I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and was able to relax a little before coming back into reality for 2020.

While many people bought brand new tech gifts just a couple of weeks ago, manufacturers are at CES showing off what they’ve been working on and what we can all look forward to in 2020.

Many devices can be written off as vaporware or just concepts and prototypes, but CES is really about getting a glimpse at what the next year in tech may look like.

While a lot of companies may not be necessarily presenting at CES, they’re announcing new products at the same time, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m going to lump it all in together.

Nanoleaf Learning Series

Everyone’s favorite smart lighting decor company Nanoleaf, most notable for their Aurora triangular light panels, have announced what they call the “Learning Series”.

This group of hardware devices includes a switch, a button, a gateway, and a bulb.

Nanoleaf Learning Series

As the name suggests, the purpose of these devices is to really bring the “smart” in smart home.

using various sensors such as motion, and light, as well as keeping track of your daily habits, it will anticipate your lighting needs and make you less reliant on your phone or voice assistant to control your smart lights.

I look forward to testing these out, and seeing just how smart they can really be. Nanoleaf

Ring Solar Powered Outdoor Lights

Ring has some more products to add to their growing lineup. All outdoor solar powered lights. The Solar Floodlight, Solar Pathlight, and Solar Steplight.

Solar Pathlight

Solar Floodlight

Solar Steplight

Additionally, Ring now has its own A19 smart lightbulb, as well as a smart floodlight (PAR38 bulb). These are both designed to be used outdoors, and can handle a wide range of temperatures, from -4 Fahrenheit (-20 Celsius) to 104 Fahrenheit (40 Celsius)

All of this hardware will require the Ring Smart Lighting Bridge for connectivity. The light bulb prices will be $15 for the A19 light, and $25 for the floodlight.

The Solar lights will range from $30 for the Pathlights, to $90 for the Floodlight. All devices will be available later this year.

Brilliant adds Dimmer Switch and Smart Plug to Ecosystem

Last year smart home tech company Brilliant introduced an all in one smart dimmer and home controller. It included a screen, a speaker, with the ability to control your whole home from it.

Brilliant Smart Dimmer

Brilliant Smart Plug

However at $299 it was more expensive than what most smart home enthusiasts would want. Especially if you wanted multiple in your home.

Brilliant seems to have listened to their customers, because they have debuted a single dimmer, and a smart plug.

The dimmer is priced at a much more reasonable $70, and the smart plug at $30. These are both expansion devices, meaning that you must have a Brilliant Control already installed in your home in order for these to work.

These will be available March 2020, with pre orders live on their site.

Arlo Adds a Floodlight to their Lineup

Popular smart security camera manufacturer Arlo announced a new Floodlight to their product lineup.

Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight

The Arlo Pro 3 Floodlight can be entirely battery powered, making it a more flexible choice than the aforementioned Ring Floodlight.

It delivers 2000 lumens of light, with a 160 degree field of view camera, capable of recording 2K video, color night vision. It also has a built in siren, and two way audio.

It will be available in the spring for $250, with which you will get a 3 month trail of Arlo Smart, which is a $2.99 per month subscription to features like 30 day cloud storage, people, animal, vehicle, and package detection, and more.

Abode Launches Indoor/Outdoor Security Camera

Is it really surprising to anyone that a home security company would come out with its own smart security camera? No, of course not.

Abode is launching their own Indoor/Outdoor Security camera which can either be hardwired with existing doorbell wires, or be plugged into a nearby outlet.

Abode Indoor/Outdoor Smart Camera

The camera has 158 degree field of view, two way audio, as well as facial detection using faces you save in the app.

Right now it only has Alexa compatibility, though Abode say they have Homekit integration coming down the line.

The $199 camera will be available in the near future, and can be used as a standalone device or as part of an Abode security system.

Kohler and Moen Bring the Smarts to your Shower

Last year Kohler showed off a $7000 smart toilet with Amazon Alexa integration.

This year, Kohler is teaming with Moen to bring smart controls to your shower and kitchen as well.

Kohler and Moen Smart Shower and Toilet

The Kohler Moxie showerhead has a built in speaker that allows you to listen to music and activate Alexa while in the shower.

Additionally, Kohler announced a WiFi water purification system, a smart faucet, a digital shower system, and a touchless toilet.

Moen had a few similar products of their own; the U by Moen Smart Shower which allows you to use Siri to control the water and even temperature of the water. There will also be a smart faucet, and smart water detector.

I have a sneaky suspicion most of us aren’t jumping at the thought of a digital shower system, but these products will most likely find themselves in mansions in the Hollywood Hills.

Sengled Expands Smart Lights With New Hub and HomeKit Integration

Sengled is looking to be top dog of the smart lighting segment, with their new filament style smart lights, and new third generation Hub with HomeKit support.

Sengled Edison Filament Style Bulb

The new Hub can control of 64 lights and accessories, and supports Zigbee 3.0. HomeKit compatibility also means that users can now use Siri to control their Sengled lights.

It’s not clear yet if previous Sengled lights are compatible with this new Hub but it would be pretty devastating if it wasn’t.

The Hub will be $30, and the new filament lights will be $30 for a pack of two. These are great prices, especially compared to the more expensive Hue smart lights.

Netatmo Announces NFC Key Based Smart Lock

French company Netatmo has unveiled their new HomeKit smart lock that is NFC operated.

It uses physical keys that are programmable with NFC codes to authenticate and unlock the door. It uses Bluetooth to connect to the Hub, which can alert the user of its status.

Netatmo Smart Lock

Netatmo Smart Lock NFC Keys

Personally I don’t see the appeal of this, other than it’s not a metal key.

There is no motor in the lock so it cannot be operated remotely. You still need to carry a physical key, and it doesn’t appear to solve any particular problem.

If you wanted to be alerted when you door was open, you could just get a door sensor and achieve the same result.

This lock is EU only, and the company says it doesn’t have any plans on bringing it to the US. It’s expected to ship late 2020 and cost between $300 and $400.

Oral-B and Colgate Announce Connected Toothbrushes

Since we have smart toilets and smart showers, why not have a smart toothbrush as well.

Oral-B and Colgate have announced their two smart toothbrushes that will hopefully help your oral hygiene and health.

The Oral-B iO has real time couching and analysis that show up in the app on your phone while you’re brushing your teeth.

It is equipped with a smart pressure sensor, so the Oral-B iO provides positive brushing feedback, identifying and guiding users to brush in the optimal pressure range.

Colgate Plaqless Pro

Oral-B iO

The connected toothbrush will be available later this year. No pricing has been announced yet.

Colgate’s toothbrush works in a very similar manner. The Plaqless Pro will map your mouth in the app while you’re brushing to ensure that you are getting the proper amount of cleaning in all areas. It will also be available later this year and no pricing has been announced yet.

ADT Introduces Video Doorbell and Security Cameras

Home security company ADT wants a piece of the smart home pie just as much as anyone else. That’s why they announced several new devices as part of the their security ecosystem.

ADT Blue Smart Security Cameras

ADT will be launching an indoor camera, outdoor camera, video doorbell, and Wi-Fi range extender that doubles as a doorbell chime.

HomeKit and Google Assistant compatibility will be coming in the 2nd quarter of 2020, so if this is important to you, I suggest holding off until it is actually implemented.

The cameras and doorbell at $199 each, and the WiFi extender is $50. All devices will ship by the end of January.

Lutron Adds Motion Sensor and Repeater To Lineup

The Lutron Caseta smart dimmer lineup is typically heralded as the gold standard for light switches.

While it is more expensive than more, and requires its own bridge, it is also famously reliable, quick, and compatible with all three major ecosystems.

Lutron have added a smart motion sensor and a repeater to their Caseta lineup now.

Lutron Caseta Motion Sensor

The smart motion sensor has 180 degree motion and can be placed pretty much anywhere. It can work in conjunction with existing Caseta switches or Serena shades.

While the motion sensor isn’t homekit enabled on its own, it can be used with other HomeKit enabled Caseta accessories.

I just hope it can also be used within HomeKit when paired to the bridge, so it can work with other devices like Hue lights etc.

CES 2020 Day 1 Smart Home Wrap-Up

There we have it. Just about everything that has been announced so far at CES 2020. I know that some things have been announced a few days before, but seeing as this is the week of CES, I lumped it all in there.

What’s your favorite announcement so far? Let me know in the comments below. And if I missed anything, let me know in the comments below, and I’ll update this post.