Kerry Wan/ZDNETDuring the biggest week in tech, we saw CES announcements from giants like Samsung, Google, Nvidia, Asus, Lenovo, LG, and Dell, as well as new and innovative brands with cool concepts. Here's the stuff that impressed us the most, both in terms of products we think could be worth buying and technologies that will impact the future.Also: We have named the 12 winners for the official Best of CES 2025 awards1. Smart glasses with an invisible display Jada Jones/ZDNETMost smart glasses on the market today have the smart display built into the lens, but Halliday debutedsmart glasses at CES with an "invisible display,"that is, the display is integrated into the frame. What the company calls the world's smallest optical module provides wearers with a field of view similar to that of a 3.5-inch screen. You have to look up to see the display, which we actually found quite comfortable when we demoed these glasses in person.Also:CES 2025: The 7 most advanced smart glasses we tried on - and lovedAnd, of course, the glasses are suited with AI tech features, such as real-time translations in more than 40 languages, a teleprompter text, turn-by-turn navigations, and more.2. A premium entry-level TV you can pre-order Kerry Wan/ZDNETTCL unveiled its QM6K, which brings the company's Mini LED technology to its entry-level QLED TV at an aggressive price. This TV sports the kind of brightness, contrast, and color depth you'd typically find in a much more premium model from the big TV vendors.Also:TCL won the opening of CES 2025 with a great new TV you can actually pre-orderBut TCL is offering it starting at$999 for the 65-inch QM6Kand you can even pre-order it today, a first at CES. But when you pre-order, TCL will also send you aQ75H 5.1.2 soundbarfor free (an $899 retail value). TCL is also offering the 75-inch QM6K and the 85-inch models for sale this week.3. Sleep earbuds that block out loud noises Nina Raemont/ZDNETWhile you may not think about wearing headphones while you're sleeping, these Ozlo Sleepbuds could change your mind, and they happen to be the official pick for the Best of CES in Wellness. Not only are they super comfortable (even for side sleepers), but in our hands-on testing, they did a fantastic job at blocking out outdoor noises. In addition, the accompanying app provides 10 different sleep sounds (or masking sounds) you can sort through, an earbud alarm can wake you up from your slumber, and a sleep timer shuts the buds down after a certain amount of time to save battery.4. LG G5 TV brightens up OLED LG G5 OLED TV Kerry Wan/ZDNETLast year's LG G4 OLED TV had the most impressive picture quality of any TV tested. With its incredible contrast and outstanding color depth, it was simply a joy to watch any and all content on it -- especially because it included a big step up in picture processing that allowed it to compete with Sony in enhancing older, lower-quality content. The one drawback was that it simply didn't match the brightness of the various LED TVs and so it wasn't as good in really bright rooms -- even though LG's MLA technology has enhanced the brightness in recent years.LG surprised everyone at CES with the new G5 OLED TV that it claims is 40% brighter than last year's TV and the early results look very impressive. LG says that it has moved away from MLA and used a completely new technology to deliver this higher level of brightness. We suspect that this could be similar to the "Tandem OLED" technology that Apple used in its impressive M4 iPad Pro. Hopefully, we be able to confirm that in the coming months.5. Hisense upgrades Mini LED to take on OLED HisenseWhile LG was making it's OLED TVs brighter to compete with Mini LED TVs, Hisense unveiled its own new technology to make its Mini LED TVs have higher contrast and more vibrant colors to compete with OLED.The new Hisense 116-inch TriChroma LED TV claims to display the widest color gamut ever achieved in a Mini LED display by using mini red, green, and blue optical lenses in its backlight rather than just blasting more white light as most backlights do. Nevertheless, Hisense claims this TV can do 10,000 nits of brightness, so it is still among the industry leaders in that category. It's likely to be super expensive in this first iteration, but it will be interesting to see if this technology can bring advanced picture quality to less expensive TV models in the years ahead.6. A device that gives your phone a full charge in seconds Kerry Wan/ZDNETIn what might be one of the best mobile accessories we've seen at CES so far, the Swippitt charges your smartphone in just two seconds. You simply insert your phone (with the compatible battery phone case on it) into the Hub, and your case battery gets swapped out for another fully charged 3,500mAh battery that should last you a full charge.Also: CES 2025: These 9 best mobile accessories have impressed us the mostThere are a total of five batteries inside the machine, so multiple people can use it back-to-back, and it works with a companion app that allows you to check your battery's percentages and control what percentage you want it to be charged to. You can also make reservations so that not every spare battery is taking before you urgently need one.7. AI-integrated TVs Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETTVs are always big at CES, and this year, the common thread among new TV models seems to be AI integrations. For example,Samsung's new lineup of TVs takes advantage of AIupscaling to make older content look better through HDR Remastering, which enhances standard dynamic range content to high dynamic range levels.LG's AI-powered TV technologyincludes features like AI-powered recommendations with voice recognition, an AI chatbot and AI search, and an LG AI Concierge that tracks your preferences alongside search history to provide contextual insights based on what's playing on your screen.Plus, Google is improving its TV experience byincorporating its Gemini AI into Google Assistantto converse with your Google TV and ask more complex questions.8. A robot vacuum with an arm Maria Diaz/ZDNETYou know how you have to pick up clothes, toys, or other obstacles from your floor before running a robot vacuum? Well, Roborock has a solution: arobot vacuum with a mechanical armthat grabs small obstacles while it cleans.The Roborock Saros Z70's mechanical arm uses OmniGrip technology to remove obstacles under 8 oz while it mops and vacuums your floors. The flagship model is set to debut during the first half of 2025, and we can't wait to try it out in our homes.9. A rollable laptop from Lenovo Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETMove over foldable phones--now there is a rollable laptop. We were impressed byLenovo's 14-inch laptop with a "rollable" displaythat extends upwards over 16 inches. The expandable display is triggered by hitting a button on the keyboard, but it also responds by holding your palm out in front of the device, and then raising or lowering it will activate the display.Also:The best CES 2025 products you can buy right nowWhen we demoed this laptop in person, we were able to fit two browser windows of equal size on top of one another--making it comparable to working with an external monitor.10. A high-tech exoskeleton Ant Pruitt / ZDNETThis exoskeleton is meant to assist hikers who need that extra push to get to the top of a mountain. It has 1 horsepower of output to offer subtle assistance to make your gait a bit easier on quads and hips. In addition, an AI-based motor engine performs thousands of predictive calculations per second and builds spatial models to become attuned to your walking preferences over time.And 65W fast charging means it can go from 0% to 100% in just over an hour.11. Stretchable screens Kerry Wan/ZDNETWhile just a concept for now, we couldn't get enough of Samsung's Micro LED stretchable screen. The Las Vegas Sphere and a great white shark literally pushed out of the 7x5-inch screen, creating a 3D effect like never before.Also: The best TVs of CES 2025Aside from just being a really cool concept, we could see this type of technology aiding in accessibility features or applying to infotainment systems in cars.12. Smart glasses with built-in hearing aids Jada Jones/ZDNETThe Nuance Audio hearing glasseshave six microphones scattered across the frames to capture sound, with speakers sitting above the ear to directly amplify the audio. When we demoed these, we noticed the microphones have two modes to either help you focus on a person speaking or you can amplifyallthe noises around you -- depending on what you want to hear.Also:CES 2025: The 7 most advanced smart glasses we tried on - and lovedYou can adjust the volume levels and noise-tracking in a companion app, and they even have an eight-hour battery life.13. An AI supercomputer that runs Linux NVIDIANvidia's Project Digits PC promises to be a a Linux-powered desktop for AI developers. With the starting price of $3,000, it's not for the average user, but it has impressive specs like an ARM-based Grace CPU featuring 10 Cortex-X925 and 10 Cortex-A725 cores (20 cores total), 128GB of memory, and AI models of up to 200B parameters -- that's data center-level performance in one single desktop.14. An electric spoon that mimics the taste of salt Maria Diaz/ZDNETLooking to curb your sodium intake in 2025? The Kirin Electric Salt Spoon allows for the taste of salt without the extra calories. It essentially sends electricity from the spoon to your tongue to give you the sensation of saltiness instead of adding actual salt to your dish. We didn't get to try this one out ourselves (because hygiene), but when we talked to CES goers who had used the spoon, they said it did actually work in adding a salt flavor.15. World's first 500W charger Ugreen/ZDNETCES is the place where unprecedented innovations make their entrance, and this year we're seeing the world's first 500W charger. Ugreen's Nexode 500W charger has six USB ports -- five USB-C and one USB-A port. There's one USB-C port that supports up to 240W, while the other four each offer up to 100W, and the USB-A has a maximum output of 20W.Also: What's better than a power bank doubling as a hotspot? Its low priceUgreen says this charger is "powerful enough even for large, power-hungry devices like e-bikes."16. An AI-trained virtual wellness assistant Nina Raemont/ZDNETYou may know Movano Health for its Evie Ring, which launched last year, but today at CES, the company announced EvieAI, which is a wellness assistant located in the Evie app that users can consult for health information. What's unique about this AI tool is that it is trained on articles published in over 100,000 medical journals to improve the accuracy and complexity of responses.Movano says the wellness assistant can answer questions concerning symptoms, diseases, or procedures. Anyone with an Evie Ring can try out EvieAI in the app right now.17. Smart home collaborations Ring/KiddeSmart home devices are about to get even smarter thanks to a few key collaborations we've seen at CES. First off, Ring and Kidde are pairing up to launch a new collection of smart smoke and combination detectors featuring Ring technology. When the alarms detect harmful levels of smoke or carbon monoxide (CO), you'll receive a notification through the Ring app.Also: The best smart home tech of CES 2025In addition, Home Depot is throwing its hat in the ring of smart home tech with its new Hubspace devices, which will debut later this year. These new devices include a Remote Switch to control on/off functionality and brightness control for lights, as well as two Vissani AC units with smart climate control and customizable schedules and modes.18. A way to control things just by pointing at them Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNETWhile smart rings are usually reserved for tracking health data, this innovative smart ring we stumbled upon at CES lets you control things by pointing at them. The Lotus system consists of a ring with a button and switch covers, and when the button is pressed, the switch is turned on as you point at the object (compatible devices include lights, fans, AC units, or TVs).19. Headphones that clean your ears Jada Jones/ZDNETWhile theBebird EarSight Flow might look like the average pair of over-ear headphones, but it's actually an advanced ear cleaner. It uses small pods and spouts of water to shoot water into your ears to clean them gently. The spout includes a camera, and users can download the companion app to watch the EarSight Flow clean their ears in real time. Using an intelligent warming system, the headphones can even dry your ears.20. TCL's new devices are easy on the eyes Kerry Wan/ZDNETTCL debuted two new devices that caught our eye and benefit your eyes. The TCL 60 XE Nxtpaper 5G is a smartphone with Nxtpaper 3.0 display technology, which blocks blue light to promote visual comfort and reduce eye strain. And, of course, there's AI involved: the Smart Eye Comfort Mode and the Personalized Eye Comfort Mode adaptively configure the display's colors, brightness, and contrast levels based on the user's preference.The QM6K Mini LED TV is packed with features like precise dimming and brightness controls, a redesigned backlighting system to reduce the halo effect of images on screen, a new color optimization algorithm, and enough quantum crystals to render over one billion colors, which we are excited to test out.21. Lots of laptops Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETMonday seems to be the day dedicated to laptops, as we've so far seen announcements from HP, Dell, and Acer. HP's Elitebook series got an AI boost, and Dell nixed its XPS namesake to rebrand its entire portfolio into the Dell, Dell Pro, and Dell Pro Max. These Dell models will, of course, feature AI capabilities alongside Wi-Fi 7 support and snappy performance.Also: These new Wi-Fi 7 adapters will keep your old laptop future-proof for years to comeMeanwhile,Acer's lineup of devices is super versatile, thanks to their lightweight form factors and OLED displays. And gamers will appreciateMSI's CES announcement, which includes more than ten 18-inch laptops with new AMD processors and special edition designs.22. A hands-free smart lock with ultra-wideband Maria Diaz/ZDNETThere have been a few smart lock announcements at CES this year, but we think the Ultraloq Bolt Mission smart lock is the most groundbreaking. Not only does it use ultra-bandwidth (UWB) technology to unlock your door hands-free as you approach it, but UWB also allows for precision tracking of approved devices that is highly accurate and more secure.Also:Do you need a smart doggy door? I wasn't convinced until I saw this at CESThe lock also supports NFC devices--right now, just Androids, but the company plans to support Apple Home Key as well.23. Circular's smart ring gets upgrades Circular/ZDNETIn what's arguably the fastest-growing wearables category, smart ring makerCircular made a huge announcementat CES. Alongside new heart health monitoring like Atrial Fibrillation detection included within the ECG capability and improved sensors, smart ring buyers can now figure out their ring size without the need for a physical kit -- something no other smart ring brand has done so far. You can try on the Circular 2 via Digital Ring Sizing, which uses a smartphone's camera to determine a user's ring size.24. Over-the-counter glucose monitors Kerry Wan/ZDNETNot one but twoover-the-counter glucose monitors debuted at CESon Tuesday to make glucose monitoring affordable and accessible for both diabetics and the general public. The one from Dexcom is targeted for those with Type 2 diabetes not using insulin (though people without diabetes can also use it) and attaches to your arm, tracking glucose levels 24/7. It also lasts up to 30 days and is connected to an app on your phone that delivers your readings. It's compatible with Android and iOS.Also:The best wearable tech we've seen at CESOn the other hand, the Lingo device from Abbott is for anyone looking for more insight into their general health and wellness by tracking glucose spikes. It uses personalized data to offer suggestions and coaching on eating habits, stressors, and exercise through a companion app. It's limited to the iPhone.25. An alternative to Dolby Atmos ZDNETEclipsa Audio isSamsung and Google's answer to Dolby Atmos. One big difference in this new 3D audio format compared to Dolby Atmos is that it doesn't have licensing fees; it will be a free and open-source audio format. So far, the format is available only onSamsung's 2025 lineupofCrystal UHDto Neo QLED 8K TVs and its 2025 lineup of soundbars, but we're excited to hear it in person nonetheless.CES 2025