IFA 2016 is so big this year, German’s tech extravaganza now stretches across two days of press announcements to cover it all. Today, Asus, Bang & Olufsen, Panasonic, and Samsung showed off some of the new gear we can expect to see in the coming months. We walked away impressed, and we’re just getting started.
Asus’ new Zenwatch 3 finally sports a round face after two years of rectangular iterations. A 1.39-inch AMOLED display covered in Gorilla Glass should also prevent shattering on impact after a fall. Under the hood of this classic-looking timepiece is the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100, developed specifically for wearable devices. It charges extremely quickly — just 15 minutes on the charger restores 60 percent battery life — and lasts up to two days on a full charge. If that’s not enough, Asus offers a battery pack you strap to the watch’s back to extend its life further.
Not to be outdone, Samsung took the wraps off the Gear S3 Classic and Gear S3 Frontier smartwatches, which Digital Trends’ Andy Boxall and Malarie Gokey consider serious contenders. Everything we liked about the Gear S2 watch is represented, but with noted alterations, including traditional Swiss design, steel finish, and an always-on, full-color display. Unfortunately, we found them a bit bulky to look natural on a lady’s wrist, but Samsung insists it is doing its best to work around the complexities involved in cramming so much tech into such a tiny device.
We’ve been disappointed with the 360-degree speakers we’ve seen over the past few years, but Bang & Olufsen figured out how to do it right. The Beosound 1 and 2 speakers manage to deliver stunning design you’d be proud to place in your home, along with rock-solid sound quality, a combination that, until now, has remained elusive. You have to see and hear them to believe them, but we can tell you they support Bluetooth, AirPlay, and Google Cast, along with Spotify, Deezer and other popular streaming music services. Oh, and they really do sound great from any vantage point.
Panasonic left a big crowd of video enthusiasts in the dust when it introduced its pricey UB900 Blu-ray player earlier this year at CES 2016, but the new UB700 delivers most of the same premium features in a more affordable version. Of course, the UB900 is only just making its way to the U.S., so it’s anyone’s guess when we might be able to purchase the more wallet-friendly version.
We’ll have plenty more to share tomorrow, as Samsung, LG, Sony, Sharp, and others show off their hottest wares, while even more emerging tech will be on display at tomorrow evening’s Showstoppers event. Visit Digital Trends often for the latest developments emerging from IFA 2016 in Berlin!
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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