Wulian Show

The concurrently held Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Spring Edition) and ICT expo didn’t have an official theme, but if they did, this year it would have been “The Internet of Things.” The combined trade shows, which in mid-April attracted over 3,300 exhibitors from across the globe, were heavily focused on connecting both home appliances to the Internet, and on the burgeoning market for wearable wireless devices that connect to smartphones to provide a host of information.

The retro ’60s model turntable by Big Ben Design

For the connected home, manufacturers both large and small are betting that consumers will want to have every electronic item in their house controllable from their smartphone. Diversified companies like Wulian (http://www.wulian.cc/english) showed off a wide range of products: LED lightbulbs, motion sensors, curtain controls, and even a thermometer/humidity sensor for your lawn, that can all be controlled through one gateway device (which they also manufacture), and controlled via smartphone or tablet. Likewise, Adition (http://www.adition.com.cn) was promoting both its extensive range as well as its support for Apple’s HomeKit control system. Do you want to set up your multicolor LED bulb to change tone as the day progresses, and pre-heat the stove as your car approaches the garage (which will, of course, automatically open)? Soon, you can.

 Some of the smaller manufacturers were focusing on The Internet of Things with individual products. Champon demo’ed a smart electrical switch which can be turned on and off via an app, or by using Siri. Shenzen Sky Electronics Manufactory is working with Bluetooth and GSM phone chips to make a more flexible range of products, like a door alarm that could be mounted in an apartment, where permanent installation in the wall is unavailable.

Show Seminars

The Internet of Things and wearables was also a popular topic of discussion of the many seminars held at the Fair. Fred Wong, CFA of the eFusion Capital Ltd hedge fund, spoke about the ecosystem that will likely develop around the Apple Watch, particularly in regards to the Consumer to Business (C-to-B) market, where consumers will use Apple Pay to buy things. He said, however, that consumers would likely find the first version of the watch frustrating because of the limited data available to developers. When asked if there weren’t privacy concerns with giving away more user data, Wong acknowledged the fear but countered that “Small Data (about individual users) has big privacy concerns, but Big Data (where users groups are large) has small privacy concerns.”

Andy Lau, executive director of SAS Dragon Holdings Limited, echoed this sentiment, saying that collecting data would greatly benefit both the consumer and the manufacturer, by leading to better feedback on how products are used, and also how they fail. If your washing machine breaks, it can send an alert directly to the manufacturer with the error code, saving the owner time. It can also allow the maker to track design flaws or faulty parts. The problem lies in how the devices will work together: using popular protocols like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will allow you to use products from different companies, but could lead to signal interference and having to deal with several different apps to control your home, while using integrated products by one company could lock you into buying only their version of things.

Kelvin Wong of Ezicharge Limited spoke about the wireless home, but in the elimination of power cords with wire-free charging. Twenty-watt charging solutions for laptops, currently available for smartphones and tablets, would be available next year, Wong predicted, adding that cord-free power for home appliances (up to and including things like stoves and laundry dryers) would likewise become popular in the near future.

Wearables

Beyond connecting the appliances you’re familiar with to the Internet, the relatively new field of wearables was a hot topic, with booth after booth showing off Bluetooth-enabled watches and sports straps. The watches were focused on giving the user quick, discreet notifications that would eliminate the need to take out a smartphone. Both types of products were focused on user health, providing exercise tracking, heart rate monitoring, and warnings about when the user had been too sedentary.

What all of these devices are waiting for, said Fred Wong, was a “killer app” that would take advantage of a watch’s unique position. He suggested a social app that would notify you of people who like your dating profile as you move around the city, or a health app that could send requests for help when the user is in trouble. He was particularly intrigued by the Apple Watch’s “Haptic response,” which allows the device to send a light, silent tap to the user for notifications. There are lots of devices we touch, he said, but the Apple Watch is “…the product that touches you.”

For those who want to share as little as possible, there’s the LockPhone,an Android smartphone focused on privacy. With all the security settings enabled, the device completely encrypts any phone calls, emails and messages, which can only be decrypted by another LockPhone to which it’s sent. Calls will sound like distorted noise, and messages will be gibberish. These settings can be turned off in order to communicate with standard devices. The company, likewise, makes a tablet.

While many companies were showing off “me-too” wearables, companies like AEGlo (www.aeglo.com) were developing more interesting solutions like TouchTalk gloves that not only control your music, but include a mic and speaker that allow you to make a phone call without taking your phone out (or your glove off). The company also showed off snow hats and earmuffs with integrated headphones, and the Motion Pro backpack for bikers, which uses remote control LEDs for signaling a turn.

Turntables

And in all this talk about the future, one device from the past seemed to be making a comeback: the turntable. Companies like Lenco  and Big Ben Design were taking advantage of the vinyl resurgence with a slew of LP record players, redesigned for the modern era with support for wireless speakers, and the ability to both play digital music (via SD card or USB), and convert music from records into digital formats.

It was heartening to see that even as we move into tomorrow, we won’t have to give up the good things from yesterday.