Skip to main content

The coolest products Samsung showed off at CES: Ballie, Neon, and lots of TVs

This story is part of our continuing coverage of CES 2020, including tech and gadgets from the showroom floor.

Samsung was one of the biggest booths (more like an entire wing), and the company showed off some new and groundbreaking tech at CES this week. 

Recommended Videos

In case you missed all the cool things announced, here is our roundup of all the Samsung tech that impressed us the most at CES. 

Please enable Javascript to view this content

1. Active Voice Amplifier technology

This technology is embedded in Samsung’s new 8K bezel-less TV and can amp up the volume of what you’re watching if a lot of noise starts to happen in the room. 

Whether you’re blending a smoothie or vacuuming the rug, this Samsung tech will automatically increase the TV’s volume, so you don’t miss out on what’s happening. 

2. Family Hub refrigerator 

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Samsung debuted its Family Hub refrigerator at CES 2020 to help people actually use the food in their fridge instead of letting it go to waste. The refrigerator uses Samsung’s Whisk smart food platform and A.I. image recognition from a camera located in the fridge to scan what kind of food you have and what kind of recipes you can make with it. 

The technology even tracks expiration dates, so you don’t have to worry whether the mayo has gone bad.

3. T7 Touch Portable SSD

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Samsung’s new solid-state drive (SSD) is smaller than a business card and features a built-in fingerprint scanner, making it much more secure than your average portable hard drive. 

4. A bezel-free 8K TV

Image used with permission by copyright holder

This TV completely immerses you in whatever you are watching, thanks to no sidebar. Samsung even told us the TV is 99% image and a mere 1% border. 

The 8K part of the Q950TS TV comes into play with a more advanced engine fueled by A.I., so the more you watch it, the more the TV teaches itself how to improve the resolution. 

5. Harman C-V2X tech for pedestrians 

The Samsung-owned company announced a concept of C-V2X (cellular vehicle-to-everything) tech that would allow vehicles to communicate with each other about potential obstacles. 

More importantly, the technology could allow pedestrians and cyclists to get warnings on their phones about oncoming cars or obstacles. 

6. Frame TV

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Samsung debuted a version of its QLED 4K TV that not only looks like an art frame but also functions as one. 

When you’re not using your TV, you can program it to display whatever artwork you choose, so your TV blends more seamlessly into your home. 

7. Neon humanoid chatbots 

Image used with permission by copyright holder

The realistic-looking avatars called Neons were a massive hit at CES. While they look and act like real people, Samsung’s Star Labs says they aren’t meant to be as intuitive or intelligent as an assistant like Alexa or Bixby. Instead, they are meant to simply be a friend. 

Through interactions with real people, Neons will be able to gain new skills and evolve. 

8. The Wall TV

Meet The Wall. Image used with permission by copyright holder

Samsung revealed that advancements in manufacturing have allowed it to introduce five new sizes of its modular MicroLED (8K Ultra HD) screens — 88, 93, 110, 150, and 292 inches — which come together to form The Wall.

True to its name, the TV is meant to take up the entire wall, turning any surface into an 8K cinema. 

9. Galaxy Note 10 Lite

Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Samsung’s new Note phone features a 6.7-inch display that sports HD+ (2,400 x 1,080 pixels) resolutions. The Note 10 comes with a pen that’s super functional. 

For the camera, you can expect 12 MP sensors for the ultra-wide, wide-angle, and telephoto lenses. 

10. Galaxy S10 Lite

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Debuted alongside the Galaxy Note 10 Lite, the Galaxy S10 Lite has the same features when it comes to its display. 

The camera, however, comes with a 5 MP macro, 12 MP ultra-wide, and a 48 MP wide-angle as the main sensor, giving the phone more emphasis on the camera. 

11. A 5G electric BMW 

BMW iNext prototype
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The luxury automaker and Samsung revealed plans to offer 5G connectivity in 2021 models of the iNext, which would allow for zero-delay streaming. 

Aside from increased streaming speeds, a 5G car would pave the way for semiautonomous driving. 

12. The Ballie robot 

Samsung's ball-shaped robot, called Ballie.
Samsung

Samsung calls this spherical robot a “life companion” whose many jobs include a security guard for your home, a fitness assistant, and as a remote control for your home’s smart devices. 

A built-in camera allows the robot to recognize its owner so it can follow you around the house like a puppy. 

13. SelfieType invisible keyboard 

Image used with permission by copyright holder

This invisible A.I.-powered keyboard uses your phones’ existing front-facing camera to track your hands as you type on any surface. 

While it’s only a concept, if it ends up becoming an actual Samsung product, it would come in handy so you don’t have to lug a physical keyboard around. 

Follow our live blog for more CES news and announcements.

Allison Matyus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Allison Matyus is a general news reporter at Digital Trends. She covers any and all tech news, including issues around social…
Luke Grimes says Costner’s absence made this easiest season of Yellowstone to film
Luke Grimes leaning on a fence in Yellowstone.

The absence of Kevin Costner from the second half of Yellowstone's fifth season was one of the defining stories of the show's second half. While many fans may have missed Costner and his character, John Dutton, there was at least one member of the cast who thought Costner's absence made filming the show easier.

In an interview with Esquire, star Luke Grimes got candid about filming the final season. “Hopefully, everyone can see that it was time,” he told Esquire. “To be really honest, there was a part of Kevin being gone that meant some of the conflict was gone. Obviously, it didn’t make it super fun to be around. Not pointing any fingers, but it was actually the easiest season we’ve filmed.”

Read more
Nvidia may not budge on its VRAM choices
Logo on the RTX 4060 Ti graphics card.

According to new leaks about the RTX 50-series, Nvidia may still keep its most popular GPU starved for VRAM. Wccftech claims that the RTX 5060 will retain an 8GB memory configuration combined with a 128-bit bus. Does this mean that the RTX 5060 won't find its footing among some of the best graphics cards? Not necessarily.

The publication cites its own sources as it reveals some of the specs for Nvidia's more affordable GPUs, ranging from the RTX 5070 Ti to the RTX 5060. And while there are some changes, it does seem that, for the most part, Nvidia is satisfied with its approach to video memory -- which games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle are constantly putting to the test. Newer AAA games will only push for higher memory capacities, which we may not find in Nvidia's most affordable GPU, but the rest of the stack is looking a little better. Let's go over the specs.

Read more
Nvidia’s RTX 5080 may be better than the RTX 5090 in one small way
The PNY RTX 4080 XLR8 installed in a PC.

The launch of Nvidia's next-gen best graphics cards is right around the corner, and we're getting new leaks about the specs almost every day. Today, Benchlife reveals that the RTX 5080 may be the only RTX 50-series GPU to receive 30Gbps memory modules from the get-go. This would give the RTX 5080 a slight advantage, but there's also some conflicting information about the memory configuration for this GPU.

All of Nvidia's next-gen graphics cards are said to use new GDDR7 memory, and yesterday's Zotac leak confirmed that the RTX 5090 will sport 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM. That's a massive upgrade over the previous generation, but the RTX 5080 won't enjoy the same improvements -- the GPU is said to retain both the 16GB memory and the 256-bit bus we've already seen in the RTX 4080 (and its Super version).

Read more