The 10 Hottest New Smart Gadgets And Devices Of 2019

These smart gadgets range from autonomous suitcases that can roll alongside you to occupancy sensors that can change the settings of a room depending on who is there.

Smart Gadgets For The Home, Office and Travel

Smart cameras that follow you around. Smart suitcases that roll alongside you. Smart shelves that automatically reorder office supplies.

These were among the 10 hottest new smart gadgets and devices of 2019, some of which made their first splash at CES in Las Vegas at the beginning of the year. While many of them are in the smart home category, the items on the list also checked off the travel, content creation and office boxes.

When it comes to the smart home in particular, demand is still strong. IDC forecasts the global market for smart home devices will grow 23.5 percent to nearly 815 million device shipments over the previous year. Growth will then continue in the double digits, at an annual rate of 14.4 percent over the next five years, to reach 1.39 billion devices shipped in 2023.

Among the factors driving smart home growth: increased competition that is driving down prices, more and more people using smart assistants, and greater awareness of the practical reasons for using smart home devices, such as saving on energy and money, according to IDC.

What follows is a look at the 10 hottest new smart gadgets and devices of 2019.

Get more of CRN's 2019 tech year in review.

Amazon Dash Smart Shelf

Amazon has expanded its Dash quick-order concept to the office with Dash Smart Shelf, a Wi-Fi-connected smart scale that reorders supplies. The Dash Smart Shelf comes in three sizes—small, medium and large—and customers can place things like stacks of printer paper or pen dispensers on top of them. Once the scale's weight lowers to a certain threshold, the Dash Smart Shelf can reorder supplies through Amazon's shopping services automatically or manually by notifying the office manager. Amazon is currently testing the Dash Smart Shelf with select partners while a larger launch with registered U.S. businesses is expected next year.

Danby Parcel Guard

Danby Appliances' Parcel Guard is a connected mailbox designed to combat package theft. The mailbox consists of upper and lower sections, where packages can be placed inside the top section and automatically drop down to a locked lower section. The mailbox, which is made with industrial-grade plastic and includes a motion-activated camera and a tamper alarm, comes with a companion app that sends notifications every time someone visits the mailbox and tracks all incoming packages. It also allows anyone to leave items for others, thanks to the mailbox's ability to unlock the lower section with the scanning of a one-time use code. The product is available for $399.

ForwardX Ovis Suitcase

Ovis is an artificial intelligence-powered suitcase from robotics company ForwardX that automatically follows a user around and avoids collisions by using computer vision, neural network algorithms and multiple sensors. The suitcase follows from the side instead of from the rear, so that users can keep an eye on the suitcase at all times. The product, which is expected to retail for $799, has started shipping to backers of ForwardX's Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.

Google Nest Mini (Second Generation)

The second-generation Google Nest Mini provides a new, affordable way for home dwellers to test the waters with smart home capabilities or add to an existing system. The smart speaker comes with improved sound over the previous generation and a new machine-learning chip that can speed up responses for Google Assistant voice queries. The device, which comes with a built-in wall mount, also features a new sensor for detecting the proximity of your hand so that it can illuminate where to tap the device to adjust the volume. It's available for $49.

Ikea Fyrtur Smart Blinds

Ikea's new Fyrtur smart blinds are battery-powered roller blinds that can be controlled via remote control or the Ikea Home app. Using Ikea's Tradfri smart home gateway and the Home app, users can schedule the blinds to go up and down with a timer and segment the blinds by group. The blinds can also be controlled by the Google Assistant voice service through a Google Home integration, and integration with Amazon and Apple's smart home platforms is expected in the future. The blinds are available at Ikea stores starting at $129 for one unit.

iRobot Roomba s9+

The latest robotic vacuum from iRobot, the Roomba s9+, can sync with the company's Braava Jet m6 robotic mop—which is also new this year—to coordinate vacuuming, mopping and dusting thanks to iRobot's new Imprint Link technology. With wider brushes, a new corner brush and stronger suction than the previous model, the Roomba s9+ can also clean up after itself with the robot's Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal and create smart maps that can mark areas where the robot should and shouldn't go. The latest Roomba is available for $1,399.

Obsbot Tail

The Obsbot Tail is an artificial intelligence-powered video camera made for content creators, with the ability to recognize and track individuals on a three-axis motorized gimbal. The camera, which shoots 4K video at 60 frames per second, comes with a variety of other features, including gesture control and automatic composition adjustment. Powered by a high-end AI chip, the camera is available for $589.

Pivo

Pivo is a smart interactive pod that gives a smartphone's camera face-tracking and other smart capabilities, such as the ability to take a selfie with the snap of a finger. The phone docks into the pod and pairs with an app so that the phone can rotate and track faces and objects on its own in addition to performing other actions. The Pivo pod is available for $179.

RoomMe

RoomMe is a new occupancy automation sensor from a company called Intellithings that can adjust the temperature, music or lighting, among other things, based on who is in the room. The device works by detecting smartphones in the area, and depending on which smartphone has the highest priority for a given room, adjusts various smart home settings for that various room. The smoke detector-shaped device supports a variety of devices, such as smart lights from Phillips and smart speakers from Sonos, as well as smart home systems from Crestron and Control4. The two-sensor starter kit costs $129.

SimCam

The SimCam is an on-device artificial intelligence camera, meaning that instead of sending video information to cloud servers for facial recognition and motion detection, those capabilities are processed locally inside the device itself, thanks to its use of the Intel Movidius Myriad 2 visual processing unit. As a result, the SimCam comes with no recurring subscription costs. The SimCam, which can integrate with other smart home devices, also comes with night vision and two-way audio. The product is available starting at $119.