We were able to try out an upcoming smart home, wearable, and wellness gadgets at Pepcom’s Home Now event in New York City earlier this week. The primary trend is that everything keeps getting smarter. Air conditioners, headphones, and touch-screen tables all have brains now. Here is the home tech that you might find most beneficial when it comes out this spring.
AnkerMake M5 3D Printer
Don’t be tricked by the fact that it’s not very big. AnkerMake’s M5 3D printer is a beautiful great deal. Larger consumer 3D printers need to have their trays, levels, and software adjusted all the time. Anker has made it so that all you have to do to print an object is choose a design and start a job.
This means that anyone can quickly bring 2D-drawn objects into the real world. There is 7×7 auto-leveling, a three-step assembly process, and AI print monitoring, so you can start a project and leave it alone without worrying about fixing problems.
A built-in HD camera shows progress in real-time and automatically records the time-lapse of each project. The 250 mm/s print speed, which is almost five times faster than the average speed now, may be the most significant change. When it arrives later this year for $799, you can expect this to be one of the most popular gadgets.
Horizon ScanWatch from Withings
Withings ScanWatch Horizon is an analog smartwatch with the latest health features, such as electrocardiogram (ECG) readings on demand, blood oxygen (SP02) tracking, and sleep-quality analysis. Health data is sent to the included Health Mate app, which is nice because it works with Apple Health and Google Fit, which are built into smartphones.
This is on top of smartwatches’ features, like live notifications, fitness tracking, and GPS. The Apple Watch and Fitbit only have one day to a week battery life. On the other hand, the swatch has a battery life of 30 days. The Horizon is the most recent expansion to the plan.
It is a diver watch with a premium rotating bezel around the sapphire glass screen, a strong stainless-steel body, and safeguards to 300 feet of water submersion. It looks like a classic dress watch because it has a sleek design and analog hands, which most other smartwatches don’t have.
Gameboard Digital Tabletop
The gameboard is a digital tabletop with a touch screen that competes with the Arcade1Up Infinity Game Table, which we just wrote about. And there are numerous good things about it. For instance, on the board, you can use the miniatures you already have for games like Chess or Dungeons & Dragons. You can control digital pieces like cards and dice from your phone or table.
You can connect multiple Gameboards to make larger interactive maps for your local tabletop games. When you want to play with a friend over the internet, the board makes it easy to pair you up so you can play from anywhere with a Wi-Fi signal.
Headphones Phillips TAA7306BK
Even though these earbuds sound great and have hooks with wings to make them fit better, so do our favorite headphones of the year, the BeatsFit Pro. The Phillips earbuds stand out because they have a heart rate monitor built so you can track your health while you work out without anyone knowing.
When you put these earbuds back in their case, UV sanitization is built to clean them for you. Even though they have a mode that lets outside sounds in, they don’t have active noise cancellation. If you don’t need complete silence, these are a great set of workout and everyday buds that don’t cost too much.
TCL Smart Portable Air Conditioner with UVC
As long as we’re talking about UV sanitization, TCL’s portable air conditioner also uses this technology to kill germs and other pollutants in your home’s air. It combines a fan, an air conditioner, and a dehumidifier into a tiny device you can control from your phone or an intelligent assistant.
It weighs 60 pounds and stands 18.5 inches tall. It is thin and light enough that you can quickly move it from room to room using the wheels and handle. It can chill areas up to 400 square floors in size. I grew up in an older house that didn’t have central air. This would have been much better than our many window air conditioners. And the fact that the water evaporates on its own is a nice touch that means you’ll never have to empty a bucket.
Altis AI’s Personal Trainer
The Altis AI Personal Trainer device uses AI and machine learning to track your movements in a space and give you real-time feedback while you work out. Its body is about the size of a small soundbar and fits nicely below your TV. After getting information from you, the device comes up with individualized routines you can follow while it tracks your body in real-time.
Think of it as a mix between the Wii Fit and Microsoft’s Kinect systems from ten years ago, but with more accurate tracking. During the demo at Pepcom, the AI fixed people’s lousy form as they bent, pushed, and pulled. It also kept track of how many reps they did. We’re excited about the idea of a tiny home gym that fits right into the living room.
Black + Decker Kitchen Wand
We like kitchen appliances that do many things simultaneously, like the Ninja Foodi S301. This handy Black + Decker multitool is another favorite to add to the list. Its small body has six tools, such as a grinder for salt or pepper, a whisk, and a blender that you can put in the pot. To switch between functions, you change the attachments.
A dial with different settings makes it easy to choose the right speed for any recipe. Its small, neat case keeps everything in one place and takes up less storage space. When it comes out in July, the Kitchen Wand will cost $199 with all the attachments and $99 for just the body with one tool.
