Welcome to day three of CES 2025 (or the second day of the show floor, if you count that way). Today you’ll see far fewer press conferences and keynotes, which gives the Engadget team additional time to peruse the various show floors — from the main LVCC to the more startup-heavy venues like the Venetian Sands Expo — to find gems like solar hats and even more claw-arm robot vacuums.
We’ll be working behind the scenes today to pull together our picks for the best of CES 2025. Otherwise, the only official events on the CES schedule are the final keynotes from the CEOs of Volvo, Accenture and Waymo (the first two of which are livestreams we’ll share here).
CES generally sets the stage for each year in tech, and judging by everything that’s already been announced so far, AI will continue to find its way into every possible corner of our lives. That’s been seen in everything from TVs to earbuds, PCs to large appliances and everything in between. Oh, and we’re seeing a notable increase in AI-assisted AR glasses, as well as health and beauty devices, too. The carpets and casinos continue to be a sensory experience that really reminds us of the mingling of tech and excess, too.
Want to catch up on what you’ve missed this week? Check out our round-up of CES 2025 day one, the best of CES 2025 day two and our firehose feed of all Engadget CES 2025 stories. Meanwhile, if you want to live vicariously through us, there is no better place to keep up than this liveblog, which will be updated regularly throughout today. Keep your browser tab open here, and you might feel like you’re right in Vegas, surrounded by weird robots!
Live388 updates
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This mechanical keyboard is aimed at writers, not gamers
Mechanical keyboards are one of those “IYKYK” slices of tech: For every 99 PC users who gravitate to a $25 Logitech keyboard, there’s that one who’s obsessed with travel distance, removable keycaps and getting that perfect clickety-clack sound. While the category has classically been very gamer-centric, Detroit-based Astrohaus is targeting wordsmiths with its new Wordrunner model. As Nate Ingraham writes, it’s got something you’ve never seen on a previous keyboard:
Freewrite Wordrunner mechanical keyboard (Nathan Ingraham for Engadget) “Probably the most visually striking thing about the Wordrunner are the two mechanical counters you’ll see up top. One is a timer you can use for writing sprints or just staying focused for a bit. More intriguing is the Wordometer dead-center at the top of the keyboard. It’ll track your words with its whopping eight-digit mechanical counter, and since it saves your word count as long as you want, you could try and max it out someday. Of course, you can also reset it at any time or pause it if you don’t want it to advance while you’re chatting with friends or sending emails.”
Intrigued? Nate just updated the story with his hands-on impressions, so go check it out!
Read more: The latest Freewrite device is a fancy mechanical keyboard built with writers in mind
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The LG PF600U is a triple threat: Project, wireless speaker and a lamp, too
I can’t say the PF600U is the most compelling thing we’ve seen at CES 2025, but it does have a certain amount of practicality. The unit — which resembles a standing fan, in at least one configuration — is a three-in-one gadget. It’s a full HD projector, a wireless Bluetooth speaker and an LED lamp. It’s that final feature that, oddly, may be the most fully fleshed out. Per Billy Steele, who saw it in person:
In lamp mode, the LEDs can be set to various colors. (Billy Steele for Engadget) “When it comes to the lamp features, there are nine dimmable color LEDs to set the mood. The top, where all of the tech resides, tilts so the ring or lights on the bottom can be projected on a wall or other surface. And as you might expect, the whole thing is controlled by webOS. Plus, there are buttons for positioning, changing modes, power and more on the top panel, encircled by the speaker’s grille.”
Read more: LG’s Swiss-army-knife projector hides in plain sight at CES 2025
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Face-on with Shark’s new $350 beautifying LED hockey mask
This product — or more specifically, Cherlynn’s photo of herself using it — has been the star of the internal Engadget Slack channel for the past 24 hours. So it’s with great pleasure that we can now share it to the world.
Engadget’s Cherlynn Low, wearing the Shark CryoGlow. (Engadget) This is the CryoGlow LED light-therapy mask from Shark — the same company that makes air fryers and vacuum cleaners. But a few things set this apart from previous models in this fast-growing space. It’s got tri-color LEDs (rather than single-color), allowing for more diverse therapy options. And it’s larger than some competing models, to maximize usage for a wider variety of head sizes. Lastly, it’ll be priced at $349 — not the cheapest model on the market, but considerably less than some other name brand competition.
How did it feel to wear? Read Cherlynn’s full story — and don’t be surprised if there’s a Jason Voorhees-style mask coming to your own skincare regimen in the near future.
Read more: Shark joins the high-tech skincare mask war with an impressive CES 2025 opening shot
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Eyes-on the new Samsung Frame Pro TV at CES 2025
Samsung invented the whole “TV that doubles as wall art” market years ago with its Frame TV line. In the past year, though, plenty of competitors have sprung up in the “art TV” space. In fact, a recent firmware upgrade added the art screensaver feature to most current Roku TVs and streamers. Pair that with the fact that earlier Frame models were never highly regarded by videophiles, and it’s no surprise Samsung wanted to raise the bar. Thus, the Frame Pro at CES 2025. Per Billy Steele, who saw it in person earlier this week:
The new Neo QLED panel on Samsung’s Frame Pro provides more detail and contract even to it’s primary function. (Billy Steele for Engadget) “[I]n a side-by-side with a still image from a movie, The Frame Pro was brighter, with more detail and deeper blacks that the existing Frame. You can also tell a difference looking at the same art on the two TVs beside each other. Details like texture and strokes pop off the matte screen more on The Frame Pro, making the art TV even better at its primary function. Plus, Samsung says its boosted the refresh rate to 144Hz to improve the gaming experience, and the 2024 Frame also supports variable refresh rates for smoother gameplay. So, it stands to reason The Frame Pro would as well.”
So, a fancier QLED screen and a state-of-the-art wireless breakout box to boot, so you need only worry about a power cable to the display itself. Too bad pricing is still T
Read more: Samsung The Frame Pro at CES 2025: A big upgrade for the art TV
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All the laptops that piqued our interest at CES 2025
Three laptops. (Sam Rutherford/Engadget) CES is filled with wild and wacky curios, to be sure, but there are also plenty of good old-fashioned laptops. Or… given the hottest trend in laptops is stuffing them to the gills with AI, perhaps good new-fangled laptops may be more appropriate. Either way, contributing editor Lawrence Bonk has broken down ten of the most interesting new laptops we’ve seen in Vegas this year.
Read more: All the laptops that piqued our interest at CES 2025
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AI for good: The WeWalk Smart Cane for the visually impaired makes sensible use of CES’s most overhyped feature
The problem with AI being in everything at CES is that it becomes wallpaper — you tune it out, especially when a lot of the uses being touted in Las Vegas are iffy at best. That’s why it’s refreshing to see the WeWalk Smart Cane 2. As Cheyenne MacDonald reports:
The WeWalk Smart Cane 2 is shown from the angle of the person holding it. Their hand can be seen gripping the handle and the cane is held out in front over a navy blue carpet (Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget) “It’s positioned as an alternative to the traditional foldable white cane. Co-founder Kursat Ceylan, who has been blind since birth, says Smart Cane 2 can make mobility easier and safer, offering features like turn-by-turn navigation and obstacle detection, along with a ChatGPT-powered voice assistant that puts on-demand information in users’ hands without the need for them to also juggle a smartphone.”
Read more: The WeWalk Smart Cane 2 could be one of AI’s few good use cases at CES 2025
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We go hands-on with the Afeela 1 EV
Resident auto expert Tim Stevens has forgotten more about cars than I will ever know. Whether they’re powered by internal combustion, electric motors or a hybrid powertrain, he’s seen them all — which is why I took his disappointment at many of the details on the new Afeela 1 to heart. From Tim’s hands-on at CES (where he saw it up close, but didn’t get to drive it yet):
The interior display is one of a few interesting aspects of the Afeela 1. (Tim Stevens for Engadget) “To open the driver’s door, you either tap a button in the app or press a small button embedded in the pillar. There are no door handles to pull, not even a token fin like on the Ford Mustang Mach-E. I couldn’t help asking what do you do if you park in an ice storm and the door is frozen shut. I wasn’t given much of an answer.”
It’s important to remember this is a floor show prototype, but many of the issues Tim raises here — including limited color options and so-so range — don’t seem likely to change before launch day. Here’s hoping Sony Honda Mobility takes these constructive criticisms to heart, though.
Read more: Sony’s Afeela 1 feels like a PlayStation 4 in the PS5 era
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This induction stove has a battery assist
For a lot of foodies — and eco-minded homeowners — induction ranges are the wave of the future. (As an aside, here’s a pro tip: If a fridge magnet sticks to your pot, it’ll work on an induction stove top. If not, you’re out of luck.) But that issue of being unable to cook during a power outage nags at folks who are still cooking with gas. But that’s where the Copper Charlie stove comes in. From Amy Skorheim:
The Copper Charlie is set up in a demo kitchen at CES (Amy Skorheim / Engadget) “Charlie is a full-sized oven and range that packs a ceramic glass cooktop, a 4.5 cubic-foot oven and an integrated 5 kWh battery. That battery allows the stove to run off a standard plug by storing up a charge that can bump up the power output when it’s time to cook (it can also cook three to five meals during a power outage).”
Read more: Someone please buy me this battery-powered, plug-in induction range from CES
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Can you really buy any of that stuff debuting at CES? Actually, yes
There are two big categories of stuff you’ll see at CES: Vaporware and “coming soon.” The former is the coolest stuff — basically, prototypes and concepts. You won’t see them anytime soon, if ever, but they sometimes appear years later in a buyable form (see LG’s transparent OLED TV and Samsung’s Ballie robot). The “coming soon” products are those real-world TVs, laptops, graphics cards, appliances and other annual upgrades that are announced at CES, and later priced and released in the spring, summer or fall.
Image of the Xreal One Pro smart glasses on a table. (Photo by Daniel Cooper) But there’s a thin sliver of a third category: Stuff you can actually buy or preorder right now. And we’ve pulled together a list of those buyable CES products for you to peruse, including smart glasses, headphones, power accessories and even the already infamous solar hat.
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The Las Vegas Sphere is an amazing CES press conference venue, too
During my time covering CES in person, the press conferences have generally been in one of two places: At the Mandalay Bay convention center, or directly next to the respective company’s show floor booth (Sony’s traditional venue). But once in awhile, a company will attempt to wow attendees with a “destination” press conference. That was Delta’s angle last night, when it took over the Sphere arena in Las Vegas for a CES event that doubled as a centennial celebration for the brand.
For the uninitiated, the Sphere is a 20,000-seat venue that’s shaped like, well, a sphere, with high-resolution screens inside and out. Thanks to its wraparound immersive presentation, it’s quickly becoming a go-to destination for concerts — and now, press conferences. According to our Billy Steele, Delta’s event was something of a jaw-dropping experience:
At various times, immersive airplane footage was shown inside Sphere. (Billy Steele for Engadget) “Video of each speaker was projected on the interior of the venue set on various backdrops that transformed the hall into spaces ranging from a dome to an observation deck and an airplane cabin. Several times during CEO Ed Bastian’s address there were interactions with planes where the seats rumbled and blown air provided a sense of flying, complete with directional, immersive audio. There was also a cameo by Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi where an Uber Eats delivery arrived at the stage with a hazelnut-flavored coffee for Bastian and those aromas were wafted into the audience.”
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We got a closer look at the new Honda 0 EVs at CES 2025
Honda had a twofer at CES 2025. The Afeela 1, the debut vehicle from the Sony Honda Mobility joint venture, was officially priced and confirmed for 2026. But at Honda proper, we’re getting two additional 2026 EVs, too. The Honda 0 vehicles — as in zero-emission — returned to CES this year, and our Sam Rutherford got an in-person look at them:
“The 0 SUV’s overall proportions almost make it look like a tall, lifted wagon, especially when sat next to the 0 saloon. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Inside, Honda continues with the clean lines, though I wouldn’t necessarily read much into the general placement and look of its screens and dash. Like a lot of pre-production cars, those details are very much subject to change before its design is properly finalized. Same goes for those side-view cameras, which due to US laws, still don’t comply with regulations. However, Honda’s streamlined cabin does line up with the company’s “Thin, Light and Wise” design philosophy, which includes the move to a steer-by-wire driving system instead of relying on more traditional physical linkages.”
But enough text, check out the pics. Here’s the 0 SUV:
The Honda 0 SUV prototype at CES 2025. (Photo by Sam Rutherford) And here is Sam getting up close and personal with the Saloon (I’m getting Lambo vibes):
The Honda 0 Saloon prototype at CES 2025 (Photo by Sam Rutherford) See all the photos here: A closer look at the slick Honda 0 SUV and Saloon prototypes at CES 2025
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This $800 swivel chair and head-tracker moves with you as you look around in VR
It “somehow didn’t make me feel like throwing up” may sound like faint praise, but for Cheyenne MacDonald — who’s prone to VR motion sickness — that counts as a big win. She demoed the Roto VR Explorer, an $800 motorized swivel chair that syncs to your real-world VR headset movements using a head-mounted tracker. Her initial experience:
Engadget editor Cheyenne MacDonald sits in the Roto VR explorer chair using a Meta Quest 3 headset (Jessica Conditt for Engadget) “After the Roto team gave me the rundown and got me set up in the chair with a Quest 3, I selected my VR experience — the 2018 interactive documentary about the universe, Spheres — and got going. It was, without a doubt, a little weird at first when I turned my head to follow the path of rippling auroras and felt my body rotate as if I were a spice jar on a lazy Susan. But for the most part, it didn’t have that disorienting feeling of the ground shifting underneath you. (It was definitely lagging a bit on the congested show floor, which did lead to some out-of-sync, jerky movements). It only took a minute or so for me to stop focusing on the fact that I was in motion and just go with it.”
Read more: This spinning VR chair at CES 2025 somehow didn’t make me feel like throwing up
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What it’s like inside Sony’s immersive The Last of Us experience at CES
With the exception of talking up its Afeela 1 electric car, Sony spent the bulk of its CES press conference focusing on movies and TV — especially the programming the company is adapting from its PlayStation line. And to celebrate the return of its popular The Last of Us show to HBO this April, Sony has a “location-based experience exhibit” on the CES show floor that’s designed to put participants inside a subway tunnel populated by zombies (sorry, “Infected. And as Engadget’s [self-proclaimed] chief The Last of Us correspondent, Nathan Ingraham was the perfect candidate to take point:
The Last of Us immersive experience at CES 2025 “I entered the experience with three other participants after a quick run-down of the gear we’d use: two of us got shotguns, and two got flashlights (sadly I was stuck with a flashlight). Both have a bunch of small sensors attached to the front so that they could interact with the environment we entered; the flashlight felt like a real flashlight with some sensors on the end, but the guns were crude tubes with a handle and trigger; the trigger felt pretty good from my quick test of it before we got started. There are also sensors on the barrel of the gun that detect a “pump” motion to reload it.”
Alas, Sony’s “no cameras or video” policy means you need to read Nate’s story the old-fashioned way. (Just envision him telling it to you around a campfire in a spooky backwoods setting.)
Read more: Sony’s immersive The Last of Us experience at CES 2025 dropped me into a subway filled with zombies
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RollAway makes the case for glamping in a luxury electric RV
I’m guessing “EV RV” is redundant, but that’s what came to mind when I saw Jessica Conditt’s report on RollAway. It’s a “luxury camper-van as a service,” meaning the end-user price is targeted to be a mere $400 per night — not much more than I paid for my last Manhattan hotel room, honestly. And because it’s an EV, this glamping road trip is largely free from carbon guilt. From Jessica’s walkthrough:
RollAway EV camper van at CES 2025. (Engadget) “The van has a seating area that transforms into a queen bed, a kitchen with a sink and dual-burner stovetop, a shower, toilet, lots of storage, and a panoramic roof. When the van’s rear rolling door is pulled down, it acts as a screen for the included projector. […] RollAway also comes with a lineup of top-tier amenities, including Yeti coolers and cups, Starlink satellite Wi-Fi, locally sourced breakfast packages, Malin+Goetz toiletries, fresh linens, and a tablet loaded with hospitality services. The tablet gives you access to a live virtual concierge and the Hospitality On-Demand app, which houses your itinerary, room service and housekeeping requests. In the future, RollAway will offer a full housekeeping service, but that feature isn’t live quite yet.”
Read more: RollAway is a rentable EV camper van with a concierge service and luxury amenities
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CEO of X praises Mark Zuckerberg for ending third-party fact-checking
Linda Yaccarino praised Mark Zuckerberg. (CES) CEO of X (Twitter) Linda Yaccarino was making ripples here at CES 2025 during a keynote address, and our senior reporter Karissa Bell was in attendance. Yaccarino talked ad nauseum about how advertisers are returning to the platform and that she believes X is and remains a place where things trend. Amid all that, Yaccarino gave Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg a quick shoutout.
Per Karissa:
“Yaccarino described Meta’s decision to end its longtime fact checking program and implement community notes as “exciting” and “validating.”… “I think it’s really exciting when you think about community notes being good for the world … and it couldn’t be more validating than to see that Mark and Meta realize that,” Yaccarino said. “Mark, Meta, welcome to the party.””
Read more about Linda Yaccarino’s CES 2025 keynote in our full story.
