IFA 2025 Day Zero Round-Up: Plenty To See Before The Show Opens Tomorrow!

IFA, the biggest consumer technology show in the world, opens tomorrow. But we've been on the ground since yesterday, meeting with various brands and checking out their various products. Between off-site meetings with companies like Logitech and Lenovo, and showcases like Showstoppers, we've already seen a ton of really interesting tech.

The show floor opens tomorrow, and if you're in Berlin, you can come down and check things out yourself — the show is open to the public, as long as you have a ticket. But for those of you who are not in town, or can't take the time to see what's going on, we're here to bring you all the cool goodies there are to see.

We haven't spent a lot of time with these products, but we've had hands-on time and demos to vet a lot of the claims these companies are making. Some of what you'll see at tradeshows will never see the light of day; what we've seen seems to at least have a really good chance at succeeding in the open market. So without further ado, here's all the cool stuff we saw before the show even opened.

The first product we took in at IFA was the Acer Swift Air 16, which is slated to come to European markets later this year and possibly the U.S. around the same time. Acer is currently dealing with the same import issues with the U.S. that other vendors are dealing with, so there's some uncertainty about when this will come and how much it'll cost when it gets here.

As for the product, it is remarkably large, thin, and light, which are not a combination you usually see together. You often get two of the three, but not all three. The Swift Air 16 is a new member in the Swift family of Acer laptops. The main selling point is how large the screen is — which comes in IPS or AMOLED — and how light it is. It's under one kilogram: 2.43 pounds for the AMOLED model and 2.18 pounds for the IPS panel.

This is all powered by the AMD Ryzen 300 series of processors, up to and including the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 processor. You can get up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage along with a 50 Wh battery, which is a tad small in this space. Acer claims the laptop can run for up to 13 hours in a video playback test.

You know all those times when you go to play tennis and there's just no one to play with? What if you could have a robot that would play tennis with you? Well, now you can. Acefast, which is a subsidiary of Switchbot, developed a robot that can do just that. Basically, you can hit a ball, and the robot will see it and intercept it, while at the same time lobbing a tennis ball back to you, as if a player had just hit it back.

There are two key advantages right off the bat. First, with the robot driving around the court catching balls, you don't need to reload the machine nearly as much (if at all). Second, by having the machine drive around, you'll be getting lobbed balls from different directions and positions, so it more accurately simulates a tennis game.

The robot works by using stereo cameras in the front to determine the position of the ball at all times. Those cameras can even record you and — yes, there's AI, because of course there is — AI can examine your swing and technique and give you pointers.

Am I saying this is worth the $1,599.99 it's asking for on preorder? Is it worth the $2,499.99 it'll command after the pre-sale? That's not for me to say, but if you have a tennis pro in your life that is always asking you to take some reps with them — or whatever tennis pros call it — maybe this is worth relieving yourself of that aggravation.

I wrote about the Aurzen Zip projector during CES earlier this year, and to be honest, there's not much that has changed about the projector since then. It's still adorable and tiny. It still unfolds in a Z shape to become its own tripod and project at 720p. But now, at IFA, the company has a new colorway which I just adore. It's called the Zip Cyber, and it's just really retro and still adorable.

The case for the projector is covered in a sort of Nothing-esque cover that "shows" the internals. Those are not the actual internals, but it's still pretty wild looking. I first wrote about this projector in January because it was adorable; now, it's not only adorable, but a little nerdy looking — and I'm here for it.

Plus, Aurzen shows off a small collapsible screen, which is really neat. There are two pipes with a retractable screen between them. There is a stabilizer bar that runs between them. The feet for the screen are attached to the inside of the stabilizer bar, so it's all self-contained. I actually love that screen, perhaps a tad more than the projector itself, but they're both pretty cool and I can't wait to try them out.

Not all of the interesting things we've seen at this year's trade show are gadgets you can physically touch; Xperi is one such example. Xperi is a software company based in San Jose, California, that includes multiple well-known brands like HD Radio, IMAX Enhanced, DTS, and TiVo. Yes — that TiVo, the same brand that revolutionized the way we watch content over 20 years ago with the original DVR. TiVo is still committed to making it easier to watch your favorite shows and movies, but instead of recording them over live TV, the brand has developed a smart TV operating system custom-made to simplify streaming. TiVo OS allows you to search for the movie or TV show you want to watch straight from your set's home screen — regardless of the app it's currently streaming from. No longer will you need to scroll through several playlists on Netflix, Disney+, and others to find what you're looking for. 

The remote also uses voice controls, but rather than a voice assistant like Alexa or Google Assistant, TiVo's "voice solution" is specifically designed for home entertainment. Rather than being overburdened with extraneous features like timers or smart lights control, the voice assistant in TiVo uses its AI brains specifically for enhanced search abilities, such as searching movies by famous movie quotes, for example. Plus, you can chain a series of commands, such as "Play an action movie. From the 90s. Starring Bruce Willis," to narrow down your search step by step.

Xperi's IMAX Enhanced similarly streamlines the viewing experience for consumers. If you see the label on a product, whether it's a television, projector, tablet, or speakers, you'll know it will deliver the same high-quality audio and visuals you can expect at IMAX theaters.

Happy lights had their moment a few years back, beating the winter blues with lamps that could mimic the color temperature of a warm summer day. The problem with them, however, is that you need to be blasted with some pretty bright blue light for them to work, which can get uncomfortable after a while. That's why SunLED's SunBooster caught our eye (no pun intended).

Similar to those older happy light products, the concept behind SunBooster is to recreate what the sun does, just inside your office while you work. However, instead of bright blue light, it emits very subtle near-infrared light that you barely notice. Even better, it clips onto the top of your monitor or laptop screen like a webcam, so you don't need to make space for a desk lamp.

By mimicking these low-frequency waves of light, the SunBooster tells your body it's receiving rejuvenating sun rays, even in the middle of the night or the dead of winter. Scientific studies have shown that people working with the device had moods three times better than placebo groups, some after just a few days. If that's the case, the SunLED SunBooster may quite literally prove to be the perfect gadget for a rainy day.

When we first saw Doogee's booth at IFA, we thought they were showing off durable phone cases, the types that look like you can drop them from a rooftop and still keep your phone in one piece. However, we soon realized we weren't looking at rugged cases but rugged phones. Doogee's phones are built thick and tough so that you don't even need a case. This isn't just convenient, as it also allows Doogee to incorporate special features into the phone's exterior, knowing you won't need to cover it with a third-party accessory. 

For example, one of Doogee's products can passively charge when exposed to ambient light. Another has a fairly large, round screen built into the back that's slightly larger than the area many phones set aside for camera lenses. This screen gives you a view of what your selfie photo or video looks like as you take it, which is very convenient. It can also be used for other purposes, such as checking out a YouTube video. 

Another Doogee phone, the Doogee V Max, has an auto-focus projector built directly into the top of its frame, allowing you to display and mirror your screen wherever you want. With this device, you can scroll TikToks on your wall or stream your favorite Netflix movie from your phone onto a larger, more cinematic surface. It also saves you the trouble of needing a portable projector for camping trips or backyard hangs, as you already have a pocket-sized one doubling as your phone.