SanDisk have shown off their latest high-capacity pocket drives at CES 2020, including a SuperSpeed USB 20Gpbs portable 8TB SSD prototype targeted at smartphone users.
The new portable hard drives aim to offer the highest-capacity flash memory devices to store rich content on the go, with the company saying that its prototype features USB speeds of 20Gbps using the SuperSpeed USB protocol.
Other new SSD drives announced also include a 1TB drive for both smartphone and laptop users, aiming to provide an easy to carry backup for photos and other content that can fit in your pocket, or even a keychain.
Portable drives
Along with its 8TB device, SanDisk also announced a sleek silver finish 1TB Ultra Luxe dual connector drive (pictured below) that aims to work with the latest smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
(Image credit: Western Digital)
SanDisk have a record of making quality hard drives for those on the go, such as the SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 1TB which we reviewed favorably just over a year ago.
While there are a number of portable USB drives on the market, most have limited capacity and transfer rates by comparison to SanDisk’s latest models. Although no pricing information has been released as yet, both models should be available within the next few months.
Check out all of TechRadar’s CES 2020 coverage. We’re live in Las Vegas to bring you all the breaking tech news and launches, plus hands-on reviews of everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops and smart home gadgets.
For those new to PC gaming, building a powerful desktop can be more than a little intimidating – there are all sorts of cables, slots and components to navigate, and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you could make quite a big (and costly) mess.
In an effort to take the hassle out of the whole process, Razer has taken to CES 2020 to announce the Razer Tomahawk Gaming Desktop – a compact PC gaming solution that makes it easy to slot in upgradable components without tools.
Utilizing Intel’s NUC 9 Extreme Compute Element – which is essentially a system-on-a-card that’s powered by 9th-gen Intel Core H-Series processors – the Razer Tomahawk N1 chassis can be opened from the rear, with a lock-and-slide mechanism allowing for easy access to the case’s internals.
Razer Tomahawk’s lock-and-slide mechanism in action. (Image credit: Razer)
Of course, the Tomahawk N1’s sleek modular layout means it will only be compatible with specific components. However, users will be able to slot in up to an Intel Core-i9 processor, 64GB of DDR4 RAM, and even squeeze in Nvidia’s mighty GeForce RTX 2080 Super GPU.
Additionally, Razer says that “RAM and SSD modules on the NUC card will be upgradeable as well as the fans, GPU and NUC itself”.
Tempered glass on both sides of the Tomahawk N1 case offers views of the system’s vertically-mounted graphics card (the clear centerpiece of the whole desktop) and the NUC itself. The body itself is made entirely from aluminum, with an open vent design at the top to keep the Tomahawk cool.
Here’s what a complete Razer Tomahawk Gaming Desktop might look like. (Image credit: Razer)
Users will be able to configure and purchase Razer’s Tomahawk Gaming Desktop sometime in the first half of 2020. Additionally, the more hardware-savvy among you will also have the option of buying the Tomahawk N1 case as a standalone product and building it up from scratch.
No pricing information has been offered as of yet, but we’ll keep you updated as soon as we hear anything.
Check out all of TechRadar’s CES 2020 coverage. We’re live in Las Vegas to bring you all the breaking tech news and launches, plus hands-on reviews of everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops and smart home gadgets.
CES 2020 could have been the perfect chance for Intel to show the world that it still means business when it comes to desktop CPUs. AMD processors like the Ryzen 7 3700X have basically made Intel’s 9th-generation Coffee Lake Refresh lineup completely irrelevant, so I was kind of looking forward to Intel having a strong showing at CES to at least put up a fight.
Instead, Intel wasted most of its time talking about smart cities, the Red Cross and football. This is all definitely cool and important work that Intel is doing, but I couldn’t help but feel that Intel totally forgot that this was the Consumer Electronics Show.
When Intel finally did get around to actually talking about products that matter for the average consumer, it only did so in vague teases. It teased Tiger Lake, but didn’t give any specific specs. It showed Destiny 2 running on a mobile-class Intel Xe discrete GPU, but didn’t give any other information. CES 2020 is the biggest tech show of the year, and Intel just gave us vague teases of future products.
The Intel Core i9-9900KS was a weak release (Image credit: Future)
Intel can’t afford to do that
Offering some vague teases of upcoming products isn’t even necessarily a bad thing. There are certain hardware manufacturers that could show up, briefly hint at a product and call it a win. But, to pull that off, the company has to be playing from a position of strength.
Intel is still making boatloads of money in its enterprise and mobile markets, and that’s probably not going to stop any time soon, so it’s definitely not weak. But in the consumer desktop space, saying that Intel hasn’t been having a good time is kind of an understatement.
Intel has been taking a lashing from AMD in desktop computing for more than a year now, and it still hasn’t given us a significant answer to AMD’s third-generation Ryzen processors. Where Intel was on the top of the CPU world just a few years ago, it’s now on the bottom, and the more time passes before its next major platform launch, the weaker its position gets.
The fact that Intel had to lower prices on its HEDT chips by half when its 10th-generation Cascade Lake-X lineup launched in November should be another sign that Intel knows it’s lost the upper hand. And while we’re still working on our full review of the Intel Core i9-10980XE, we can confirm through our own testing that it fails to topple the Ryzen 9 3950X, which is both cheaper and is on a less expensive platform.
So, that leaves me to wonder whether or not the consumer desktop space is even a priority for Intel anymore. In fact, I found it particularly odd that Intel would give such a vague tease for Tiger Lake, the follow-up to a laptop platform that hasn’t even been in laptops for six months yet, while failing to mention a follow-up to Coffee Lake Refresh at all. Instead, Intel seems content to throw shade at AMD’s processors instead, according to this report from PC Gamer.
Intel, I’m begging you, show the Ryzen 9 3900X who’s boss (Image credit: Future)
So, where does that leave Intel?
Intel will never admit it, but it could be that it’s willing to just wait things out and let AMD claim the consumer market while it just rakes in the cash from the enterprise laptops and its Project Athena-verified laptops (which are awesome!) This is all just me speculating of course, and Intel would never admit to it, but that’s how it feels, that’s how it looks and that’s simply the reality we’re dealing with right now.
There are simply too many rumors about Intel 10th-generation Comet Lake-S processors to simply write them off like they’ll never come out, I know that. But the fact that Intel seems to be treating them like they’re a low-priority item not worthy of the biggest tech show of the year is pretty damning.
Simply put, I’m just a bit disappointed with Intel. When AMD put out its first generation of AMD Ryzen processors, I thought it would create this renewed competition in the desktop processor space with AMD pushing Intel and Intel pushing right back. Where we’re at right now, however, makes it seem like AMD is pushing Intel and Intel is just sitting there and taking it, with maybe a snide comment thrown in occasionally for good measure.
I have given Intel a lot of flack over the last few months, and while it might seem like I’m rooting for Intel to fail, I want exactly the opposite. Growing up, I had Intel processors in every single system I built, and it wasn’t until Ryzen 2nd Generation that I made the switch to Team Red. If Intel comes around and releases a fire processor, you can believe that I will be the first person singing its praise.
Until then, though, we’re stuck with what Intel is willing to give us and if you’re a desktop computing enthusiast – that’s a big, fat “nothing”.
Check out all of TechRadar’s CES 2020 coverage. We’re live in Las Vegas to bring you all the breaking tech news and launches, plus hands-on reviews of everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops and smart home gadgets.
Wearable company Amazfit is breaking out of its mold at CES 2020 with Amazit PowerBuds – true wireless earbuds rugged and waterproof enough to use while exercising or sporting.
Perhaps most impressive of all, they’ll cost much less than top-tier competition, retailing for $99.90 (around £75 / AU$144) and will be available in February.
The PowerBuds do have their own innovations keyed to fitness, like magnetic ear hooks that secure the buds while you’re exercising and can be removed thereafter. They also measure your heart rate in real time and alert the wearer if anything’s awry, and they’re 30% lighter than Apple AirPods Pro to boot.
Amazfit is taking a more active role with workouts – they’ll even cheer you on while you’re exercising. There’s also a pass-through mode to hear ambient noise, and IP55 water and dust resistance.
The PowerBuds are sleek true wireless earbuds with panels on the outside to play, abuse, and control via double-tapping (play, pause, take and refuse calls, etc). Amazfit claims an impressive 8-hour battery life, twice that of the AirPods Pro, which extends up to 24 hours with the recharging case.
(Image credit: Future)
Pro buds for sports…and sleep?
Oh, and if you want to take Amazfit to sleep with you, the company has another product to lull you to sleep: the Amazfit ZenBuds.
These aren’t headphones – instead, they’re smart earplugs that use noise-blocking design with sleep-tracking capabilities, including heart rate, sleep position, and quality, all collected into a report. And they’re 1.78g apiece, they’re three times lighter than an AirPods Pro earbud.
The ZenBuds have 12 hours of battery life, and while they won’t play your tunes, they can play soothing sounds (in Amazfit’s video, these were tranquil piano notes) – that will drop their life down to 8 hours. Plop them into their charging case to recharge and you’ll get eight nights before you’ll need to juice up both.
The ZenBuds will retail for $149.90, though with no release date announced yet.
Check out all of TechRadar’s CES 2020 coverage. We’re live in Las Vegas to bring you all the breaking tech news and launches, plus hands-on reviews of everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops and smart home gadgets.
For the last couple of years, Google has been using CES as a platform to announce new Assistant features and this year was no different. With no new hardware to show off the focus was instead on Google Assistant, with the list of new features coming this year looking quite impressive.
Since its debut in 2016, Google Assistant has built a pretty good repertoire of uses – it’s no longer just a voice assistant that tells you what the weather is like. And, in 2020, it will do way more than turn your lights on and off.
To make it simple for you, we’ve broken it all down into an easy list so you can check for updates in the next few months.
Quicker, easier smart home setup: When setting up a new smart device through the gadget’s companion app, you usually need to enter your Google credentials to connect it to your Home setup. A new update will remove that step, instead showing a notification or “suggestion button” which will easily complete the setup without the need to reenter your login details.
Setting up scheduled actions: You can’t get Google Assistant to wake you up with the kettle already boiling or the coffee machine already buzzing. However, at some point this year you will be able to say “Hey Google, run the coffee machine at 6am” the previous night. With Scheduled Actions you will be able to set up run time of a compatible device at a time of your choosing.
More smart home devices: If you thought there weren’t enough Google Assistant-enabled devices already, many more brands are getting on board, including August Smart Locks, Philips Hue, GE and much more. You’ll also be able to control 20 more new devices through the Google Home app, including air conditioners, air purifiers, coffee makers and much more.
Leaving notes: If you find that you’re leaving Post-it notes for your family members around the house for them to find, Google Assistant will take over that chore for you. Some time in 2020, Assistant will be able to create a sticky note on any compatible smart display that will be visible to anyone in the house without needing to sign into a Google account. They can even be created without the need for a Google account.
Speed dial: Later this year, you’ll be able to add important contacts to a “speed dial” list so that anyone in the home can make calls quickly and easily using compatible smart displays or speakers. All they need to say is “Hey Google, call [name]” and off they go.
Reading online content: While Assistant can be set up to read your texts out to you, reading long-form content is a skill it is still to acquire. However, that’s about to change in 2020, with Google announcing that Android users will be able to say “Hey Google, read this page” to get Assistant to read out a full webpage. In fact, Google promises that Assistant will even be intelligent enough to recognize that page elements like social sharing buttons are to be left out.
Deleting Assistant history: Google wants you to know that your privacy is important. This year, a simple command like “Hey Google, delete everything I said to you this week” will clear user history. Any accidental triggers – like when Assistant wakes up because of something said on the TV – can now be deleted as well by saying “Hey Google, that wasn’t for you”.
Android TV support: This year, starting with some Hisense and TCL tellies, some TV models will be getting far-field mic support so you can use your smart TV exactly like you would a smart speaker or display. In fact, this year you’ll also be able to buy Samsung smart TVs with Google Assistant built-in.
Check out all of TechRadar’s CES 2020 coverage. We’re live in Las Vegas to bring you all the breaking tech news and launches, plus hands-on reviews of everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops and smart home gadgets.
The Samsung CES 2020 booth is chock full of gadgets, but the best thing that we saw there was Bot Chef, a pair of robotic arms that cooked us a salad on command.
Samsung Bot Chef is proof that the company is taking the arms race to get robots into your budding smart home very literally at CES 2020. I was able to watch Bot Chef rummage through cabinets, pour ingredients into a pan, and mix them up to create a tofu salad, using AI and computer vision algorithms.
The verdict? It tastes like the future.
The sesame tofu salad that Bot Chef made in the kitchen alcove at the Samsung CES booth is one of 35 salad recipes it’s programmed to whip up. Greek salad, chicken avocado salad, and walnut apple salad sound like even more of a challenge for what the company calls its gourmet collaborative robot, or ‘cobot.’
(Image credit: Future)
Sure, it had an aproned human assistant prep dishes of cabbage and spices, then cut carrots and bell peppers, but the robot arms did the heavy lifting – adding oil, sorting ingredients and doing the pouring calculations – and that was amazing to witness. The human really didn’t need that apron after all.
(Image credit: Future)
How Samsung Bot Chef worked at CES 2020
The Bot Chef demo at the Samsung CES booth began with a simple voice command: “Hey, Bot Chef, let’s make a salad.” Tofu was chosen over something like chicken, as there’s a decidedly strict ‘no fire’ rule at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Okay, that’s fair.
The two white robot arms hung at attention from a set of kitchen cabinets, like an under-the-cabinet can opener redesigned for 2020. Bot Chef has six degrees of freedom, four main arm joints, and three fingers to pinch and hold various kitchen utensils. Its diameter and reach is meant to mimic that of human arms.
Once it knew which salad we were hungry to eat (within the CES safety guidelines), a kitchen screen detailed the next steps. There were separate tasks for the left arm, right arm, and human chef, all while the robot voice walked the human chef through the recipe.
Too often, with today’s voice assistants, it’s the other way around: we have to do all the talking with somewhat specific commands. Not only is Bot Chef the one serving up the steps it knows today, it can download new skills as time goes on.
(Image credit: Future)
When it learned a new skill on-the-fly
A live demo of a skill being downloaded happened when the human chef asked the Samsung Bot Chef to make coffee (while it was cubing a slab tofu – so kind of cruel). Bot Chef said it didn’t know how, so the human chef asked it to download that skill.
All of a sudden, Bot Chef began interacting with a traditional coffee machine on the kitchen countertop – one of the perks of Bot Chef is that it’s able to learn how to manipulate everyday appliances that aren’t traditionally considered ‘smart’.
(Image credit: Future)
When it picked up a knife and opened a cabinet
Bot Chef was in the middle of cubing the long slab of tofu using a sharp cutting tool, and this was, of course, the opportune time for the human chef to test its safety protocols. It slowed down and then stopped its dicing when he got too close, and the Bot Chef employed a friendly buzzer sound to denote that something was amiss.
So, yes, Bot Chef can pick up knives and cut food, but no, its safety mechanisms won’t lead to stabbing accidents – or intentional incidents for that matter: our robotic co-chef isn’t programmed to seek complete kitchen dominance, says Samsung.
What it can do, and which left the CES crowd astounded, was reach up to open one of the overhead kitchen cabinets. The human chef changed up the recipe midway through the process – apparently our sesame tofu salad needed a little kick.
Amazingly, Samsung Bot Chef was able to maneuver more than 180 degrees above its mount to snag a bottle of Sriracha hot sauce from the closed cabinet. Its fingers are finely tuned enough to know the difference between just picking up a bottle and squeezing it – and best of all, it put the bottle back when it was done and closed the cabinet door.
(Image credit: Future)
How much will Samsung Bot Chef cost?
Our No. 1 question about Bot Chef is “How much will it cost?” We didn’t get a specific answer, but it won’t be entirely unapproachable, according to Samsung’s part-time human chef / full-time spokesperson.
“In order for this technology to really make an impact in our everyday lives, it needs to be affordable,” he said, explaining that Bot Chef’s maximum payloads should be enough for it to handle full bottles of olive oil and other everyday kitchen items. This isn’t meant for industrial lifting, and that should keep the price down.
“That’s why we’ve engineered these robots from the ground up, using custom gearboxes and electronics that will help their price tag read more like a kitchen appliance than a luxury car,” Bot Chef’s assistant added.
(Image credit: Future)
One could justifiably argue that the real cost of robot chef technology like this will be in human chef careers. But the natural counterargument is that it’ll free-up chefs from a bunch of menial tasks so that they can focus on the creative aspects of the cooking process – and, like self-driving cars that still require a human behind the steering wheel, at least for now, this robot chef is dependent on a human a co-chef.
In many ways Bot Chef felt like the most futuristic technology on show at the Samsung CES 2020 booth, despite being situated among the company’s screen-based 5G phones, 8K QLED TVs, giant Wall TVs and rotating Sero displays.
There’s something refreshing about a tech product in which the screen isn’t the lead story, and the primary mission of which is to offer humanity, quite literally, a helping hand. The rest of Samsung CES booth is mesmerizing, but this demo is genuinely thought-provoking.
Check out all of TechRadar’s CES 2020 coverage. We’re live in Las Vegas to bring you all the breaking tech news and launches, plus hands-on reviews of everything from 8K TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops and smart home gadgets.
A new portable SSD from Samsung has been listed online for preorder on both Amazon and Datavision’s sites ahead of the product’s actual announcement.
According to the listing on Amazon, which has since been removed, the SSD in question is the new Samsung T7 Touch Portable SSD that has a capacity of 1TB and connects using USB 3.2.
The portable SSD was available for preorder before someone at Amazon caught the mistake and from that listing, we know that the device will be released on January, 21st.
Samsung T7 Touch Portable SSD
A listing on the site of the New York retailer Datavision is still up at the time of writing and it provides even more detail on Samsung’s unannounced portable SSD, saying:
“Transfer in a flash, secure with a touch. Whether you’re storing critical business documents, games, or movies, the Portable SSD T7 Touch gives you speed and security in a palm-sized package. Experience the next level of external storage.”
While Samsung has yet to officially announce its T7 Portable SSD yet, we’ll likely find out more details soon as CES 2020 is in full swing and the conference still has a few days left before it closes.
