The hottest new connected tech announced at the Berlin expo
IFA is always a hotbed for new tech, and IFA 2020 – despite what’s going on in the world – is no exception.
From Philips Hue to August, many of the big names are making a big splash in Berlin this year, and below we’ve rounded up the best of what’s been on show…
LG ThinQ Home gives us a glimpse of the future
The LG ThinQ Home is a real residence the South Korean city of Pangyo (known as Korea’s Silicon Valley).
LG says its “the ideal future residence designed to deliver a safer, more convenient lifestyle through the company’s latest appliances and IT technologies.”
We say, it’s awesome. No spoilers, watch the video yourself to see what the smart home could become.
LG also unveiled some new smart refrigerators models with improved InstaView Door-in-Door tech and UVnano, which uses ultraviolet LED light technology to disinfect the water dispenser outlets once every hour.
There was also the launch of the LG CineBeam HU810P 4K projector, which can do UHD (3,840 x 2,160) up to a screen size of 300 inches.

Philips Hue Play gradient lightstrip boosts your boring TV
A plethora of new smart light bulbs and lamps have been announced over in Berlin but the standout device is undoubtably the Philips Hue Play gradient lightstrip, which wants to add Ambilight features to your TV.
Unlike the usual Hue lightstrips, which all have to be set to the same color, the new gradient model is capable of mixing up the shades and colors thanks to a series of individually addressable LEDs.
Those LEDs are capable of producing more than 16 million colors and offer 45-degree light projection and a perfectly blended gradient of light.
The idea is the Philips Hue Play gradient lightstrip sticks on the back of your TV and replicates the colors that you’re seeing on screen.
Signify – Hue’s parent company – also used IFA 2020 to take the covers of an army of new smart lighting options, such as the 2020 Hue Iris lamp, with improved 570 lumens of brightness, super low dimming, Bluetooth and some slick new metallic finishes; gold, rosé, silver, and copper.

Blink’s new cameras boast a four year battery life
Amazon-owned smart security camera specialist Blink launched two new connected cams and returned to its formula of budget wire-free cams.
The Blink Indoor and Blink Outdoor offer two years of battery life on a pair of AA batteries and that can double to four years, if you add the new Blink expansion pack which costs $30.

Tado upgrades its smart heating system
Tado, the German heating specialist, says that its latest and greatest smart thermostat – the Tado Smart Thermostat V3+ – is now easier than ever to install and is compatible with 95% of all heating systems.
As with the previous model, it works with heating systems that already have a wired thermostat connected to the boiler, or by replacing a wireless device with the wireless receiver extension kit able to communicate between the boiler, the thermostat itself and the Tado Bridge which connected everything to the web.
Also announced, the new Tado Wireless Temperature Sensors are equipped with temperature and humidity detectors and are able to control multiple Smart Radiator Thermostats in a room, or group of rooms.

Lenovo Smart Clock Essential goes back to basics
Lenovo announced a stripped back bedside based smart speaker – the Lenovo Smart Clock Essential. Building on the success of last year’s Lenovo Smart Clock – the clue is in the name with the Essential.
It’s not a Google Smart Display like its feature-rich predecessor, but is instead a basic Google Assistant smart speaker with an LED display on the front, giving you the time, the date and the weather and temperature.

Alexa gets a high end audio hit on Teufel Hotlist speakers
It’s not just on budget devices that we saw smart speaker innovation though. Voice assistants built into high end speakers are becoming ever more prevalent and the latest audio specialist to jump on the smart speaker bandwagon is German company Teufel, with the Hotlist M and the Hotlist S.
The Hotlist M and S are a pair super stylish hexagonal shaped bookshelf speakers; the M is the taller of the two at 40cm – compared to 22.5cm on the S – and the M can also be fixed to an optional stand.
Both speakers have the touch panel up top for controls, along with the Alexa light and microphones for picking up your voice commands.

Neato D10 headlines new robot vacuum cleaner trio
Neato used IFA 2020 to reveal a trio of new robot vacuum cleaners: the Neato D10, D9 and D8 were all announced at the big Berlin tech expo.
Neato has again returned to that trademark D-shaped design; a shape it believes is better equipped to get all up in the corners of your home where circular robot vacuum cleaners might struggle.
The Neato D10 is the new flagship model from the Californian company, with an impressive 150 minute battery life, a True HEPA filter that captures up to 99.97% allergens and particles like dust (as small as 0.3 microns) and a LaserSmart LIDAR-based navigation system.
Best of the rest…
- Ring’s range of cameras and doorbells will soon be able to connect with Lutron’s smart lighting systems, so you can set lights to turn on automatically when your Ring device detects movement.
- On the same track, August and Hue announced that its products would also play nicely going forward.
- The Harman Kardon Citation 200 was officially launched at the show. The Google Assistant smart speaker is IPX4 splash proof and also has Apple AirPlay on board as well.
- Samsung announced its all new 4K Ultra Short Throw laser projector, The Premiere.