Every September, the biggest names in consumer electronics announce their newest products at IFA, the huge electronics trade show staged in Berlin. David Phelan looks at some of the standouts.

SAMSUNG Q900R 8K TV

If you’re just getting used to the super high-resolution screens that are 4K televisions, also known as Ultra High Definition TVs (UHDTVs), well, it’s now time to get ready for 8K. It means four times as many pixels as 4K and 16 times as many pixels as full HD. Although there have been prototypes of 8K for several years, Samsung’s new range will actually go on sale soon, around mid-October at the time of going to press. The image quality will be as high as the price, with figures of more than £5,000 being mooted. As there are no movies or TV programming in native 8K resolution yet, viewers must rely on the TV’s processors to upscale the images to look almost as impressive. Thankfully, the upscaling on the Q900R is very good, with highly nuanced colours and crisp, clean images.

SONY WH-1000XM3

Sony’s noise-cancelling headphones have been consistently good, with its engineers aiming to create a quiet place as subtle as a moment’s pause in a concert hall – that is, a live, resonant silence, unlike the dead space some noise-cancelling delivers. The latest WH-1000XM headphones use a significantly enhanced processor to quell voices as well as engine noise. When you touch the right earcup it lets in the outside world, so you can hear the question: “Chicken or beef?” When you’re done resting and want to listen to music, the headphones can reproduce a full range of frequencies up to 40kHz, and they are comfortable to wear for even the longest journey. Plus, though they are wireless, they can be connected to in-flight entertainment systems with a supplied cable.

HUAWEI MATE 20 LITE

The Chinese manufacturer Huawei’s unveiling of a large-screen smartphone was one of the show’s more unexpected developments. The “lite” in the name indicates that it’s not the most powerful or expensive phone in the company’s portfolio but, nevertheless, its design
is elegant, it has great build quality and it’s powered by a long-lasting 3,750mAh battery. The screen is very large at 16cm, but the curved frame makes it a comfy fit in most hands. Photography is a big feature here: there are twin cameras on the front and rear of the phone and both sets use AI to automatically adjust the exposure according to which of 22 scenes it recognises. These range from beach to blue sky, with different settings for animals – cats, dogs and even pandas have their own exposures.

NETGEAR ORBI VOICE

Developed in conjunction with hifi company Harman Kardon, this speaker has great audio quality, with a front-facing woofer. But there’s more. With Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa built in, you can control your music by speaking, get a weather forecast or ask for the lights to be turned on. If you already have the Netgear Orbi hub router for your broadband, this gadget also cleverly includes a wifi router extender so you can play your music and pump wifi to the furthest corners of your home at the same time. You can also buy a deluxe pack with both router and speaker and there is also a downloadable app through which you can tweak sound quality.

  • Orbi Voice (Orbi tri-band wifi router, Orbi Voice smart speaker and wifi) £399, Orbi Voice smart speaker add-on (for those with an existing Orbi wifi system) £279, netgear.co.uk

SONOS AMP

You’ll have heard of Sonos, makers of outstanding speakers, which connect wirelessly to each other and play audio from your smartphone, online music service or TV, for instance. But supposing you have your own speakers, thank you very much, and want to connect those to the Sonos system? Well, now there’s the Sonos Amp. It’s an update to what was previously called the Connect:Amp, though this model is sleeker and way more powerful. You plug your wired speakers into the new Amp and they will wirelessly connect to any other Sonos speakers. The Amp is compatible with 100 music streaming services, including Spotify and Apple Music. It works with the most demanding speakers and can power
up to four of them. Available from early 2019.

CASIO PRO TREK WSD-F30

If you like running or walking in the great outdoors, Casio’s new Pro Trek WSD-F30 smartwatch is an excellent piece of kit that can track your progress, and even help if you lose your way. That’s because it has built-in GPS, and allows access to maps when offline to show your position so, should you lose your signal, you won’t necessarily be lost as well. Battery life is impressive at up to three days, and it’s shock-proof, dust-proof
and water-resistant, so suitable for a range of activities whether trekking, riding, surfing, swimming or golfing. There’s a second screen mode where the colour display switches to black and white for the best battery life. It’s a big, chunky watch, but its features add brain to the brawn.

  • Around £500 when it launches in January, available to pre-order soon from protrek.co.uk