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Smartphones

LG has officially launched the successor to its bendy G Flex smartphone. Yes, the company is bringing flexy back in the form of the G Flex 2, a curved phone with a 5.5in Plastic OLED screen. The G Flex 2’s screen is sharper (1080p as opposed to 720p) and stronger than its predecessor’s, and its self-healing rear has been improved so that minor scratches disappear in 10 seconds as opposed to three minutes.

Other improvements include a 13MP camera with LG’s laser autofocus system and dual LED flash, as well as the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 64-bit processor, which sits alongside 3GB of RAM and either 16GB or 32GB of storage. The battery has a capacity of 3000mAh and is non-removable. Check out our hands-on review of the LG G
Flex 2 .

Asus, meanwhile, has launched two new smartphones. First up, the which, as its name suggests, is a photography-focussed (no pun intended) mobile with a 3x optical zoom (extremely rare on a phone) laser autofocus and optical image stabilisation. The rear camera has a 13MP sensor, the front-facer a 5MP sensor. There’s a 5.5in full HD screen, Intel Atom processor and 3000mAh battery on board, and the Zenfone Zoom is expected in the second quarter of 2015, priced at around US$349 (£230).

The Asus Zenfone 2, meanwhile, runs a little cheaper at $199, but despite its affordable price tag it’s no slouch in the specs department: 5.5in full HD display, 64-bit Atom quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera. Oh, and we’ve had hands-on time with it: check out our initial thoughts .

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Wearables

Stuff will be at CES in full force as usual, along with its all-new  which will see ten winners showered with accolades on Stuff’s International News Stage on 7 January.

Most – but not all – of the new wearable tech unveiled at CES 2015 thus far has been wrist-worn. We’ll look at smartwatches and their ilk below, but one company to buck the wristy trend is Sony, which allowed us to get our eyes on its SmartEyeglass augmented reality specs. Are they just a rip-off of (the apparently moribund) Google Glass? Find out what we thought in our .

Sony als
o revealed its – not an entirely new device, but a timely (again, no pun intended) update of the already available model with a nicer strap, essentially. If you already own a SmartWatch 3, you can just buy the new housing and pop your device in. Instant upgrade.

Sticking with smartwatches, Alcatel has introduced its promised Watch at CES, and at $149 it’s temptingly affordable. But the low price isn’t its only boon: it’s also a cross-platform device that’ll work with both Android and iOS devices. Read our full story .

Moving onto fitness-centric wearables, there’s the crystalline Swarovski/Misfit mashup dubbed the . Made from aircraft-grade aluminium, it features a watch function as well as the ability to track your activity and sleep. There are two versions of the device: one that carries a six-month battery and one that doesn’t need manual charging at all, thanks to a solar charger. The Shine collection starts at $170 and will go on sale in the spring.

Garmin has gone gaga when it comes to fitness wearables, : the Vivofit 2 (due March 2015, £100) is a minor update of the current ; the Vivoactive (£200, also due March) is an entry-level GPS watch that also tracks calories and steps taken (and it’s waterproof to 50m); the Fenix 3 (out January, £370) is a multisport GPS watch compatible with heart-rate sensors; and the high-end Epix (due February, £410) is a sports watch with a colour screen and 8GB of memory for installing third-party apps.

Taking fitness wearables in a slightly different direction is the , which is essentially a sticking plaster designed to be worn all day and all night on your torso – where your heartbeat is usually strongest. This waterproof sensor gathers all sorts of data, which it can feed to its accompanying AmpInsights iOS or Android app (it’s also compatible with third-party services like Strava and Runkeeper). It doesn’t have GPS, but it tracks heart-rate, cadence, calories burned, sleep and skin temperature – and it only requires taking off for charging once a week.

The is a lot like the current (which we have called the "most gorgeous fitness tracker") but is cheaper – thanks to its materials and build, it’s £120 as opposed to £320. It’ll be available from February.

We also have a round-up of other fitness-related wearables unveiled at CES right , including models from InBody, HealBe and Zensorium.

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Headphones and speakers

Samsung has confirmed it'll be launching a new range of curved soundbar speakers at CES 2015, alongside an all-new type of speaker that the company says "fills entire rooms with sound" no matter its placement. The WAM7500 and WAM6500 speakers use "Ring Radiator" technology that projects sound in a 360-degree arc. The WAM7500 is a "stand-type" model designed to be placed permanently, while the WAM6500 (pictured) is portable and battery-powered.

British hi-fi company Meridian Audio has announced that lossless streaming service Tidal, which features CD-quality music, is coming to the Meridian Sooloos system "from early 2015." The company also announced that anyone who buys the USB DAC will enjoy a three-month free trial of Tidal. During CES 2015, Tidal will be used to demonstrate Meridian’s lossless streaming format.

Speaking of MQA, Imagination Technologies has just announced that its Caskeid wireless audio streaming service will support the format. That means lossless streaming on a variety of Caskeid-enabled products from the likes of Pure Digital; Onkyo; and, yes, Meridian.

Chord Electronics, meanwhile, has loosed a brace of new hi-fi products at CES. First up is the Hugo TT DAC/headphone amp (a snip at £2,995), a large "desktop-oriented" device that’ll turn your computer into an audiophile powerhouse. The Hugo TT features twin headphone outputs, XLR outputs and USB-B inputs. Chord’s second product is smaller and more affordable: the 2Qute DAC (£995) combines two existing products in one box: the original Hugo DAC/headphone amp and the Qute EX standalone DAC.

Good news for streaming fans: is set to launch later in 2015. Working in a similar way to the company’s video casting ability, it’ll allow you to fling music from your  phone or tablet (Android, iOS and web apps are all supported) to a range of supported TVs, hi-fis, soundbars and speakers. Google Play Music, Deezer, Rdio, Pandora and TuneIn will be among the apps supported at launch this spring – but interestingly there’s no mention yet of Spotify.

Sony, meanwhile, has launched a new Walkman – and it’s aimed squarely at audiophiles. The supports Hi-Res and lossless formats, features 128GB of expandable storage and will cost a whopping $1,000 when it arrives this spring.

Audio-Technica has also gone down the Hi-Res route, launching a high-end new set of headphones called the MSR7 (£200) alongside the AT-PHA100 Portable Headphone Amplifier (£490). When combined (and paired with a source such as a PC, Mac or smartphone) they’re designed to offer high-end hi-fi performance without the need for a huge, hulking hi-fi.

Here in the UK, the weather outside may be grim as anything, but Monster has a new speaker that’ll have you looking forward to warmer times: the . Connecting wirelessly with your phone, it can float away in your pool pumping out stereo sounds – and doubles as a speakerphone. No UK price or release date has been announced yet, but it’ll cost $170 in the States.

Pure tech

Nvidia has announced a new mobile processor. It's called the and it's the first mobile chip that offers a teraflop of power (15 years ago, you'd have needed a 500,000W supercomputer the size of a suburban house to deliver a teraflop – the X1 is thumbnail-sized and consumes 15W of power). Expect to see the X1 used in tablets, smartphones and self-driving cars soon.

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Home tech

Nest, maker of the Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Protect smoke/CO2 detector, has announced that a now offer compatibility with their own. Imagine: a washing machine that knows when you're home and automatically switches to quiet mode. Well, that's now a reality. Welcome to your future smart home.

And hey, creative types: there's a brand new 3Doodler – dubbed the – that's just been announced and wants to tackle all your 3D drawing needs. Smaller, lighter and more flexible than its predecessor, it's available for Kickstarter backing right now.

Car Tech

BMW has shown off its new tech-laden i3. It features four laser sensors which let it have a 360 degree view of its surroundings. This lets it navigate around pillars, pedestrians and trolleys when you're parking — all without requiring any input from you. Even better, when you're
 returning to the car park with bags of shopping, just give your smartwatch a verbal command and it'll drive itself right up to you. Ghost chauffeur? We like the sound of that. Read our full story .

Parrot has unveiled the , an in-car infotainment system that'll fit in most vehicles. It runs on Android 5.0 and is compatible with both the Android Auto and Apple CarPlay platforms. It also integrates with your car's diagnostic systems and works with a safety dashcam that constantly records the road ahead.

Toyota is being all altruistic at CES. In an effort to increase the proliferation of hydrogen-fuel cars on the roads, the company is to grant . That means other car manufacturers have an easier route to getting in on the efficient gassy car act. And that’s good news.