IFA 2018 draws to a close, and as always there's no shortage of fresh gadgetry to choose from at the Berlin technology show. Laptops, smart home technology, and the perennial big screen TVs - now pushing 8K resolution - abounded, but that wasn't all. Read on for SlashGear's Best of IFA 2018.
With aptX Adaptive, Qualcomm just gave the otherwise semi-stagnant technology of Bluetooth audio a kick in the pants. Standard Bluetooth audio is encoded at one size, and delivered to speaker devices in the same manner, regardless of the application or situation. With aptX Adaptive, the device sending the sound can encode sound information in a bunch of different sizes, dependent on the environment and sonic requirements of the user.
For a couple of months now, Fortnite players on PS4 have been locked out of their Epic accounts on other consoles. While those players can still use their Epic accounts to play Fortnite on PC and mobile, they can't on Nintendo Switch ot Xbox One. That restriction has been a major point of frustration for Fortnite fans who own more than one console, and thus far, Sony hasn't given us much hope that the problem will be resolved in a way that benefits players.
Appliance brand Haier has taken the wraps off a new smart appliance called InstaSwitch, a freezer that can transform into a refrigerator when necessary. The company showcased its new offering at IFA 2018 this week, introducing a single-door freezer model with multiple divided storage compartments that can be individually controlled based on need.
While there are plenty of ways to control Philips Hue connected lights - including by voice, smartphone app, or smartwatch - sometimes there's nothing quite so convenient as a regular light switch. Now, integrating the Zigbee bulbs into a more streamlined smart home is about to get easier, the announcement of a range of new Friends of Hue light switches at IFA 2018.
Generally gaming-focused PC-maker MSI revealed a new notebook this week af IFA called the MSI P65 Creator. This new PC is not made for gaming. Instead, MSI suggests that this PC was made "for content creators and professionals." They suggest that the reason this notebook is good for content creators and professionals is that it has "desktop-grade power in a form factor they can easily carry around."
The newest version of the Razer Mamba Wireless gaming mouse looks similar to what's come before - but it's better. It's got improvements in two of the most important parts of any wireless peripheral - accuracy and battery life. That goes double for gaming devices made for a community of people who think wireless devices are the DEVIL. This one is slightly less devlish than before.
Razer BlackWidow Elite was revealed today, bringing the original gaming-ready mechanical switch-toting keyboard back with a new set of features. This version of the keyboard has the ability to run with green, orange, or yellow Razer Mechanical Switches, allowing the end user the exact sort of switches they desire most. This keyboard is the first in the BlackWidow line to come with Hybrid On-board Memory and Cloud Storage "for up to five profile configurations that can be saved for use anywhere."
This week the folks at Razer revealed the newest and most extravagant versions of three of their best-known peripherals. The Razer Kraken Tournament Edition, the BlackWidow Elite, and the Mamba Wireless were revealed at IFA 2018 in Germany and PAX West. This includes upgrades as well as completely new technologies never before offered in these products - including here the inclusion of THX Spatial Audio in a pair of BRIGHT GREEN gaming tournament-ready headphones (with a top-notch mic, of course).
It's been a pretty big day for Huawei. The company began Friday by hosting a keynote address at IFA 2018, during which it announced the new Kirin 980 SoC. It also gave us an update on how the P20 and the P20 Pro are doing at retail, and they seem to be doing pretty well. With this success in mind, Huawei has decided to keep up the momentum by introducing two new colors for the handsets.
The AI Cube isn't Huawei's only unusual connected gadget revealed at IFA 2018, with the Huawei Locator also making its debut. Joining the competitive beacon segment, the compact dongle promises better positioning courtesy of using actual satellite location data, rather than triangulating its position through Bluetooth as some rivals do.
Huawei has launched an LTE-connected smart speaker and router, the Huawei AI Cube, complete with Alexa built-in, but the weirdest thing about it is the shape. Making its debut at IFA 2018 today, the Alexa speaker may be called a cube, but in fact it's a stubby cylinder. Huawei does say the design may change before launch, but what shouldn't are the capabilities.