CES 2019 Day 3 Recap: All the Best New Tech

Three days into CES 2019, and we're still coming across plenty of surprises. Not only have we found the hovershoes of the future, but Google Assistant is translating 27 languages in real time and checking into your flight on your behalf. Oh, and there's a phone that beats Samsung to the next design.

So, dear readers, join us on a crawl through the best gadgets we saw on the third day of CES in Las Vegas. We've even found an alarm clock to help you get up in the morning. 

MORE: CES 2019 Day 2 Recap: All the Best New Tech

Jetson's Motokick hover shoes are terrifying and awesome

Jetson (no relation to the cartoon family) just rolled out the next trendy vehicle: Motokicks, a pair of wheel-boards/hover shoes that go under each of your feet. Whether you want to call them hoverboards or not (neither hoverboards nor these actually hover), the Motokicks will most certainly thrill anyone daring enough to try them on.

The motion is controlled by your tilting forwards and backwards, which tells the wheels to propel you in the direction you lean towards, with a maximum speed of 8 miles per hour. Your friendly neighborhood YouTuber/hype beast is probably thrilled, but safety-focused individuals are probably wondering why there isn't a strap to hold your feet down.

Google Assistant is killing it at CES, again

Just as it did last year, Google Assistant is wowing everyone in sight at the big Las Vegas convention by rolling out some major new features. For starters, Assistant can now translate speech — with 27 languages — in real time, and it also lets you check in to your next flight by voice command. A new "share my ETA" command will take the time remaining in your trip on Google Maps and send it to a contact. Assistant will even work from the lock screen! Google also announced Assistant Connect, the platform that its assistant and its Home devices have been missing. 

Lenovo and Google have an Assistant-powered alarm clock

Sure, I just told you a bunch about Assistant's new powers, but the Lenovo Smart Clock looks like the ultimate alarm clock that some (myself included) wanted Google Show to be. The big draw is that it's much simpler, much more focused on waking up and doesn't pack in a bunch of stuff you don't need.

Simply put, this $79 device will allow you to set alarms, check the weather and let you know about your commute. To make waking up even easier, the Smart Clock's screen has progressive brightness during the early hours of the day, like a mini sunrise to ease you into the morning.

This phone's hole punches out the notch

The 6.4-inch Honor View 20 looks like an amazing smartphone with an edge-to-edge OLED screen and a new take on the already-stale notch. Or at least it's a new take if you're not Samsung, as the View 20 sports a hole-punch design that's been heavily rumored to be coming on the Galaxy S10. Oh, and inside that hole, you'll find a 25-megapixel camera for the sharpest selfies you've ever shot.

The rear finish is also impressive, as Honor's used nanolithography to create a textured coating that etches an almost-holographic V into the rear of the phone, which comes in a gorgeous red. Our only worry is that its U.S. arrival isn't guaranteed.

The nearly bezel-less Yoga S940 looks like your next laptop

While the brand-new 2019 Dell XPS 13 is our current favorite laptop (our review just went up yesterday), Lenovo's Yoga S940 looks like a machine that could be our next favorite laptop. This aluminum-bodied beauty features a 13.9-inch wrap-around display that comes in two configurations: Full HD (1920 x 1080-pixels, Dolby Vision, 400 nits) and UHD (3840 x 2400-pixels, VESA HDR400, 500 nits). On top of that, you can customize it with Intel's latest Whiskey Lake Core i7 processors, up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage.

Kate Spade's Scallop 2 smartwatch is a whimsical take on Wear OS

Wear OS, Google's smartwatch operating system, doesn't have the most stylish history, but the Kate Spade Scallop 2 smartwatch shakes that formula up. Not only does it look elegant, unlike most smartwatches, but the Scallop 2 apps are imbued with the iconography of the Kate Spade fashion brand, which should make it appeal to fashion devotees. Just like the previous Kate Spade smartwatch, this wearable includes the "Choose Your Look" feature, which can customize its interface to match your jewelry and handbag.

This Bluetooth speaker fits in your pocket

Lenovo's new 700 Ultraportable Bluetooth Speaker breaks from conventional wisdom, packing an impressive amount of volume into a small space. How small? This speaker — which pumps out an impressively loud amount of sound — is a mere 11 millimeters thin. Oh, and for its other measurements, the 700 has the same general footprint as a modern smartphone. In terms of special features, this speaker supports Siri and Google Assistant, and it's got a USB Type-C port that supports fast charging.

The Razer Turret is a huge accessory combo for Xbox owners

Ever since the Xbox One got mouse and keyboard support, we've been wondering which company would deliver the goods on the best option. Razer's bringing the thunder, or should we say, the Turret: the world's first official wireless keyboard and mouse made specifically for the Xbox One. Not only did our hands-on time with this package show a fantastic, zero-lag gaming experience, but there's tons of customization with an adaptive lighting setup.

This is the first laptop with upgradeable graphics

At CES, Alienware introduced the Area-51m, which looks to change the game when it comes to gaming laptops. Its flagship features are its upgradable CPU, GPU and RAM. While you'll be able to swap out the processor and memory on your own, Dell will have to service that new GPU for you.

On top of that, the Area-51m has thinner bezels than you might expect for a gaming machine, and this system also includes Tobii's 5th-gen eye-tracking and Alienware's excellent TactX keyboard. All of that and more is wrapped up in a gorgeous chassis that's the result of two years of hard work that created what Alienware has dubbed its Legend design language.

Henry T. Casey
Managing Editor (Entertainment, Streaming)

Henry is a managing editor at Tom’s Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past seven years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.