starters, it can monitor daily ketones and vitamin C levels and tests your urine’s pH level, which can indicate overall kidney health. Use a different cartridge and women can use it to track their menstrual cycles.
We’ve seen other at-home urine test strips that require you to be hands-on t get test results, but the U-Scan is designed to be a seamless experience. Just do your business and move on. The fact that you can do this testing daily without even really thinking about it and get results sent to you right away is what truly sets the U-Scan apart.
HTC Vive XR Elite
The XR Elite is a VR headset with mixed reality that looks almost, at some angles, like glasses.
HTC
The HTC Vive XR Elite is the latest version of HTC’s VR/AR headset and based on our time with it, might be the best Vive so far when it releases in late February of this year $1,099.
Yes, we’ve seen VR headsets before, so what make this one special? The main reason it’s on this list is its size. HTC has shrunken the VR headset down to almost normal glasses size, making less than half the weight of the Quest Pro VR headset.
If you wear glasses normally, you; won’t need to wear there while using this. The adjusting dials, or diopters can change the lens prescription in real time, meaning the user needn’t wear glasses at all. That’s a really useful feature if it works as well as expected. As a person who wears glasses, but has soured on VR in the last few years, the combination of the XR Elite’s light small chassis and the no-glasses requirement makes VR a much more appealing prospect to me.
I’m not about to rush out and buy a VR, but the tech here looks to be exceptional, so let’s hope it catches on.
BMW i Vision Dee
The minimalist design of the i Vision Dee concept is a blank canvas for digital expression
BMW
Yes, the BMW i Vision Dee is a concept car, so my first reaction was to take every feature here with a grain of salt, but BMW has confirmed that the coolest and most useful feature, the head-up display (HUD), is coming to production cars in 2025.
Instead of a traditional dashboard screen, the Dee instead uses the entire windshield as the HUD. It’s an AR display that uses the full-width of the windshield and includes five levels of immersion. Level 1 gives you the basic essentials — speedometer, some navigation information, etc. Levels 2 through 4 increases the information onscreen and eventually overlays navigation information on the road.
Level 5 can display a completely virtual environment and is not meant for driving. Or rather is not meant for when you drive and is instead intended for when a car drives you. This is one of those that works best in motion so check out the video of the BMW i Vision Dee to see it in action.
The concept car also has an E Ink cover on its chassis that can change color based on your own desire and during BWM’s press conference they made it seem like it could carry on a conversation with you, ala KITT, but BMW admitted it used and backstage actress to show what it wants to do in the future. Again, only the HUD is confirmed to come to cars in the future so it was the most useful thing to focus on.
Samsung S95C 77-inch QD-OLED TV
Samsung
The Samsung S95C, the company’s first 77-inch TV using its QD-OLED technology. It improves on the previous years’ model with better anti glare technology and brighter images. The color in particular seemed to impress our TV expert, David Katzmaier the most; however, the screen finish is a bit grayer than LG’s which tends to wash out the image somewhat.
Still, the key reason its on this list beyond its high quality, is the potential it has to give LG a run for its money in the high end 77-inch TV market, which could eventually bring prices down across the board. Great news for those of us looking to buy a big awesome high end TV sometime in the future.
Schneider Smart Home system
Schneider Electric
Schneider’s Smart Home System isn’t something I’d ever considered owning until I moved into in a new larger house in 2020. Let’s just say, I grow at least a few more gray hairs when a new bill comes in. The system will allow users to save money by scheduling when certain outlets draw power by controlling the breakers, switcher and outlets to prevent energy vampires like TVs and chargers from drawing power when we don’t need them to.
For EV users it can schedule when your vehicle charges, timing it to only charge when rates are lowest or if possible only charge using solar panels.
As home electricity rates get higher — where I live they certainly have — and with more devices that demand more charging in our homes, having this kind of detailed control, without having to go unplug a bunch of stuff every time you leave the house or go on vacation is a welcome remedy indeed.
The Dolby Atmos in-car sound in the Mercedes MayBach
Dolby Atmos is a sound technology is like surround sound 2.0, where it attempts to fully immerse you in whatever you’re listening to. Atmos has been around for awhile in movie theaters and home theaters, but the Mercedes MayBach is one of the first cars to use it.
So how good is it? Well the experience is hard to explain, but I’ll let CNET Editor, Bridget Carey do her best. She says “The music felt like it was floating in the space around me — I couldn’t tell where the speakers were located, created a surreal sound sound. When listening to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” it was like Freddie Mercury was just floating in front of me.”
Check out the video to get a better idea of what Bridget experienced in the $185,000 MayBach. For those of us without that kind of cash, Dolby says we could see Atmos used in more affordable cars. The team is currently working on adapting the technology to a tradition 6-speaker set up, but no word on when exactly just yet.
CES 2023 returned with some potentially useful technology. Some new, some refinements, but almost at the very least address and attempts to solve a known consumer issue. There were plenty more that almost made the list. These are just the standout. Be sure to take look at the rest of CNET’s CES coverage for the rest.
