Samsung, Philips, Sennheiser Show Off Products to Debut at IFA 1017

LISBON, Portugal—The organizers of the IFA consumer electronics show gave a preview here of the products likely to appear at IFA 2017 in Berlin for the benefit of the global IT industry trade press. The idea was to build up the interest of potential attendees for the show that is scheduled for Sept. 1-6. Royal Philips, Samsung and Sennheiser were among the companies that provided a peek at some of their products to start some buzz in advance of IFA 2017. While some of the items being shown in the hotel lobby of the Lisbon Marriot Hotel were strictly low-end consumer products, others were designed for professional use or were products that have significant crossover potential. Here are a few of the products likely to appear at IFA in September.

Philips Senior Vice President Liat Ben-Zur shows off on her right arm the Philips Health Watch, which is a medically certified measuring device that keeps up with your activity, your heart rate and other statistics, and reports the data back to the Philips health cloud, where it can be saved for later analysis.

The Philips DiamondClean smart toothbrush syncs with your phone, and from there to the Philips health care cloud. There’s an app for your phone that keeps track of your brushing effectiveness and tells you where to brush more, where to brush less and of course when you’re not brushing enough. The bacteria in tooth decay has been linked to heart disease and heart attacks.

Sennheiser Public Relations Manager Jacqueline Gusmag shows off the company’s new AMBEO Smart Headset, which is designed to improve the quality of recorded sound in a live environment. The device works in conjunction with the camera app on an Apple device, and when it records, it makes a significant difference when compared with other types of sound recording. All that’s required to use this device is to plug it in.

The Sennheiser AMBEO VR Microphone is designed for use in a professional virtual reality environment to provide 360-degree 3D sound. Applications include virtual reality video, but also include video where 3D sound is needed for other types of video. The microphone elements are covered by a windshield in normal use.

The new PXC 550 noise canceling headphones from Sennheiser provide both the long life of wired headphones and the freedom of wireless. These Bluetooth 4.2 headphones also come with a cable to cut down on power consumption, so they can last up to 30 hours in wired mode and 20 hours in wireless operation. This headset uses beam-forming technology to ensure clean sound while in use.

For years we’ve been talking about a television that can hang on the wall like a painting and display art until we’re ready to watch something on TV. Samsung can now deliver this with the Samsung Frame. This television mounts flat to the wall and controls its appearance so that looks like a painting or art-quality photograph when it’s not being used. The screen connects to its electronics using a fine, nearly invisible optical cable. The television changes its appearance so that it matches the appearance of wall-mounted art in any type of room lighting. The company has licensed thousands of images to use as art displays, and you can use your own art or photography.

Samsung was also showing its latest QLED curved display. The colors and the image quality are breathtaking. Like the Samsung Frame, the new QLED display will connect to its electronics using a fine, nearly invisible optical fiber cable. This TV is curved to help manage reflections. Samsung is now offering a mounting package that looks like an easel at a museum so you can pretend your television is art.

The Dirror is a Windows 10 computer that pretends to be a mirror. German company Dirror aims this device for use in conference rooms and in hotels, and it’s designed to be mounted vertically on the wall. The screen is touch sensitive, and in use as a computer shows a standard Windows 10 screen in portrait mode. You can choose a number of different frame materials. The Dirror comes in a number of sizes, and when you turn it off, it becomes a mirror.