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Khumail Thakur profile imageKhumail ThakurPublished on

From a quality heat-belt to a flexible laptop and even a football with sensors, we list the most mind-blowing innovations of the year.

Top 8 innovative tech products from 2022

From a quality heat-belt to a flexible laptop and even a football with sensors, these were the most mind-blowing tech innovations of the year

There are tech brands that make changes to their product line-up every year. It’s only natural that we tend to dismiss these incremental upgrades as nothing more than a cash grab. However, there is plenty happening in the tech space that is not incremental, and so we’re going to list down 8 of the best innovative non-Apple tech products from 2022. 

Adidas Al Rihla World Cup footballCristiano Ronaldo, the captain of the Portugal football team, came under fire when he argued that the ball touched his head before it went into the back of the net during a match at the FIFA World Cup 2022. This led to an entertaining and short-lived debate all over the world. Following the match, FIFA confirmed that the ball did not, in fact, touch Ronaldo and this was concluded because of the 500Hz inertial measurement unit (IMU) motion sensor inside the Adidas Al Rihla football. The suspension system allows for time-precise motion data collection at a rate of 500 times per second, as the ball is connected to the VAR technology for accurate decision-making. Aakash Jhaveri, Technical Product Manager, Asus India and an avid football fan,  says, “Refereeing in sports has remained manual for the most part for decades. Every big-scale competitive sport should similarly find ways to harness technology for split-second decision-making.”

Adidas Al Rihla World Cup football

Cristiano Ronaldo, the captain of the Portugal football team, came under fire when he argued that the ball touched his head before it went into the back of the net during a match at the FIFA World Cup 2022. This led to an entertaining and short-lived debate all over the world. Following the match, FIFA confirmed that the ball did not, in fact, touch Ronaldo and this was concluded because of the 500Hz inertial measurement unit (IMU) motion sensor inside the Adidas Al Rihla football. The suspension system allows for time-precise motion data collection at a rate of 500 times per second, as the ball is connected to the VAR technology for accurate decision-making. Aakash Jhaveri, Technical Product Manager, Asus India and an avid football fan,  says, “Refereeing in sports has remained manual for the most part for decades. Every big-scale competitive sport should similarly find ways to harness technology for split-second decision-making.”

Samsung S95B QD-OLEDSamsung has pretty much replaced the LED backlight with a blue light-emitting OLED, placing red and green quantum dots for filtering colours and passing blue light as is. This means Samsung has taken the best features of OLEDs and QLEDs and booted the downsides of both technologies. The QD-OLEDs are said to be brighter than OLEDs, all the while retaining the incredible colour contrast of QLEDs. It will also have deeper blacks and higher HDR contrast because of the ability of each pixel to go completely dim. The QD-OLEDs also take advantage of an OLED’s instantaneous response time and better viewing angles. 

Samsung S95B QD-OLED

Samsung has pretty much replaced the LED backlight with a blue light-emitting OLED, placing red and green quantum dots for filtering colours and passing blue light as is. This means Samsung has taken the best features of OLEDs and QLEDs and booted the downsides of both technologies. The QD-OLEDs are said to be brighter than OLEDs, all the while retaining the incredible colour contrast of QLEDs. It will also have deeper blacks and higher HDR contrast because of the ability of each pixel to go completely dim. The QD-OLEDs also take advantage of an OLED’s instantaneous response time and better viewing angles. 

Hyperice Venom Back This is a quality-level heat belt that applies heat and vibration to your lower back. Now we know you can pick up a ₹1,000 heat belt from the nearest mom-and-pop shop but what stands out with this device is that it is wireless. You can simply move and go about doing chores while it massages your lower back. According to Mayuri Pitale, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Hyperice (India), “Venom Back is a hit! I guess the majority of the population today suffers from back-related issues and can totally use Venom Back to soothe. Be it corporate employees, gamers, athletes, sports and fitness enthusiasts and also the elderly like our parents.”

Hyperice Venom Back 

This is a quality-level heat belt that applies heat and vibration to your lower back. Now we know you can pick up a ₹1,000 heat belt from the nearest mom-and-pop shop but what stands out with this device is that it is wireless. You can simply move and go about doing chores while it massages your lower back. According to Mayuri Pitale, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Hyperice (India),“Venom Back is a hit! I guess the majority of the population today suffers from back-related issues and can totally use Venom Back to soothe. Be it corporate employees, gamers, athletes, sports and fitness enthusiasts and also the elderly like our parents.”

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLEDThe possibilities are truly endless with this laptop and it brings an almost yoga-level flexibility to make it happen. You can use it as a flat 17.3-inch display, or fold it at a 90° angle and plonk a keyboard on the bottom half to turn it into a 12.5-inch laptop. You can also remove the keyboard and use the top half of the display as the main screen and the bottom half as a second screen. There’s more: You can turn it into portrait mode and use it as an e-reader or lay it down flat and bring in a digital pen to hammer away your creativity. Prakhar Khanna, who writes reviews and news pieces for Digital Trends, has used it and said the 17 Fold changed the way he used laptops and “was mostly using it as a 17-inch display paired with the Bluetooth keyboard, even in cafes, which is not usual.”

Asus Zenbook 17 Fold OLED

The possibilities are truly endless with this laptop and it brings an almost yoga-level flexibility to make it happen. You can use it as a flat 17.3-inch display, or fold it at a 90° angle and plonk a keyboard on the bottom half to turn it into a 12.5-inch laptop. You can also remove the keyboard and use the top half of the display as the main screen and the bottom half as a second screen. There’s more: You can turn it into portrait mode and use it as an e-reader or lay it down flat and bring in a digital pen to hammer away your creativity. Prakhar Khanna, who writes reviews and news pieces for Digital Trends, has used it and said the 17 Fold changed the way he used laptops and “was mostly using it as a 17-inch display paired with the Bluetooth keyboard, even in cafes, which is not usual.”

Amazon Halo RiseThis is probably the most unusual but surprisingly practical way of tracking your sleep. While some might assume that a fitness band or a smartwatch will do the trick, the device can measure body movement and breathing patterns to calculate your sleep metrics, simultaneously monitoring room temperature, humidity and light disturbances which affect the quality of your sleep. It only works for the person closest to the device and doesn’t have a camera or microphone to capture any questionable activities. 

Amazon Halo Rise

This is probably the most unusual but surprisingly practical way of tracking your sleep. While some might assume that a fitness band or a smartwatch will do the trick, the device can measure body movement and breathing patterns to calculate your sleep metrics, simultaneously monitoring room temperature, humidity and light disturbances which affect the quality of your sleep. It only works for the person closest to the device and doesn’t have a camera or microphone to capture any questionable activities. 

FurbulousLove all things automated? Why not extend that to your four-legged friend? The Furbulous is an automated litter box for cats which neatly separates the clumps from the clean cat litter and dumps all the waste in a sealed bag. Once the used disposal bag is removed, the Furbulous will also replace the bag with a new one. All you have to do is carry the sealed bag to the bin. It also removes odour and other nasties and has seven sensors to detect your furry buddy and stop any automated process if they come close to keep them safe.

Furbulous

Love all things automated? Why not extend that to your four-legged friend? The Furbulous is an automated litter box for cats which neatly separates the clumps from the clean cat litter and dumps all the waste in a sealed bag. Once the used disposal bag is removed, the Furbulous will also replace the bag with a new one. All you have to do is carry the sealed bag to the bin. It also removes odour and other nasties and has seven sensors to detect your furry buddy and stop any automated process if they come close to keep them safe.

Skarper’s DiskDriveThis is possibly the quickest way to turn your regular bicycle into an e-bike. The ease of a clip-on system makes converting your pedal-powered junk into a 32km/hr speed demon is easy. It’s wire-free so all you have to do is clip it on the rear wheel. It weighs just 3.3 kg so you can remove it and take it home without much effort. It works with any rear disk brake cycle and doesn’t need you to change the frame or the tyres.

Skarper’s DiskDrive

This is possibly the quickest way to turn your regular bicycle into an e-bike. The ease of a clip-on system makes converting your pedal-powered junk into a 32km/hr speed demon is easy. It’s wire-free so all you have to do is clip it on the rear wheel. It weighs just 3.3 kg so you can remove it and take it home without much effort. It works with any rear disk brake cycle and doesn’t need you to change the frame or the tyres.

Valve Steam DeckValve’s Steam Deck as a concept isn’t new but what it can do is quite impressive. Imagine a gaming PC in the palm of your hand. Valve pretty much reimagined the way PC gaming is evolving. This piece of tech has crammed essential hardware to run pretty much every possible PC game. The only caveat is that you will have to go through SteamOS. Despite this, you can sideload Windows and get access to all your PC games–it is portable and playable. Brace yourself for an onslaught of more PC gaming handhelds coming at CES 2023. Valve has essentially opened the doors for everyone to jump on board and make PC gaming in the loo a reality.

Valve Steam Deck

Valve’s Steam Deck as a concept isn’t new but what it can do is quite impressive. Imagine a gaming PC in the palm of your hand. Valve pretty much reimagined the way PC gaming is evolving. This piece of tech has crammed essential hardware to run pretty much every possible PC game. The only caveat is that you will have to go through SteamOS. Despite this, you can sideload Windows and get access to all your PC games–it is portable and playable. Brace yourself for an onslaught of more PC gaming handhelds coming at CES 2023. Valve has essentially opened the doors for everyone to jump on board and make PC gaming in the loo a reality.

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