TechTheDay

It’s finally September. Earlier this year, people from the tech industry flocked to Las Vegas for CES and in Barcelona for MWC. This time, the show’s in Berlin for the annual IFA. The mobile makers are showing off their new stuff for the 2nd half of this year.

The Intenationale Funkausstellung Berlin (or IFA for short), also known as the International Radio Exhibition Berlin or “the Berlin Radio Show” is an annual event in Berlin, Germany since 2005. It’s one of the oldest tech expos in Europe, existing as an annual event from 1924 to 1939, then as a biannual event from 1950 to 2005 before switching again to annual. Just like CES and MWC, it features tech exhibits featuring their latest products and innovations, as well as upcoming ones.

And this year is no exception: our favorite tech companies are showing off the latest phones, accessories, laptops and other stuff for the tech-savvy nerds to drool on.

Samsung

Since Samsung has unveiled their brand new Galaxy Note 8 a few weeks ago they unveiled 3 new wearable devices for this show instead. The focus of these new devices seems to be fitness.

Taking over last year’s Gear S3’s throne, the Gear Sport features new functions compared to the S3. With the focus being fitness, the smartwatch comes with fitness-related apps, such as Speedo On. Samsung also partnered with Under Armour to let Gear Sport customers receive premium access to their apps, like MyFitnessPal and MyMapRun.

The watch has 1.2-inch, 360 x 360 resolution, AMOLED display which includes Gorilla Glass 3. It’s powered by a dual-core processor and has 768MB of Ram. It also features 4GB of storage and Bluetooth 4.2. The battery will last up to 4 days without using GPS while using it will cause the battery life shrinks quite considerably, bringing it down to 14 hours.

Another device is the Gear Fit 2, which is basically the same as the Gear Sport, apart from a few features. It also comes in small or large sizes. And finally, apart from the Gear Sport and the Gear Fit 2, Samsung also featured the improved version of the Gear IconX wireless earbuds, which have an improved battery life and now come with Bixby support.

Sony

Sony’s main attraction in the expo was their Sony Xperia XZ1, which is kind of like a lesser version of their Xperia XZ Premium. It has the same amazing camera (which can take videos of up to 960 fps and equipped with the Motion Eye system), a smaller screen of 5.2 inches (compared to XZ Premium’s 5.5), the same HD resolution capability and much more. What’s new though is the XZ1’s ability to scan 3D objects with their new 3D Creator tool.

Sony also featured their very own smart speaker that uses Google Assistant, the LF-S50G. The device can do everything other smart speakers can do. They also showed off their new camera, the RXO. It’s an all-purpose, lightweight camera that also captures VR. Finally, they also had their WH-1000XM2 wireless headphones, with an even more advanced noise-canceling technology than the MDR-1000X.

Lenovo

Lenovo was there too with their new Lenovo Yoga 920. The machine is powered by an 8th-generation quad-core processor and has a 13.9-inch touchscreen capable of 4k display. Then there’s the lesser Yoga 720, which only uses 7th-generation dual core chips and has a 12-inch display. Then finally they have the Miix 520, which is the successor to the Miix 510.

On the headset side, Lenovo brought along to the show their new mixed reality headset, which isn’t really all that much different from other VR headsets out there.

Motorola, which Lenovo acquired in 2014, launched their Moto X4 smartphone. It’s a midrange phone and comes equipped with a Snapdragon 630. It has a 5.2-inch screen with 1080p display. It doesn’t really stand out as much against Sony’s Xperia XZ1 and LG’s V30.

LG

LG also brought along their new V30 smartphone, which is the successor to 2016’s V20. It features an OLED screen and a Snapdragon 835 processor with 4GB RAM. The camera is very impressive: it comes equipped with an f/1.6 aperture glass lens, the first smartphone to ever have one.

Other Notables

Asus was there to show off their mixed reality headset, as Asus is one of the companies collaborating with Microsoft to create cheaper VR headsets (Lenovo is one of them, too). Sharp unveiled their Aquos 8K TV, with 7680 x 4320 pixels. And Acer was there for the gamers with their new gaming PC, the Predator Orion 9000, which is planned to be sold along with the 35-inch curved monitor, the Predator X35, by next year.