Three Cool Things We Saw at CES 2021: Day 1

By Stephen Clark

Last updated 11 January 2021

A hand reaching into a junk drawer to grab a smartphone

In this Guide

Smartphone: TCL 20 5G
Gadgets: Samsung SmartThings
Canadian Tech: Moviwear Medical Trackers

Quick Look—CES 2021: Day 1

The first day of CES 2021 involved a lot of press conferences and innovative technology. We got to see a new smartphone from TCL, Samsung SmartThings solutions to make your home experience more personalized, and Moviwear, which provides affordable products that keep our most vulnerable loved ones in close contact no matter how far they travel.

WhistleOut Canada @ CES 2021

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Every year, the world's biggest and most innovative tech companies converge on Las Vegas for CES. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year is exclusively a virtual event. This isn't WhistleOut's first year at CES, but the new format lets us visit even more booths and see more of what's to come in 2021. There are hundreds of tech companies showcasing next-generation in more than 40 categories.

Product photos of the TCL 20 5G smartphone

Smartphones: TCL 20 5G

Last year, TCL made waves by shedding the Blackberry branding and releasing smartphones under its own name. The TCL 10 Pro offered impressive performance at midrange price, but the highlight was the free LCD television included as a purchase bonus. This year, TCL is promoting the new 20-series smartphones including the TCL 20 5G and TCL 20 SE.

It's not clear that the TCL 20 5G will support Canadian next-gen networks. The hardware specs don't appear to offer the same 5G bands used by Rogers, Bell, Telus or Videotron. Should the TCL 20 5G be released in Canada, it should have no trouble connecting to existing 4G LTE networks.

I hope the TCL 20 5G does come to Canada, because its Snapdragon 690 5G CPU is faster, the NXTVISION image processing converts standard videos to HDR quality on the larger 6.67" display, and a triple-camera layout boosts auto-focus and low-light photos.

TCL also showed off some cool concept devices using rollable displays. The first can turn a 6.7" pocket smartphone into a massive 7.8" phablet. Even more interesting is the 17" printable OLED display that could fit a premium laptop-sized screen in your pocket.

Gadgets: Samsung SmartThings in the Home

Even after the COVID-19 pandemic is over, more people plan to work from home than ever before. Samsung showed off several ways they hope to redefine how appliances can work together in the age of smart devices:

Refrigerators with Smart Hub for 2021 display a full week of meal ideas. With a couple of taps, the recipe pops up on the built-in display and remotely sets the oven to the proper temperature.

A refrigerator communicates with the oven over the SmartThings network

The Jetbot 90 AI+ vacuum is a robot with LiDAR sensors, machine learning, and a built-in webcam so you can keep track of the pets while you're out.
Next Generation Robotics for the home are also on display with Samsung Bot care that learns your habits and helps track your schedule. The "Bot Handy," for example, is posited as a home assistant that can load the dishwasher and pour you a glass of red wine. (I'm not sure how far this future is, but I want a Bot Handy now.)

One of the hottest new features in televisions at CES 2021 is MicroLED, which improves colour reproduction and creates deep blacks on LCD displays, which is a cheaper alternative to OLED. This year we previewed Samsung's 110" MicroLED 8K television. New televisions that use the Quantum AI processor can upscale HD content to full 8K. It's nice to know my Blu-ray collection won't be made obsolete by the onset of 8K televisions.

Although it's not the shiniest example of modern tech, I was most excited by the new Samsung Upcycling initiative. Consumers can dig out that old Samsung smartphone from the junk drawer and reuse it as a dedicated SmartThings device. The examples we saw included a childcare tool that sends an audible alert to your smartphone when it hears a baby crying, and an internet-enabled remote that can turn the lights even when you're not home.

I love the idea of reusing old smartphones. Not only because it reduces waste and is a cheap option when automating a home, but I have a drawer full of old smartphones that could use a second life. Samsung told WhistleOut Canada that there will be more information on the Upcycling program once it becomes available.

Canadian Tech: Moviwear Helps Monitor Seniors

Moviwear offers a suite of wireless devices that enable seniors to continue living an independent, active lifestyle. The NurtureWatch and new Infinity Box use 4G and WiFi to securely send monitored vital signs for remote observation. Additional Bluetooth-enabled accessories can track heart rate, location, and more.

CEO and Founder Jacob Moshinsky spoke with WhistleOut. He was inspired by a personal event that left him seeking a simpler way to keep vulnerable seniors connected in case of an emergency. The first device was the NurtureWatch. At first, it appears like an Apple Watch, but the minimal interface prioritizes simple operation so it won't overwhelm its user. The battery lasts about a day, so Moviwear created the newer Infinity Box, which offers the same functionality, but excludes the display and can sit in a charging cradle until the patient leaves the home.

You can program up to three emergency contact phone numbers into the device. With online monitoring enabled, once it detects that something has gone wrong, it can reach out and find someone to help.

All data is stored securely in the cloud, not on the device. The platform continues to improve through voluntary, anonymized data collection. Data engineers optimize the system itself, which in turn enables better detection of critical events. The platform is regularly tested with white-hat hackers to ensure security, and users can opt out at any time and have their data deleted.

The MoviwearMed platform allows medical professionals to initiate a checkup on demand and track temperature, ECG, respiratory rate, glucose level, heart rate and more. The patient can be located anywhere, too, with 4G coverage in countries that span the globe. Moviwear is an innovative fusion of smart medical devices, worldwide Internet-of-Things connectivity, and machine learning to keep loved ones safe.