This year’s CES is back in full swing after a couple of years of limited activity — and boy, is it back! As is the case for most things in the 21st century, most new devices that were showcased at the event have some sort of connected feature built in. And as you’d definitely expect from a tech extravaganza based in Las Vegas, a whole lot of those gadgets got real weird. But after the champagne flights and our long working nights, we now bring to you some of the best smart home devices from CES 2023 that you might actually consider living with.
1. Hisense Mini LED TVs on a budget
Source: Hisense
Mini LED TVs bridge the gap between your conventional LED and OLED TVs by getting you near-perfect black levels and highly-defined contrast zones without the burn-in issue of the OLEDs. Since the tech is fairly new, we’ve really only seen Mini LEDs on a few premium models, but Hisense is poised to make them more accessible with an affordable range of TV sets.
Starting with the entry-level U6 model featuring Google TV, you can get a Mini LED TV for as low as $500. This is good news for anyone looking to upgrade their TV this year without having to spend top dollar for it. Those eyeing the premium segment also have a few new options from Hisense that get you all the bells and whistles like additional dimming zones, a high refresh rate, better peak brightness, and more.
2. JBL’s 2023 soundbar lineup
To go with your new TV purchase this year, JBL announced a full lineup of soundbars at CES. The top three models — the Bar 1300x, Bar 1000, and the Bar 700 — come with detachable, battery-powered satellite speakers that you can place around the room without running cables along the corners. You can pick the base Bar 300 model for just $400, while the highest-end Bar 1300X will cost you a hefty $1,700.
But the best thing about these bars is that the entire range comes with smart connectivity. You can pair them with the JBL One app and can also control them with Google Assistant and Alexa. Chromecast and AirPlay 2 are also built right in for casting your music from an Android phone or an iPhone.
3. Roborock’s refreshed S8 series of robot vacuums
Roborock is refreshing its already popular lineup of robot vacuums for 2023. The top-end S8 Pro Ultra does borrow a lot of features from its predecessors including all the convenient self-cleaning capabilities, but it does everything better. For instance, it is now better at mopping with double the vibration action and can even lift the roller brush up when just mopping.
Suction power has gone up to 6,000Pa across the range, benefiting buyers of the Roborock S8+ and the standard S8. These two lower-end models aren’t slouches, either, getting you several new features but for a slightly higher price than last year’s models. Roborock also announced a new Pro version of its handheld vacuums, in case you prefer a more hands-on approach to house cleaning.
4. Ring security camera for your car
While not technically for your home, Ring’s new Car Cam was announced at CES 2023 to give you a multipurpose monitoring system for your car. It comes with two cameras to keep an eye on what’s happening both on the inside and outside — there’s a privacy shutter for the interior camera in case you’re worried.
Being an Amazon product, you’ll need to say “Alexa, record” before the camera will start recording for a few minutes. It can draw power even when the car is turned off, allowing it to deliver event alerts or remotely trigger video recording using the Ring app. Ring also announced a new peephole camera for your front door with knock and motion detection — a good thing about it is that it costs less than its predecessor.
5. Smart sprinkler controller for your lawn by Moen
Source: Moen
Moen’s new sprinkler system smartens up your lawn watering routine with soil sensors and a supply system controller to go with it. The sensors are wireless, so you don’t need to do any wiring. The company says you can get everything set up within a few minutes, depending on how much digging you need to do to install the sensors. Once that’s done, you can control everything from Moen’s slick-looking app and then leave the whole shebang alone; the smart controller can also automate everything depending on the season, the crop, and the soil condition.
6. Cuffless blood pressure monitoring
Source: Valencell
At-home blood pressure monitoring units typically require you to wrap a cuff around your arm to get accurate readings. But Valencell is bringing a more compact version of this vital health monitor that looks no bigger than a typical SpO2 tracker worn on the fingertip. As with everything else on this list, the device connects to a companion app on your phone or tablet to show your readings.
While its FDA approval will arrive by the end of this year, changing up how users get their blood pressure information should make monitoring units much more accessible and will complement any of the best fitness trackers you can get right now.
7. Nanoleaf smart lights
Source: Nanoleaf
With your new media center set up, you’d need to add some RGB lighting to amp up the mood. That’s where Nanoleaf’s new smart lights come into the picture. The 4D TV Smarter Kit uses a camera to match the scene to the light strip behind your TV, and you can program 50 zones for better color and gradient sync with your TV.
Going a step ahead of its excellent colorful tiles, Nanoleaf also launched Skylight modular fixtures for your ceiling. You can install these square tiles in whatever pattern you prefer, and each of them has its own light and motion sensors for all kinds of automation madness. Both of these lighting systems are Matter-compatible, too.
8. Withings U-Scan urine analyzer
Yes, this is in our weird list as well, but we think we’ve saved the best for last: the Withings U-Scan is a smart, Wi-Fi-connected puck that sits inside the toilet to analyze your urine. It comes with two types of replaceable cartridges for different functions like tracking menstrual cycles and ovulation windows or providing nutrition and hydration information. The device can even tell apart various users in the family with its Stream ID feature — we can’t help but imagine this being used to ensure privileged access at Pentagon or MI-6.
When the test is done, the puck sends the data to a companion app where you can go through all its findings. However, its high price and maintenance (like charging a puck that’s been hanging inside the toilet) may prove to be a tricky proposition. Well, at least urine is, if not pleasant to deal with, sterile.
CES 2023: A wrap
We kicked off the year with a grand tech exhibition that is CES and were left impressed by the sheer number of launches that took place over the last couple of days, from downright weird to some pretty handy stuff. This year was largely dedicated to smart homes, with nearly every other gadget boasting internet connectivity for automation — and Matter has been the star of the show.
While CES 2023 gave us an early peek at how our smart homes will shape up all through the year, there was plenty to explore in other categories as well. For instance, Samsung launched its most good-looking budget phone, while there were also a few well-rounded Chromebooks from HP and Lenovo that made it to our list of best products at CES 2023. Check that out for our continuing coverage of the show.
