5 hot new products at IFA 2018

The fitness tracker market is fiercely competitive. The bracelet tenaciously holds the palm in an iron fist Xiaomi Mi Band 3 , but the products of more eminent rivals in the sports field breathe in his back, in particular, the Vivosmart 4 model from the Garmin brand.

The fourth Vivosmart received a 0.74-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 128x48 pixels, the data on which is displayed sequentially when switching desktops. With a smartphone, the bracelet keeps in touch via the Bluetooth network, performing the functions of duplicating notifications and controlling music when listening to tracks through the player.

With the fitness functionality of the model, everything is quite standard: the bracelet collects information about the user's activity during the day, taking into account the number of steps taken, the distance traveled and the number of calories burned, measures the heart rate using the built-in heart rate monitor, and also monitors the quality of sleep. A couple of their own highlights help the tracker to stand out from the crowd of peers. The first is called Pulse Ox and is responsible for determining the level of blood oxygen saturation, and the second, called Body Battery, allows the user to see "energy levels", which affects the improvement of training planning and recovery time after them.

The battery life of Garmin Vivosmart 4 is claimed within about 7 days. Another trump card up the sleeve of the model is a waterproof design. Moreover, the bracelet can not be removed from the wrist both in the shower and in the pool. The model is suitable for people who prefer to workout in the gym and outdoors instead of sitting on the couch in front of the TV screen, or who carefully monitor their activity on a daily basis.

The Japanese brand Casio is known for its wide range of wristwatches. The G-Shock series of shock-resistant and waterproof chronographs enjoys great popularity among the public. Its logical evolution is the “wiser” Pro Tek Smart WSD-F30 watch, addressed to travelers and adherents of an active lifestyle.

The wearable gadget is made in the best canons of the all-protective watch genre. The massive body of the model withstands diving to a depth of 50 m and is not afraid of falling on hard surfaces, which is confirmed by compliance with the American military standard MIL-STD-810G. According to the classification of the degree of protection, smartwatches are marked with the designation IP68.

Perhaps the key feature of the Casio Pro Tek Smart WSD-F30 is the "sandwich" of two displays put into service: the first based on an OLED matrix with a diagonal of 1.2" and a resolution of 390x390 pixels, the picture on which is displayed in colour, and the second monochrome. The latter serves to display the current time along with the readings of the built-in sensors: altimeter, barometer and compass. The gadget stays afloat for 30 days when using an exclusively monochrome screen and 2-3 days when two displays work together.

The operating system on board the model is represented by Google's Wear OS system, which is famous for its user-friendly approach. In addition to the standard functions for duplicating alerts from a linked smartphone, the watch has carefully approached the issue of registering numerous physical activity parameters(running, fishing, cycling, climbing, hiking, etc.). However, there is no heart rate monitor at their disposal, as well as an NFC chip. As moral compensation, the user is provided with support for GPS navigation on colour maps directly from the watch screen, which will help not to get lost in unfamiliar terrain.

It would seem, what can surprise a modern laptop user? Transformer models are no longer a curiosity, as well as a touch screen with support for stylus control. Lenovo showed a new round of development of the laptop family by releasing the Yoga Book C930, a hybrid from the 2-in-1 category, devoid of a physical keyboard in the design.

The place of the keyboard block on the bottom half of the device is completely given over to the display on electronic ink E Ink. It replaces the keyboard, and the touchpad, and a laptop, and a sheet of virtual paper for drawing. In addition, in an instant, the lower screen turns into an electronic "reader" with support for "out of the box" PDF, e-pub and mobi formats. The picture is displayed on the auxiliary display in the maximum resolution of FullHD, in addition, it is endowed with tactile feedback and adapts the location of the buttons on the keyboard unit according to the user's habits.

The main screen of the Lenovo Yoga Book C930 has a diagonal size of 10.8" and is based on an IPS-matrix with a resolution of 2560x1600 pixels. The display, of course, is touch-sensitive, and it is paired with a Precision Pen stylus with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity. Thus, with a flick of the wrist, the laptop also transforms into a tablet running the Windows 10 Home axis.

The dimensions of the body of the device in thickness do not even reach the mark of 1 cm. Despite this, they managed to equip the laptop with a very decent hardware base. Its main “under-the-hood hardware” was the Intel m3-7Y30 and Core i5-7Y54 processors, 4 GB of RAM is installed here, and the capacity of the solid-state drive is 256 GB. Specific figures may vary depending on the configuration selected.

Given such a modest thickness of the case, the user comes to the aid of a mechanism for opening the lid by double tapping, which includes an accelerometer in conjunction with electromagnets. But it doesn't always work the first time. In the bottom line, Lenovo Yoga Book C930 is good in various roles: its main screen is suitable for performing standard laptop or tablet tasks, the auxiliary screen will serve as an excellent solution for taking notes or reading your favorite book. In addition, the model is so light and compact that it can easily fit in an average women's handbag, without burdening the owner with excess weight.

Fans of the "thousandth" series of Sony headphones are a dime a dozen. She is loved for her balanced sound and amazing noise reduction, which allows you to immerse yourself in the maelstrom of your favorite audio tracks.

In the third generation, Bluetooth headphones have lost weight and slightly changed the shape of the inner cups, as a result of which there is not the slightest pressure on the ears. The comfortable fit is also facilitated by a headband that fits snugly to the top of the head. Headphones are connected via Bluetooth, NFC and via a cable, which is carefully stowed in a transport case. The aptX codec provides high quality wireless sound, and AAC format support will play into the hands of Apple device owners.

Headphones give out powerful bass and provide excellent sound throughout the entire frequency range, and this, for a moment, from 4 Hz to 40 kHz. High-quality sound is complemented by an adaptive noise reduction system — one of the most effective in the class. Shumodav independently chooses what and how much to drown out. In addition, the degree of impact of noise reduction is flexibly configured in the smartphone application. For example, during a walk, the owner has the right to turn on the audibility of external sounds against the background of playing music or listen to tracks, passing only important announcements into his ears. And you can completely abstract from the outside world in the mode of blocking all noise.

In order to hear what's going on around without removing the headphones, just touch your palm to the right cup of the device. Moreover, the Sony WH-1000XM3 quickly transforms into a form that is easy to carry, for which a special “thank you” must be said to the folding design of the model. Flattering words also deserve the battery life of the headphones (30 hours with active noise reduction), along with support for fast battery charging via the USB-C port — just 10 minutes. energy recharge from the outside is enough for a 5-hour marathon of playing musical compositions. In terms of the combination of parameters, the brainchild of Sony occupies a leading position in the segment of wireless headphones with active noise reduction and serious competitors can be counted on the fingers of one hand.

The prefix Creator appears in the full naming of an elegant laptop from MSI for a reason. It is positioned as a tool for professional photographers, designers, artists and anyone else who is involved in content generation by duty or personal involvement.

It is not worth considering the model purely in this vein, since in other ways it manifests itself no worse. For example, in the top configuration, the MSI P65 Creator is equipped with a FullHD IPS panel with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which, in combination with powerful hardware, will appeal to gamers. In other versions, a simpler screen is used, for which, nevertheless, 100% coverage of the sRGB colour space is claimed.

The hearts of the laptop are the 8th generation Intel Core processors. Moreover, it can have up to 64 GB of RAM (DDR4-2666) and supports the installation of two M.2 SSDs. One of the trinity GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, GTX 1060 Max-Q and GTX 1070 Max-Q is assigned to the role of the graphics card. With such an "inner world" , the model solves the lion's share of the laptop tasks shouldered, without particularly straining.

A wide range of interfaces for connecting external devices is dispersed around the perimeter of the snow-white case of the laptop: a trio of USB 3.1 ports, an HDMI connector, a USB-C port and a miniDisplay Port output. Their number and location will satisfy the tastes of the most sophisticated users. The crown of the positive picture is the long battery life of the model — more than 8 hours of screen activity at moderate loads. MSI P65 Creator costs a lot, but it is a real find for people of creative professions and fans of virtual gaming battles.