CES 2020 Travel Gadget News – Day 1
It’s the start of a new year and therefore time for the consumer tech world to head out to Las Vegas. CES 2020 runs from 7th until 10th Jan and {Tech} for Travel is here to dig out all the travel gadget related news and launches.
- Day 1 Round-Up
- Eureka Park Special
- Day 3 Highlights
- Day 4
Delta Airlines
What better way to start this year’s CES event than with the very first keynote addressing the future of travel technology and how it will transform our lives.
Ed Bastian, Delta Airlines CEO, delivered this to a packed Venitian Hotel Ballroom on Tuesday morning. Not only did he describe his vision for the future for air travellers, but confirmed it will arrive this year!
An Airport Just for You
Within Delta is The Hangar, a global innovation centre, that explores new technologies and how they can be applied to your travel experience. This centre has teamed up with Misapplied Sciences to bring what they call Parallel Reality to the airport.
The result is a large display like the ones we see in airports around the world today. But instead of a long list of all departures and gates, each person will only see the information relevant to them.
Misapplied Sciences claim thousands of travellers could all be looking at the same screen and each would only see the info they need.
This same screen technology can then be used around the airport to guide each traveller, provide an optimal route to reach gates, which security line to use and even where to eat or shop.
I’m still learning about how this technology works but there is no need for glasses or a headset.
It will be made available in Detroit, USA during the summer of 2020 for 100 beta testers before being rolled out
Fly Delta App
Frequent travellers know to use, and rely on, the bespoke smartphone app for their airline of choice. Delta wants to transform its app into a personal digital concierge.
Some of the new features are already on the market such as notifications for time to leave and luggage tracking. But Delta intends to enhance these along with some new ideas.
The app will be able to utilise real-time information such as traffic reports and weather reports to ensure you really do have enough time to reach the airport.
Once arrived the app can direct you to the security check closest to your departure gate and even when your group is boarding, not just that flight has begun to board!
You can watch the full keynote by Delta CEO Ed Bastian on the CES website, his talk begins at 34 minutes.
Lenovo
Ahead of the start of CES 2020, last week I shared my expectations for what we would see in the travel tech category.
Lenovo delivered them on the very first day!
5G Yoga Laptop
If you are not familiar with Yoga range from Lenovo, it’s their 2-in-1 model where the display folds back into a tablet mode from a standard laptop.
Now it has superfast 5G connectivity built-in and potentially transforming how we get connected when travelling.
Admittedly we still need global providers to complete the rollout of 5G towers and networks but Lenovo now has the tools to utilise this new technology once readily available.
Foldables
Lenovo, and Motorola, had already announced the ThinkPad X1 Fold and RAZR during 2019.
Here at CES, we are now able to get hands-on with these devices.
A great piece of engineering, the @Lenovo X1 Fold has won me over. #ces2020 #tech #travel
— {Tech} For Travel @ #CES2020 (@TechforTravelUK) January 7, 2020
And they do not disappoint!
When I first covered the launch of the X1 Fold I was cautious over what real-world purpose it could give to travellers. Having now had the chance to use the X1 Fold, I have to admit, it is an incredible piece of engineering with a solid build quality.
But it’s not a ThinkPad! If Lenovo named it as a Yoga Extreme, for example, it would make more sense to me. ThinkPads are mostly for business users and are renowned for world-class keyboards and TrackPoint controls.
Lenovo are still to confirm the release date but expect it to be sometime in 2020.
Motorola RAZR
The most anticipated foldable launch in 2019 was that of the Motorola RAZR.
Whilst Samsung and Huawei both used the year to give us the Galaxy Fold and Mate X everyone was looking at Motorola who had the ideal original handset in the RAZR to make the most of the new foldable tech.
I spent around 20 minutes using it and struggled to give it back. If you ever owned the original, you will love the new model.
It sits comfortably in your hand, and the 6.2″ display is creaseless when open. In fact, when using the device you wouldn’t even notice it folds up. The front-facing camera works well with the outer 2.7″ Quick View screen.
This smartphone for me is the right form factor for a foldable; becoming smaller instead of larger.
Join the Conversation
{Tech} for Travel is at CES 2020 all week, searching out all the new travel tech and gadgets.
Join the conversation on Twitter or leave a comment below.
