The 31 Most Distinctive Product Designs at the World's Biggest Consumer Electronics Show | CES 2016

Not all of them are sensible, but every one is new.

The annual CES consumer electronics show is over. In the past week more than 150,000 people poured into Las Vegas, hotel prices more than tripled, and Uber fares every morning could surge to six or seven times the usual rate.

CES's waning influence is an old story by now. This trade show, once made hot by Apple and Microsoft, no longer shows you where mobile is heading. Apple and Google stay away, and Samsung does not launch new phones here. The spread of cross-border electronics trade has also made CES less important as a place to do deals.

For onlookers, though, that is good news. Apart from industry insiders and diehard fans, few people still get excited about the small tweaks to smartphone hardware and software.

With phones out of the way, new technology is actually easier to see at CES: VR, drones, smart cars, traditional appliances. The companies behind all kinds of electronics, novel or not, are here. And nowhere else can you talk to so many companies, large and small, from so many fields in one go.

QDaily will follow up with detailed reports on each industry. But this weekend we can relax and look at the distinctive designs that thousands of exhibitors brought. Not all of them are sensible, but every one is new.

Virtual reality: fun toys you can actually buy this year

• The Oculus Rift reaches ordinary consumers this year

VR was wildly popular at this year's CES. After a two-hour wait, we finally got to try the consumer version that Oculus had just started selling.

At US$599 it is not cheap, but Oculus certainly delivers immersion. The first game you play on it makes you blurt out "Wow."

• The more immersive HTC Vive Pre

HTC had no booth, but it rented a hotel conference room near the CES venue to show its second-generation VR headset, the HTC Vive Pre. In our hands-on, it was much lighter than the previous model, and the controllers have been improved.

Compared with HTC's headset, the Oculus only lets you sit and turn your head, while the Vive gives you a space to walk around freely. That is closer to what "immersive experience" is supposed to mean.

• GIROPTIC 360Cam, for shooting 360-degree VR video

This VR camera has three lenses. Set it down and it shoots 360-degree photos and video, which can be displayed as a "little planet."

Best of all, it looks a bit cute.

• Run around in VR!

Virtuix Omni makes what may be the most fun VR accessory around. It has been out for years, but the setup still looks cumbersome: you need to buy a treadmill-like platform, the company's sensor shoes, and a harness belt.

Audio and cameras: room for nostalgia in both

• Sony's retro vinyl turntable

Sony is still hunting for selling points in its old stronghold, music. The PS-HX500 turntable is the new star of its booth this year. It plays vinyl records and can also convert their sound into 24-bit high-resolution WAV files.

In short: when phones don't sell, bring out a turntable!

• Kodak's Super 8, selling nostalgia

If you like retro, we also recommend Kodak's film camera. The film giant wants to matter more in the digital age.

Kodak has reworked the Super 8, a camera first released 50 years ago, adding modern features such as a digital viewfinder and an SD card slot. You can record on film or digitally.

Besides the traditional pistol grip, the Super 8 has a handle on top, just like the old film movie cameras.

• An instant camera the size of a power bank, and it's a Polaroid

This is Polaroid's second-generation instant camera. Resolution rises from 10 megapixels to 13 megapixels, and there is a new 3.5-inch LCD touchscreen for framing shots and navigating menus.

The compact-camera-sized Snap+ comes in four colors: blue, black, white and watermelon red. The design is clean, and the lens cap snaps on magnetically. It is very "Polaroid."

It belongs on any "New Year gift wish list"!

Traditional appliances are not so boring either

• Now even folding clothes has a robot

Washing machines and irons are nothing new, but now there is a machine that folds your clothes for you.

The Landroid is simple: toss clothes in, and a mechanical arm inside folds them neatly. One Landroid can take 30-50 garments at a time and fold that many in 10 minutes.

Panasonic has announced it will use the technology, though it has no finished product yet. One more rescue for the chronically lazy.

• New TVs from Samsung and LG, thin as paper

The thinnest TV at the show: LG's G6 4K OLED, with a panel 2.57 mm thick

This 65-inch Samsung TV is also extremely thin, and curved

TV makers are sparing no effort to make sets thinner and thinner. This year the thinnest clearly come from the two South Korean companies that make their own screens, Samsung and LG. LG has even made a TV 2.57 millimeters thick, thinner than your phone.

Everyday life can be smart too

• RIMOWA, the suitcase with a screen

This RIMOWA suitcase has an E-Ink display that stores your flight information. It is meant to replace the tag you usually hang on your luggage.

But airports will obviously keep printing flight tags and hanging them on handles.

• Krush, the pixel-art clock with a truly physical display

A very cool physical display: each pixel is a disc that can flip over, a bit like the split-flap boards at airports. Black and white dots make up the screen, and software flips them.

The effect is cool, but for now the only product is a clock, and it comes only in black and white.

• The Technogym treadmill: how fast you run decides what you hear

This treadmill runs Android. Besides letting you watch a movie as you run, it switches automatically to music that matches your pace.

Technogym vice president Mark Tanno told us the treadmill supports sources such as Spotify and Apple Music, so it can always find a suitable track. In the demo we sped up, and the screen switched the music to a rock song.

Hey, the last song was pretty good. I wanted to hear the rest of it.

• LifeFuels, the smart bottle that mixes your nutrient drinks

This bottle is designed for people who work out. It mixes the nutrient drinks you need: set the ratios on a round display on the bottle, and it mixes the drink automatically at set times.

Lazy people will love it! Though if you are that lazy, maybe skip the gym.

• The Grush toothbrush: brush your teeth while you play

This is the perfect tool for taming disobedient kids. The Grush smart toothbrush is a motion-sensing controller. Connect it to a tablet or phone, and the child in your home who hates brushing can start playing a tooth-brushing game.

Monsters appear in the game, placed where the teeth are, and the time, angle and pressure needed to kill them are set by what good brushing requires.

Founder Yong-Jing Wang said his own child was bad at brushing and he had paid the dentist quite a lot of money. That gave him the idea for the product.

Some rather cute robots

• BB-8, the Star Wars robot and probably this year's hottest movie merchandise

Sphero made spherical robots to begin with. After Star Wars licensed it BB-8, the company's version of the droid became this year's most successful movie merchandise.

You can steer the little ball with an app or with a wristband: beckon and it comes, wave and it goes. Its floating little head can also project images, though you can only see the effect in the app.

For the sake of Star Wars, BB-8 can go on the wish list too.

• It follows you and it talks: Segway's robot scooter

Segway, now owned by Ninebot, launched a robot personal transporter this year. Using Intel's motion-sensing technology, it can follow a person on its own. Ride it out, step off, say "OK Segway," and it will obediently follow you around.

No more lugging the scooter into an elevator and getting strange looks from other passengers.

• A robot baby seal, as close to a real pet as it gets

Paro is a robot companion built to imitate a real pet as closely as possible. Sensors inside this furry little seal pick up human voices and movements and react to them.

It shakes its head, lies down or gives you a look, responding the way a real pet would.

Paro's main job is to soothe hospital patients. It is not meant as a toy for small children.

Wearables: a few worth a look

• The Welt smart belt, which tracks your waistline

Samsung has made even the belt smart. Welt looks like an ordinary belt, but its sensors measure your waist, and at the slightest change it reminds you to eat less and exercise more.

Think of it as a smartwatch worn at the waist: it records activity data, tells you how long you have been sitting, and counts how many steps you have walked today.

It looks practical, but... I would not want a daily reminder that my waistline has grown!

• The Helix Cuff, a bracelet and earphones in one

This is a slightly better-looking bracelet plus Bluetooth earphones. The twist is that the earphones tuck inside the band, and from the outside you cannot tell.

Well, that is one fewer pair of earphones to lose.

• Airawear, a massager you wear

Twear, a startup from Singapore, made a massage vest. It contains six massagers, and you can adjust the frequency and position of the vibration with a phone app. Founder Karlton Pang told us they want people to get a comfortable massage anytime, anywhere.

We tried it on. It looks a bit ugly, but the Airawear is a very comfortable massager. It can also monitor your posture and send a reminder when you slouch.

And these drones

• Fleye, a goofy, cute ball of a drone

This UFO-like drone is just a sphere floating in the air. Fleye's founder told us that getting your fingers cut by drone blades is frightening, so they enclosed all the propellers in a round shell. Now there is no way to cut your hand.

Clever! But getting hit on the head by it must still hurt, no?

• The Parrot Disco, a drone that is no longer a helicopter

Parrot, the company known for small drones, made a big plane this year: the Disco, with wings, a so-called "fixed-wing drone."

Unlike propeller drones that dart about, the Disco cannot take off vertically, but it flies faster. You can also launch it by throwing it, like the Lily drone.

Careful when you throw it. It would be a shame to crash into the flowerbeds.

• The self-following Yuneec Typhoon H

On a set dotted with trees, a drone was tracking a mountain biker. As the rider climbed and descended, it adjusted its own altitude and camera position to match his height and speed. It could also dodge a tree that suddenly appeared in its path.

Yuneec, a drone maker in which Intel invested US$60 million, released this new drone with Intel's motion-sensing technology, which lets it avoid obstacles and follow its subject with no human control at all.

Perfect for selfies.

Phone accessories find new tricks

• Not just a phone case, but a hand-crank charger

Crank hard for a minute and you can charge an iPhone 6 by about 1%. That is what the AMPWare iPhone case does.

The case more than doubles the iPhone's thickness, so you will not want to use it every day. If it were thinner, it might do for emergencies at home, like a hand-crank flashlight.

AMPWare's inventor said Hurricane Katrina gave him the idea: many homes lost power, and people could not reach even basic communications.

• A minimalist Japanese desk lamp that also charges your iPhone

The TILE lamp from Japanese company Rolldock has a clean design and uses nine LED bulbs. It is probably at a consumer electronics show mainly because, besides giving light, it can charge an iPhone. One less cable by the bed is nice.

And other fun things:

• Cota says this is real wireless charging

At CES, the company Ossia showed technology for truly "wireless charging." This trash-can-like device, called Cota, is a charging base station that uses radio waves to charge electronic devices within 10 meters.

It is not a point-to-point charging system. Any device that supports the technology can receive power within range, the way it receives Wi-Fi.

At the show we saw a Cota-compatible phone case. Walk up to the base station with the phone, and the phone shows that it is charging.

• Kino mo, the 3D projection light

Not bad for 3D imaging, right?

How does Kino mo work? Hundreds of small LEDs mounted on a fan.

You have surely seen those spinning lights that display text in electronics markets. Kino mo works on a similar principle, but its software control is clearly far better.

• Tobii, the eye tracker

A device that uses a camera to track where your eyes are looking, mainly for games. Wherever your eyes go, your cursor follows.

Put simply, you can now play games by rolling your eyes.

• Nth Degree, which prints light

A model in a black dress played with her glittering hem and told us this was Nth Degree's latest light-printing technology.

In fact it prints circuits onto flexible, ultra-thin panels, and the company can print light strips up to 10 inches wide. The light comes from millions of gallium nitride chips embedded in them, which form countless tiny LED points.

The technology could be used in many places: decoration, cars, anywhere in your home you want light.

It will probably end up in all sorts of cheap ads too.

• A typewriter with Wi-Fi and an E-Ink display

The Hemingwrite is a writing tool that is both retro and practical, with mechanical keys and an E-Ink display. What you write is backed up to a server over Wi-Fi. With this typewriter, which feels great to type on, the only thing left to do is write, write, write.

The Kickstarter project is already almost a year behind its promised shipping date, and no one knows when it will ship. But from what we saw at the show, it is already a mature product.