SlashGear's Most Innovative Products Of IFA 2024

We're in Berlin this week at IFA 2024, one of the most massive tech conventions on the planet. This year the convention is celebrating its 100th birthday — all the way from its humble beginnings as a radio exhibition (back in the year 1924 as the "Große Deutsche Funkausstellung" [Large German Radio Exhibition]) to what it is today: a gigantic gathering of technology in consumer electronics and home appliances. To give you a good look at some of the most cutting-edge products on the show floor, we've collected the recipients of SlashGear's IFA 2024 Innovation Award here for you all at once. 

Below you'll find examples of futuristic technology and game-changing advancement in wearable smart devices, smart home care and cleaning, home entertainment, and smart lighting. In the mix we have new ideas, new concepts, and new and different takes on some very old ideas indeed — here we have the most innovative products at IFA 2024.

RingConn Gen 2 is the latest in the company's innovation timeline in smart wearables. This smart ring is made to track biometrics in its wearer, with special emphasis on Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). This is the first smart ring to provide Sleep Apnea monitoring (currently pursuing FDA clearance) — proven to deliver 90.7% accuracy identifying OSA. With health tracking and compatibility with both iOS and Android, this device is meant to appeal to a wide range of users.

Unlike earlier generations of smart rings made by other brands, RingConn Gen 2 works with well over a week of battery life (10-12 days). With its charging case (and the battery within) this device has over 150 days or charge time.

This smart device is made with aerospace-grade titanium alloy and medical grade epoxy and works with IP68 dust and water resistance. This is up from its predecessor, now working with 100 ATM water resistance (allowing functionality at depths up to 100 meters underwater). You can find more information on RingConn Gen 2 in the RingConn Gen 2 Kickstarter campaign. 

The Eureka J15 Pro Ultra is a smart cleaning robot the likes of which you've probably not witnessed before. While it's out and about, this vacuum picks up debris with 16,200 Pa Powerful Suction. That's extreme — as extreme as your average canister vacuum cleaner — but in a robot.

This robot also mops with ScrubExtend Mop Extend technology — big mops that don't just play second fiddle to the vacuum. It's also able to intelligently classify messes — dry and wet included — so that it can decide which cleaning method will be best.

This piece of hardware works with the ability to vacuum up your living room, mop your kitchen, then head back to its dock where it's cleaned — and the dock cleans itself as well. This is the first robot vacuum/mop base station on the market that can self-clean to this comprehensive a degree.

Under the hood the vacuum's FlexiRazor Anti-Hair Tangling tech stops hair tangles by actively cutting as it cleans — another industry first. The Eureka J15 Pro Ultra may very well be the robot cleaner your carpeted and uncarpeted floors been waiting for.

The Tineco Carpet One Cruiser levels up your ability to clean a carpet in a major way. This is a heavy-duty carpet cleaning machine made to both deep clean your carpet (with an effortlessly attached 2-in-1 SpaceAdapt water tank) then speed-dry the places it's cleaned with 167°F High-temp PowerDry.

In most carpet cleaners you're working with two tanks of water that are not particularly simple to handle. This machine puts both the tanks in one and places said tank right on top of the cleaner, allowing the whole machine to work as efficiently as possible. One tank is easier than two.

Tineco's Carpet One Cruiser works with 140W powerful suction to pull up dirt and debris and effectively revive your carpet with speed. This machine works with its own Flashdry Self-Cleaning System as well, running a 2-minute self-clean followed by a 5-minute flash dry — easy. 

The Yaber K3 Series Premiere Home Theater Projector includes two impressive smart home entertainment machines. Both the Yaber K3 and the Yaber K3 Pro work with 1080p FHD resolution and 1,600 ANSI lumens brightness along with four types of automatic screen corrections. That includes obstacle avoidance, screen alignment, automatic focus, and keystone correction. The K3 series' main all-glass lens is in place to minimize focus drift, while its blue light-filtering coating aims to reduce eye strain.

This projector series can be controlled with voice activation and with its own built-in TV dongle with access to over 7,000 apps (like Disney+, YouTube, and Netflix.) Users can also connect their phone with the projector via NFC Tap.

Both Yaber K3 Series projectors work with dual 15W JBL speakers with Dolby Audio. The K3 Pro adds a subwoofer for richer bass, too — and while the K3 can be purchased online, the K3 Pro is only available in physical stores.

The Reolink Altas PT Ultra security camera, which the company unveiled at IFA this year, is designed to alleviate certain pain points typically associated with consumer security cameras designed to operate on battery power. The model boasts a 4K Color Vision recording capability paired with a 20,000 mAh battery, which is enough to power the camera for up to eight days of 12-hour continuous recording.

The company has taken steps to ensure your security footage won't miss key moments — that's made possible by hardware that enables continuous prerecording. When the passive infrared detection feature is triggered, the camera and its related software are able to include the 10 seconds that were recorded before the trigger happened, meaning the resulting video clip won't miss any important action.

Another way the Altas PT Ultra from Reolink ensures every key detail is recorded is by pairing motorized movement capabilities (90-degrees vertical and 355-degrees horizontal) with algorithms that enable the camera to follow and record movement when it occurs within the lens' field of view. Likewise, the color video recording functionality is available even at night, meaning videos aren't limited to black-and-white like many security cameras.

ESR is back with new Qi2 chargers designed for Apple products. These newly introduced models feature the company's second-generation CryoBoost technology, offering a charging speed boost when compared to similar models from competitors. According to ESR, its CryoBoost tech — which was first introduced in 2022 — is designed to address the heat that typically occurs when charging your devices.

The company's new chargers utilize a cooling fan to move heat away from your phone while it charges, preventing any unwanted delays that may otherwise result if temperatures get too hot while the battery is replenished. The second-generation version of this system brings a fully open duct system to increase heat dissipation — and despite the presence of a cooling fan, the company says these chargers have very low noise levels.

These Qi2 chargers are an alternative to Apple's 15W MagSafe charger. Multiple products from ESR are on offer, including the ESR MagSafe Car Charger with Qi2 and CryoBoost, the ESR 3-1in-1 MagSafe Charger with Qi2 and CryoBoost, and the ESR Qi2 MagSafe Battery Pack with a built-in kickstand and 5,000 mAh battery capacity.

The Maxwell Gaming Headset from Audeze — which SlashGear reviewed in 2023, giving it a top rating — is one of the best headsets available for gamers in 2024, boasting everything from an ultra-long 80-hour battery life to AI-powered microphone noise filtration, 90mm planar-magnetic drivers, a reinforced steel and aluminum chassis, Bluetooth 5.3, and support for high-resolution audio at up to 24-bit / 96 kHz.

Maxwell isn't limited to PC gaming, with both PlayStation and Xbox-compatible versions of the headset also available for purchase — the Xbox version in particular includes an embedded Dolby Atmos license. The company promises truly immersive audio, not only making games sound more life-like, but also enabling better game play by making it possible for you to precisely hear yourself within the virtual environment.

The company says the audio quality offered by its Maxwell Gaming Headset is so accurate, it is also utilized by audio engineers, recording studios, and top musical artists. The model boasts dual-chamber ear cups, a spring-steel headband, and a removable microphone array.

Govee introduced two new lighting products at IFA 2024, offering consumers new ways to make their home entertainment system, gaming battle station, and more look better than ever. First up is the Govee Strip Light 2 Pro, which features the company's LuminBlend Color Control System and G1151 chip, as well as more than 100 scene presets and 16 music modes. The product pairs a blending algorithm with 5-in-1 RGBWW light beads, according to the company, meaning users will enjoy a precise level of color rendering regardless of the occasion — and yes, there's support for both Google Assistant and Alexa.

Joining that is Govee's COB Strip Light Pro, which is distinguished, in part, by its silicone shell for a more diffused lighting experience. In addition to support for the aforementioned smart voice assistants, the COB Strip Light Pro is also suitable for trimming to whichever lengths you need, which will make it particularly useful for unusually-sized and otherwise awkward spaces. Both products also have support for Matter.

Timekettle's latest translation product, the W4 Pro, aims to make life easier in a variety of situations where cross-language communication is a factor. The unique AI interpreter earbuds are designed to help users with understanding other languages during one-on-one conversations, as well as during virtual meetings where more than one language is spoken, while watching foreign movies, when talking on the phone, and more.

This is made possible, in part, thanks to three different operation modes, one of which is designed to translate both sides of a one-on-one conversation happening in two different languages. Joining that is a Listen & Play mode that toggles back and forth between speaking translated text and listening for additional conversations to translate. The final mode is intended for those times your translation needs are limited to the digital realm, whether due to watching a movie in a different language or participating in a video chat.

The W4 Pro AI Interpreter earbuds feature multiple microphones to help facilitate the seemingly magical technology, which are likewise joined by an open-ear and, according to the company, a very comfortable design. Timekettle's tech is able to handle translation duties for up to five different languages at once. Continuous translation can take place for up to six hours on a charge, and the company boasts a 95% average accuracy rating.

Plaud.ai is bringing a wearable AI device to the masses via its Plaud NotePin, a small pill-shaped gadget the company says is "designed to function as a memory capsule." How you wear it is up to you — it can be placed in a wristband, clipped to your shirt, or worn around the neck as a necklace. The functionality remains the same, however, with NotePin working to record, transcribe, and then intelligently summarize data on your behalf.

The gadget works alongside a web interface and app that enable users to monitor the collected data and take advantage of templates. Recorded information can be played back at any time, plus the built-in battery facilitates 20 hours of continuous recording — that works out to up to 40 days of standby time, depending on how often you use it. Plaud.ai preemptively addressed any security concerns you may have, utilizing encryption to keep your data safe and Apple's Find My network to locate the physical device if it is ever lost.

SwitchBot's Find My smart tracker, the Wallet Finder Card, is designed to help you find your wallet or bag when it's misplaced. The card-shaped tracker has a coin-sized profile at only 2.5 mm thick, making it easier to use for your wallet than an ordinary AirTag. Despite its slim size, the Wallet Finder Card has a bunch of key features, including proximity phone alerts and 78 dB audio alerts.

Beyond its tracking capabilities, the same Wallet Finder Card can also be used with NFC in conjunction with the company's Keypad and Keypad Touch, which enable it to function as a home key. Alternatively, if you have a smart home and SwitchBot's Hub, the card can function — via Bluetooth — as a locational tracker so that your IoT products like smart lights automatically trigger their associated routines when you get home.

Though the battery will wear out eventually, it'll take three or so years to deplete, according to SwitchBot — and even then, you'll still be able to use the Wallet Finder Card as an NFC device for home key functionality. Both Android smartphones and iPhones are supported.

TCL has two new smartphones that offer a number of higher-end features without flagship prices. Both the TCL 50 PRO NXTPAPER 5G and its non-pro variant offer support for 5G networks and boast a large 6.8-inch FHD+ display with a 120 Hz refresh rate. The "NXTPAPER" name refers to the phones' unique ability to transition to an "e-ink format," according to the company, via the NXTPAPER Key and its Max Ink Mode. 

This version of the display is intended for reading and other tasks that one would typically prefer to do on paper. Helping reinforce the paper-like experience is a textured screen, as well as the ultra-long battery life — in the Max Ink Mode, you'll get seven days of reading that stretches out to 26 days if you put the phone in standby mode.

If you opt for the PRO version of the smartphone, you'll get a 32 MP front camera in addition to the 108 MP rear camera found on both versions of the phone, plus there's 512 GB of storage, an optional T-Pen stylus, and an optional Flipcase to help protect the phone.

JLab, the company behind several popular budget-friendly earbuds models, is back with its Epic Sport ANC 3 True Wireless Earbuds. This product, which was launched in partnership with Knowles, is targeted at athlete and fitness enthusiasts who need a securely-fit design paired with active noise cancellation and other key features.

Powering the audio experience are 10 mm dynamic drivers and a balance armature driver from Knowles, plus there's hybrid active noise cancellation and batteries capable of offering up to 12 hours of audio playback — that figure jumps to more than 52 hours sans ANC if you include the battery found in the charging case. The latter features the built-in charging cable JLab is known for, as well as support for wireless charging (plus there's a USB-C port).

As expected of earbuds designed for people who are active, the JLab Epic Sport ANC 3 True Wireless Earbuds likewise feature a design that hooks behind the ears, helping make sure they stay in place even when running or participating in other similar activities.

GravaStar has a new offering for "Assassin's Creed" fans — its Mars Pro Limited Edition "Assassin's Creed" Apple of Eden speaker. This is the first product of its kind from GravaStar, which emphasizes the limited and special nature of this handcrafted product via the inclusion of a printed numerical identifier on each unit's casing. The company explains that because these limited edition speakers are hand-painted, none are identical to each other — and only 1,000 were produced, making them quite rare in the grand scheme of things.

The eye-catching design aside, GravaStar's Mars Pro boasts a 20-watt dual speaker setup combining DSP audio algorithms with Bluetooth connectivity, a passive bass radiator, a touch-based volume control, dynamic RGB lighting, USB-C charging and a built-in battery, as well as support for connecting two Mars Pro speakers for a more immersive listening experience.

Joining the "Assassin's Creed" speaker is GravaStar's Mercury K1 Pro Special Edition "Cyberpunk" keyboard that features an aggressively-styled lightweight aluminum alloy frame, adjustable stabilizers, Kailh Linear switches, an FR4 Plate, and a rating for up to 70,000,000 keystrokes. If you want a mouse to complement the Mercury keyboard's design, you can also pick up the GravaStar Mercury M1 Pro Gradient gaming mouse made with a magnesium alloy frame, PAW3395 sensor, ambidextrous design, and 26,000 DPI resolution sensor.