These are iMore’s CES 2015 top picks
- jan
- 16
Apple might not have an official presence at CES 2015, but Apple's ecosystem is everywhere at the show. People are walking around with iPhones and iPads, using them to stay connected and to demo their apps and accessories, tying into CarPlay, HomeKit, and HealthKit, and it general building their platforms on top of the platforms Apple has built. It's pervasive. And that also makes it hard to pick our favorites. There's. Just. So. Much. But that's the job and we did it! Here are iMore's top picks for CES 2015!
WeMo sensors
Belkin new WeMo line includes a room motion sensor, an alarm upgrade system, and a magnetic sensor for windows and doors. The most interesting of the bunch is an accessory that installs into your home's plumbing to monitor water usage. As usual, they connect to your home Wi-Fi network for all sorts of smart home utilities accessible from your phone.
WeMo Water senses pressure changes based on things like turning on faucets and flushing the toilet, and can detect plumbing problems. Right now, WeMo water is undergoing field trials. There's also a new keychain sensor so your WeMo system can know when you're home, plus a dedicated hardware button lets you control other connected devices.The alarm system intelligently recognizes nearby audio alarms and translates them to smart alerts for your device when triggered.
Elgato Eve
Elgato's just-announced eve line sensors includes eve room, eve weather, eve water, eve door and window, eve smoke, and eve energy. Together they'll let you gather and monitor air quality, temperature, humidity, air pressure, energy and water consumption and more.
Because eve is compatible with HomeKit, you'll be able to set up your homes, rooms, and actions right from the eve app, and easily control all your accessories or groups of accessories, all from one place.
Parrot RNB6 in-dash system
The Parrot RNB6 may run a custom build of Google's Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system, but thanks to Apple's CarPlay, no iPhone owner will ever have to interact with it. Just plug in and a familiar iOS-like interface will fill the screen, familiar iOS-like apps will make themselves available to you, and all your existing data and content will be right there at your finger tips.
Additionally, the system can connect to your car's OBD2. With this, the in-dash system can integrate itself into the car's speakers, radio, climate control, tire air pressure sensors, and anything else that your car might have equipped.It also provides for a dashcam. This can be mounted behind your car's rear-view mirror so that it is not a distraction to the driver but where it can still be in an optimal location to film the road as you drive in case of an accident.
Kenwood DDX9902S
The DDX9902S is Kenwood's first in-dash receiver to support Apple's CarPlay. There's a touch screen, so you can tap the familiar iOS-like interfaces and apps, but also Siri support so you can use your voice to control everything and not have to worry about taking your hands off the steering wheel.
There's also Bluetooth, HDMI for both charging and audio and video out, and the ability to add a rear-view camera.
Athos ActiveWear
Athos ActiveWear, which includes shirts and shorts for both men and women, are designed to be worn in just about any environment, across a range of sizes and body types, and can even be comfortably worn under your regular clothing. Pop in the sensor module, and ActiveWear provides a remarkable amount of data that a personal trainer or coach can monitor while you work out, or you can review later.
The way Athos has chosen to represent the muscular activity is particularly impressive, and makes a strong case for this kind of tech being a standard in medical services like physical therapy sessions to determine how your muscles are doing their thing.
ZAGG Pocket
The iPhone 6 Plus blurs the lines between iPhone and iPad. It's screen is big, but not quite big enough to match even a small tablet keyboard. To cross that chasm, there's the ZAGG Pocket. It's 85% the size of a desktop keyboard, so you can still pound away at brisk speed, but it folds up so you can carry it around anywhere you take your iPhone.
A small keyboard is a compromise in the same way a big phone is a compromise — one that needs to balance most of the benefit with few of the drawbacks. And with the ZAGG Pocket, they've hit that balance.
Typo for iPad
The original Typo and it's successor, the Type 2, bring a physical keyboard to your iPhone, including the big and bigger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. It's the Typo for iPad, however, that caught our eye this year. It comes with a stand, hinged like a MacBook Air, and keys that are both fast and satisfying.
Until Apple makes their own iPad keyboard case, the Typo for iPad is going to be on a lot of road-warrior wish-lists.
mophie juice pack for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
Whenever Apple redesigns the iPhone one of the first questions people ask is — where's the new mophie to go with it. No matter how long a batter lasts, people who travel or simply use it a lot are going to want more, and a battery case is simply one of the most convenient ways to get just that.
So, when mophie announced the juice packs for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus, in black gloss white, and gold, with their usual styling and quality, people paid attention. Especially everyone at CES with half-and-eye on their power levels...
Congratulations!
This year's winners will all be shipping soon, and we look forward to reviewing them almost as much as we do buying them and bringing them home. Congratulations to all of iMore's CES 2015 top picks and to everyone else — get ready for CES 2016!
