Best of CES 2025 Awards: Tech Advisor’s Top Picks

CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) is always a bang to start the year. The humongous annual tech show in Las Vegas sees big and small brands from around the world show their latest and greatest wares.

From the genuinely useful to the absolutely bizarre, it’s got everything and CES 2025 is no different. As usual, we’ve been clocking up ridiculous step counts around the show floors in order to find the best new gadgets you’ll want to buy this year.

Weird, wonderful, wacky… these are the products we’ve awarded Best in Show at CES 2025 – from sock-grabbing robot vacuum cleaners to solid gold smart rings.

Roborock Saros Z70

The Saros Z70 was one of the triumphs of CES, with a grabby display that caught everyone’s attention. Grabby because this robot vacuum has a robotic arm that extends from a compartment on the top to pick up small items left on your floor. That’s right: this is the first robot vacuum that can tidy as well as clean.

The demo model was able to locate and lift up a thick glove, and drop it into a nearby basket. The claw, which Roborock calls the OmniGrip 1.0, can carry objects with a weight of up to 300g, and it can extend and move in five different directions from its rotating base.

Incredibly, the robotic arm does not add bulk to the machine: once folded into its compartment, the robot’s body is a compact 7.98cm tall.

Ultrahuman Rare

Wearable tech isn’t always hugely fashion-forward, but Ultrahuman is aiming to change that with a luxury smart ring that’s real gold – or platinum, if that’s more your bag – rather than the titanium or tungsten carbide coating that tends to be standard.

The Ultrahuman Rare ring comes in three shades: Dune (gold), Desert Rose (rose gold) and Desert Snow (platinum). The gold used in production was sourced from the London Bullion Market and is hallmarked, as you’d expect with any piece of high-quality jewellery. The rings have a subtly textured design that sets them apart from rivals at a glance.

What we like is the idea that smart wearables are moving out of their own, vaguely sporty, function-first, style-second niche. We can’t attest to the weight of the Rare or how comfortable it is, however, as the models, which are priced from £1,500-£1,800 (around $2,000 in the US) were kept locked securely in their case during the unveiling at CES.

Halliday smart glasses

These lightweight, stylish spectacles are in fact smart glasses. Embedded in the frame is a tiny round module that projects a green text display that you can see in the top right of your field of vision, giving you access to notes, phone notifications and real-time language translation. In the future, you’ll also be able to access an AI virtual assistant through them.

The glasses are paired with a smart ring which doubles as a controller, allowing you to scroll and make adjustments without touching the glasses themselves.

What’s clever about the tech set-up is that it obviates the need for AR lenses and means you can have them fitted with your regular prescription. These are, without a doubt, the most wearable smart glasses available now and a proper rival for the Ray-Ban Meta.

TCL Nxtpaper 11 Plus

TCL has revealed Nxtpaper 4.0, the latest version of its colour-shifting screen tech. And it’s debuting on the Nxtpaper 11 Plus, the company’s new 11-inch tablet.

Like the previous version found on the Nxtpaper 14, the technology lets you switch between full colour, colour E-Ink and monochrome E-Ink modes at the press of a physical button. However, the Nxtpaper 4.0 offers improvements to image clarity and colour accuracy, with full coverage of the sRGB gamut. There are also new AI-powered Smart Eye Comfort (for reduced eye strain) and Personalized Eye Comfort (tailored to your usage) modes.

Elsewhere, the Nxtpaper 14 Plus gets the first suite of AI features of any tablet. These include writing assist tools and smart voice recording functionality (including transcription, summary and mind map functionality), plus real-time translation and subtitling features. Circle to Search is also supported.

The display itself is a 2.2K panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and support for the T-Pen stylus, which offers a realistic pen-on-paper like experience. The experience is powered by MediaTek’s Helio G99 chipset.

Dreame X50 Ultra

The headline feature of Dreame’s new X50 Ultra is its ‘ProLeap’ technology: it’s the step-climbing robot. Thanks to a set of robotic legs that extend to angle the robot’s body upwards, it can climb a step of up to 4.2cm, or combined steps of 6cm.

When combined with the X50 Ultra’s VersaLift tech, which allows the navigation tower to retract into the body of the vacuum to clean under lower pieces of furniture, the X50 Ultra is a robot that can access parts of the home that rivals can’t.

We were lucky enough to get an early product sample for testing ahead of CES, and can say that it’s an impressive machine.

Plugable UD-7400PD Docking Station

Plugable unveiled the first docking station that can support five external monitors. It’s a hybrid docking station that uses two technologies to drive the connected displays: USB-C Alt Mode Video and DisplayLink.

Up to five high-resolution displays can be added: three 8K screens, or one 8K plus four 4K displays. For Macs, the highest screen resolution is 6K.

Even if you don’t need five screens, tt the UD-7400PD dock offers flexibility. Users can choose from the five video options—one HDMI 2.1 for the highest 8K resolution, one HDMI 2.0 for 4K at 60Hz, and three 10Gbps USB-C ports with DisplayLink enabled for 4K at 60Hz—with any unused USB-C ports free for other devices with full data, video and power potential (up to 15W).

The UD-7400PD dock offers PD 3.1 140W Power Delivery, and a 2.5Gb Ethernet port.

The UD-7400PD dock is expected to be available in March for approximately $265. For more options, check out our roundups of the best docking stations for Mac and best DisplayLink docks.

Belkin PowerGrip

This cute but mutlfunctional gadget plays to Gen Z’s love of retro tech by turning your phone into an old-school digital camera. Push the physical button on the Belkin PowerGrip to take photos and hold it like a “real camera”.

The PowerGrip is much more than a camera gimmick, though, as it includes a high-capacity (10K) power bank with 7.5W magnetic wireless charging, USB-C output ports, a retractable USB-C charging cable and LED screen to show battery percentage.

The PowerGrip comes in five bold colors—Powder Blue, Sand, Yellow, Pepper and Lavender—and wil be available in May.

Circular Ring 2

Smart rings are having a moment, with the likes of Samsung and Oura the most popular options right now. But neither of them can match the Circular Ring 2 in two key areas.

First is the ability to detect atrial fibrillation, a common indicator of heart issues. The Circular Ring 2 uses an FDA-approved algorithm to identify it, becoming the first smart ring with this feature.

The other is just as significant: a digital sizing kit. Instead of waiting for a physical kit to arrive, Circular’s phone app uses AR and any credit card you own to give an estimate of which size is right for you in seconds. Again, it’s a first for the smart ring category.

The ring itself is made from titanium, and available in gold, silver, black and rose gold. Circular claims up to eight days of battery life on a single charge, plus a new wireless charging dock and improvements to its Kira AI assistant.

After a crowdfunding campaign, the Circular Ring 2 will be available in March, priced at $380 with no subscription fees.

Pawport

Do you want your dog to have easy access to your garden, but worry about security? A smart pet door is the best solution, and Pawport is the most feature-packed option out there.

The premise is simple: a Bluetooth tag is attached to your dog’s collar, which is then connected to the companion app. Any time your dog approaches the door, it recognises who’s there and swings open. Access can be scheduled, allowing you to keep your dog inside at night or when the weather is bad.

The door itself is made from either plastic or aluminium, with a range of colours including a fake wood effect, and three different sizes. To install, simply slide on top of the frame of any existing pet door.

The main Pawport door starts at $499 in the US, though it can also be paired with a weatherproof outdoor version for an extra $399. No further subscription fees are required. And as you might’ve seen, there’s also a fully customisable RGB light strip below the doors, because why not?

Pawport is expected to begin shipping at some point in the next few months in the US, though there’s no word on international availability at this stage.

Eureka J15 Max Ultra

It was a strong show for robot vacuums and the J15 Max is another model we couldn’t overlook. The J15 Max Ultra has separate cleaning modes for spills and larger debris, but what’s smart about it is the way identifies different types of mess.

Its IntelliView 2.0 system combines an RGB vision sensor with an infrared vision system, which gives it the ability to analyse texture, so it can identify and clean up clear liquid spills, which is very cool indeed.

We also love its cleverly redesigned claw-shaped sweeper, which won’t get tangled up with hair as traditional side brushes do.

HoverAir ProMax

Traditional drones require a controller and a fairly skilled pilot. Not so the HoverAir, which is a pocket-sized, self-flying camera. Anyone can use it, even kids. It doesn’t need a controller at all as it’ll follow and film you on the go, with a choice of 10 flight modes.

What’s so eye-catching about it is how perfectly controlled it is in flight. The HoverAir will take off and land in the palm of your hand. It’s the kind of device you see and immediately want.

Other nice features include a 4K camera and its fully-enclosed frame, rather than the open propellors of your average drone.

Anker 140W-four port charger

USB-C wall chargers get smaller every year but they still look ungainly with the cables sticking out from one end. Anker’s new 140W USB-C Charger solves this ugliness with all four of its ports placed on the underside so that the cables hang vertically. This also makes them and the charger itself less prone to falling out of the power socket when pulled.

With a maximum 140W output it can fast-charge PD 3.1 laptops. There are three USB-C ports and one legacy USB-A.

It also offers a smart display that showcases real-time power output and remaining power for each port.

LG Indoor Garden lamp concepts

Ever wish the lamps in your home did more than just light your home? What about helping plants grow?

That’s exactly what LG imagines in its Indoor Garden concepts, where either a large free-standing lamp or a smaller side table lamp can double as a grow light for up to 20 plants. Each offers five different intensity levels, allowing you to realistically mimic the outside world.

That doesn’t mean it’s useless once it gets dark outside, though. At night, lights face upwards instead, meaning it still serves its primary purpose as a lamp.

But LG has taken things one step further, equipping the devices with water tanks (up to 1.5 gallons) that can automatically irrigate the soil and provide feed at optimal intervals.

The company says it’s particularly well-suited to growing leafy greens, herbs, flowers and fruits, but almost any small indoor plant could work. And it can all be adjusted right from your phone, using LG’s ThinQ app.

As a concept, there’s no guarantee this product will ever come to market. But it’s still an exciting vision of the future of indoor plants.

Ugreen Nexode 500W 6-Port GaN Desktop Charger

Wall chargers are super-handy but sometimes you need a lot of power from a desktop charger with a power supply. Ugreen announced the world’s first 500W GaN charger at CES.

Previously we have tested 300W max output chargers so 500W is a big step up without being just big. It can charge up to six devices simultaneously, with one port delivering up to 240W via Power Delivery 3.1.

Ugreen claims that this charger is powerful enough even for power-hungry devices such as e-bikes.