The top 30 groundbreaking tech winners: The Shortcut IFA 2024 awards
We traveled halfway around the world to find the best technology coming this year and beyond. Here's what we found at IFA 2024.
🧪 We tested 100+ gadgets over the last month in Berlin
🏆 We picked the 30 best technology innovations we saw in person
🥇 Big award winners: DJI Honor, Lenovo, Anker, Ugreen and Govee
💯 IFA, which turned 100 this year, is Europe’s version of CES
Over the last month, The Shortcut team tested 100 new and forthcoming gadgets to give you a glimpse of the future of technology. There was no better place to show off the latest laptops, phones, drones, smart fans and cans (as in headphones) than IFA 2024 in Berlin. IFA is the CES of Europe and just hit its centennial anniversary.
IFA stands for the Internationale FunkAusstellung (International Radio Exhibition), and obviously, the expo has evolved since its inception in 1924. On the 100th anniversary of IFA, we’re reviewing our favorite of the 100 gadgets we tested. Here are the top 30, according to your tech experts at The Shortcut.
1. DJI Neo
The DJI Neo really is a drone made for anyone and we’re not just talking about its $200 price. Anyone can start flying it after pressing two buttons, and it’ll lift off from your palm. You can record drone selfies with 12MP photos and 4K videos. And if you want to spread your wings and fly farther, you can you just need to connect a DJI controller. Or you could even get into FPV flying with this drone by using the DJI Goggles 3 with it.
2. Auto Twist Laptop
Lenovo has a new twist (ahah) on your standard laptop by giving it a motorized hinge that automatically opens and converts the laptop into a 2-in-1 tablet. The Lenovo Auto Twist is also meant to revolutionize web calls by tracking your movements like Apple’s Center Stage on iPadOS and macOS, but with hardware instead of software tricks. Lenovo also demonstrated how Auto Twist can capture panoramic images, and it’s all entirely voice-controlled.
3. MSI Claw 8 AI+
We’ve been searching high and low for the perfect gaming handheld, and the MSI Claw 8 AI+ could be it. It features some overwhelming specs, including a massive 8-inch screen, an Intel Lunar Lake powerplant, 32GB of RAM, and an 80Wh battery. Time will tell if this Intel-powered gaming handheld will perform better than the original MSI Claw, but it feels good and looks like an amazing portable to keep an eye on later next January.
4. Laifen Toothbrush (Titanium)
We were already big fans of the Laifen Electric Toothbrush for how portable, yet powerful it is, so the Titanium version won us over even more. Being built out of aerospace-grade titanium really makes this toothbrush feel indestructible.
5. Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition
Before you roll your eyes at another AI-powered laptop, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition is all about improving the Windows 11 experience. Its gaming-changing Aura Share feature lets you wirelessly browse and transfer iPhone photos for the first time ever. It also comes with new Smart Modes that set up your laptop for distraction-free work, activating VPNs for private browsing, and more. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i is also a thoroughly modern laptop with Intel Core Ultra processors, Wi-Fi 7, Thunderbolt 4, and a 70 Whr battery. Also, here’s every other Lenovo laptop we checked out at IFA 2024.
6. Roborock QRevo Curv
The Roborock Qrevo Curv is basically the robot vacuum cleaner equivalent to a Landcruiser. It features a first-of-its-kind AdaptiLift Chassis to clear 10-millimeter barriers like thick carpets and tall door sills. On top of its off-roading chops, the Roborock QRevo Curv promises a 100% hair removal rate with its DuoDivide brushes, which uses two bristles to push hair into 18,500-pascals of suction. On top of all that, the Roborock QRevo Curv will also mop your place up with two pads, a side brush, a FlexiArm Mop that swabs every last edge and corner.
7. Honor Magic V3 foldable phone
The Honor Magic V3 is the thinnest foldable phone we’ve ever held. Measuring in at 9.2mm thin, it’s slimmer and even thinner than some standard smartphones that don’t fold. We also love how it has almost bezel-less inner and out screens that are sizable too at 6.43-inches and 7.92-inches, respectively. It has even more going for it inside with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a sizable 5,150mAh battery, and three high-resolution cameras, too.
8. Reolink Altas PT Ultra Camera
Like the eye of Sauron, the Reolink Altas PT Ultra 4K security camera sees all without any blind spots. This motorized security camera can pan 355° and tilt 90° to basically see all around it or even track moving subjects while recording. It’s also fully wireless thanks to its 20,000mAh battery, which is enough to record non-stop for four days or 16 months in its standard mode. Best of all, there’s no subscription fee required since it can capture 4K video to an onboard microSD card.
9. Soundcore Space One Pro
We just finished our Soundcore Space One Pro review, but even when we saw them at IFA 2024, we knew they were going to be award-winning. These $200 over-ear headphones are an incredible deal for the low price itself, but then they offer you solid sound quality, amazing ANC, and a long 40-hour battery life.
10. Beyerdynamic Aventho 300
Beyerdynamic is bringing its professional sound quality to wireless headphones with the Aventho 300. These wireless cans feature the same Stellar.45 drivers found in the company’s wired headphones for creative professionals, like the Beyerdynamic DT 900 PRO X and DT 700 PRO X. Now you’ll be able to enjoy the same level of audio over Bluetooth, and Beyerdynamic has also incorporated all the comfort features we’d expect from wireless headphones including active noise-canceling, transparency mode, aptX lossless, and some newer technology like spatial audio and Dolby Atmos.
11. Acer Nitro Blaze 7
Acer has finally joined the PC gaming handheld race with its compact Acer Nitro Blaze 7. On top of being smaller, this handheld features an AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS and a 7-inch screen. I came away impressed from my hands-on with the device; the controls feel great, especially tight thumbsticks and large D-pad, bright 500-nit IPS display, and I’m glad it’s the third handheld to support VRR with FreeSync Premium.
12. SwitchBot Robot Vacuum K10+ Pro Combo
The SwitchBot’s newest K10+ Pro Combo is a three-piece home cleaning solution that combines a robot vacuum cleaner, cordless vacuum cleaner, and automatic cleaning base into a single package. On top, it has a handy stick vacuum for spot cleaning while you leave all the floor cleaning to Mini Robot Vacuum K10+ Pro. When you return either of the vacuums to its base, it will transfer all the dust, debris, and other undesirable mess to a fully contained three-liter dust bag. It’s the perfect solution for anyone who doesn’t want to ever touch dust again.
13. Anker MagGo UFO Charger, 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station
3-in-1 wireless chargers have been popping up left and right to go after the most compact crown, but Anker’s MagGo UFO Charger might be the cutest. When folded up, it resembles a flying saucer from our Jetsons childhoods. When you open up the charger, it has a magnetic charging spot for AirPods, an Apple Watch, and your iPhone. It’s also Qi2 compatible for Android devices and comes with a 40W power adapter included if you need to top off quicker with wired charging too.
14. XGIMI MoGo 3
The XGIMI MoGo 3 Pro is a compact, all-in-one projector we’ve been waiting for and it’s reasonably priced too at $449. Weighing only 2.43 pounds and about the size of a large thermos, this projector swivels out to produce a 1080p picture up to 120 inches in size. What’s more, you basically don’t have to connect it to any video source since it has Google TV built-in to access all your streaming apps. Alternatively, you could use it as a party speaker with its 5W Harman Kardon speakers. The XGIMI Mogo3 even features a built-in 20,000mAh battery to last 2.5 hours.
15. Govee AI Sync Box 2
Ambient backlighting is probably the coolest thing you can add to your gaming TV or monitor setup, but I’ve always hated how it requires you to set up a web camera facing the TV to make it work. The AI Sync Box 2 aims to fix that by instead attaching an AI-powered pass-through box to your gaming consoles and PCs. AI-generated effects for things like video games running at up to 8K60fps 4K120fps with its HDMI 2.1 passthrough.
16. Ugreen NASync AI NAS
Network Attached Storage is great for shoving over all your excess data off of your computer. However, organizing and managing all those terabytes of files is no fun, and that’s why we’re so excited about the Ugreen NAS backup solution with AI. It tasks AI with all the busy work of managing your files for you. Ugreen also plans to stick with in-system AI, which means all of your data will remain private on the hard drives inside the NAS. Of course, this is all highly conceptual at the moment, but Ugreen is closely collaborating with Intel to make it a reality.
17. RingConn Gen 2
Smart rings are all the new rage, and if you want to try them out, the RingConn Gen 2 is the best thing to start with. It’s the most affordable smart ring on the market at $299, which is $50 less than the Oura Ring 4 and Samsung Galaxy Ring. It’s also the only smart ring that requires no subscription fee to save you even more money down the line. The RingConn Gen 2 was first to market with Sleep Apnea detection, and it’ll track all your other vital (heart rate, blood oxygen levels, etc) and sleep (time, stages, blood oxygen, etc) stats.
18. Honor MagicPad 2
After this year’s iPad Pro OLED, I didn’t think there would be another tablet to wow me, but the Honor MagicPad 2 captivated me with its fast, bright OLED screen at IFA 2024. Featuring a 12-inch, 3,000 x 1,920 display, this tablet is bright and colorful with up to 1,600 nits of brightness. It’s also great for gaming thanks to the screen’s fast 144Hz refresh rate and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor powering it.
19. DJI Amflow PL mountain e-bike
DJI made a surprising move into e-bikes at IFA, but the company promises you’ll get as much air with its electric mountain bikes as you can with its drones. DJI is bringing its usual innovation to the space with a new Avinox drive that delivers up to 120nm of torque at 1000W of power, all while weighing only 19.2kg. There’s also a touchscreen OLED display integrated into the frame to display information and customize your drive modes – or you could just use the wireless buttons in the handlebars. Lastly, it could be the fastest charging bike since it can go from 0-75% in just one and a half hours.
20. Insta360 Link 2
The Insta360 Link 2 is the ultimate web camera with 4K resolution recording and a built-in gimbal that moves to keep you perfectly in the frame. It also features plenty of AI-powered features like an AI-noise canceling microphone AI also helps the Link 2 create a realistic, DSLR-like bokeh effect around you by identifying people in the frame and adjusting the depth of field accordingly. Lastly, if you’re writing on a whiteboard during the call, the Link 2’s AI can detect and enhance whatever is written on it and display it in a digital window.
21. Govee COB Strip Light Pro
The COB Strip Light Pro is Govee’s first LED light strip with a chip-on-board controller that promises brighter and more fluid lighting effects than you’ve ever seen. It also comes sporting the latest RGBICW LEDs, which you can customize into 12 segments per meter. You can easily trim it to fit whatever space or surface you want to add soft, color-changing diffused light to.
22. Yaber K3 Pro Projector
If you’re looking for a dedicated projector for home cinema watching, check out the Yaber K3 Pro. It’s a 1080p projector like the one above, but it reaches a much brighter 1,600 ANSI lumens, so you can watch it with the windows open while the sun is out. It also features a pair of 15W JBL-tuned speakers and a dedicated subwoofer for bass. Google TV also comes built-in so you can access all your streaming media and game apps. Possibly the best thing about it is it costs only $599, making it far more affordable than other projectors from Epson, BenQ, Optoma, etc.
23. Plaud NotePin
While it hasn’t been a good year for AI devices like the Rabbit R1 and Humane AI Pin, Plaud has had great success with its Note device to help you remember everything. The Plaud NotePin is an extension of that successful model in a much smaller module you can wear as a lapel or shirt pin or as a necklace. You can talk to it or just record your daily life for 20 hours per charge. From there, it will transcribe, summarize, and create action items for you. Plus, with a $169 price and a $79 yearly subscription, it’s one of the more affordable AI devices on the market.
24. Acer Project Dual Play
Acer had a fascinating gaming laptop concept called the Acer Project Dual Play at IFA 2024. It looks like an ordinary Predator gaming laptop from Acer, but then it has a controller that pops out along with the trackpad. What’s more, the controller is split into two Joy-Con-like controllers, which you can share with a second person for local co-op play or for competitive games like Street Fighter 6. The Acer Project Dual Play also features a pair of pop-out 5W speakers to make this machine even more of a transformer and to give you better gaming audio.
25. Shure MV6 gaming microphone
The Shure MV6 is the company’s new entry-level dynamic microphone for gaming and streaming, and we love it. It runs on a USB, which makes it easy to set up, yet it captures a very natural-sounding voice. The sound isolation you get from the cardioid can deftly avoid picking up unwanted white noise from room fans and background echoes.
26. SwitchBot Air Purifier Table
Air purifiers are great, but they always end up just taking up space no matter how small or what shape they are. The SwitchBot Air Purifier Table wants to fix that by also being your table, wireless charger, and light source. Basically, it’s a HEPA air purifier with a small platform on top of it that you can use as a table. It also integrates a wireless Qi charger into that said surface. It also has a color-changing light that can also indicate the air quality by changing from green to blue to red.
27. Acer Nitro XV240 F6 600Hz gaming monitor
The Acer Nitro XV240 F6 600Hz is officially the fastest gaming monitor in the world now. It might only be 1080p and use a TN panel, but you’ll be spellbound by the silky smooth 600 frames per second that make every frame of animation look like a still image. What’s even more amazing about the Acer Nitro XV240 F6 is it only costs $600, so you’re basically paying a dollar for every frame on this 600Hz gaming monitor.
28. Honor MagicBook Art 14 Snapdragon
We were stunned when we picked up the Honor MagicBook Art 14 because it basically felt like it was made of cotton candy. It weighs just over 1kg and measures 11.3mm in thickness, it feels like you’re almost picking up nothing at all. When you open up the laptop, there’s barely any bezel because there’s no web camera at the top. Instead, there’s a magnetic web camera hidden in the laptop’s base and it attaches to the top of the notebook’s lid. We’re equally excited about this lightweight laptop’s heavy-duty performance thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite processors.
19. Bebird EarVison Pro ear cleaner
Cleaning our ears is one of the hardest things to do, but the Bebird Smart Ear Cleaner wants to fix that by giving you an ear cleaner with a camera at the end of it. You can see a live stream from the ear cleaning tool as you clear it out so you don’t miss any spots. The Bebird Smart Ear Cleaner also comes with a variety of heads that scoop, prod, and other functions so you can give your ears a real cleaning. It’s a big step up over those Q-tips you shouldn’t be using to clean your ears.
30. Ugreen Uno Series
Power adapters are one of the most essential things we use, and we love the way Ugreen has given them personality with the Uno Series. As Ugreen calls them, they’re fast and fun accessories that look like little robots with cute faces, all while packing 30-100W fast charging for your phone, laptop, gaming handheld, or what have you.