IFA 2019 highlights: everything you need to know
IFA 2019 Day 2: All the must-know news from Europe’s biggest techstravaganza
If you thought IFA stood for the Irish Football Association, don’t worry – there’s no real reason why anyone who isn’t a tech journalist should know what happens at Berlin’s warren-like Messe exhibition centre every September.
IFA actually stands for Internationale Funkausstellung. Don’t expect too much slap bass, though, it’s just an excuse for tech companies from around the world to descend on the city and show off their latest wares. Just don’t count on Apple showing up.
It’s only Day 2 and already, we’ve already seen a slew of big tellies, super-powered laptops and some pretty tempting audio products too, with more to come as the show goes on. Here’s our pick of the show’s news so far…
IFA 2019: TV
Amazon’s Fire TV Edition puts Alexa right into a 4K TV, no dongle or box needed
Philips’ OLED+934 get a big dollop of Dolby Atmos
Hisense’s 85U9E could make 8K TV ‘affordable’
Philips’ flagship OLED+984 has a better tweeter than any current US president
Amazon’s Fire TV Cube comes to the UK with more power than ever
Toshiba’s 2020 TV serves up both Alexa and (Android) Pie
IFA 2019: Audio
Sonos Move is the first speaker in the range to take the house party outside
Sony’s 40th anniversary edition NW-A100TPS Walkman is peak nostalgia
The Urbanista Paris are affordable true wireless in-ears with passive noise cancelling
Sennheiser Momentum Wireless noise-cancellers mean business
Sonos channels 2013 with Alexa-less One SL
Audio Technica true wireless earphones last for 45 hours
Light-up JBL Pulse 4 puts the "blue" in Bluetooth speaker
The Urbanista Brisbane is a powerful portable speaker with oodles of battery life
Braun returns to the world of audio with reinvented LE speakers
Philips PH805 mid-range noise cancellers will block out 95% of your commute
IFA 2019: Computing
Dual-screen Asus StudioBook Pro X is a gift for laptop artists
Acer promises rapid refresh rates at affordable prices with new Nitro XV3 gaming monitor range
Razer’s Blade Stealth 13 is an ultrabook for gaming
Lenovo expands Mirage AR roster with Marvel Dimension of Heroes
Lenovo launches three tablets and smart displays: Which is for you?
Pre-show rumours
And here’s what we expected before the doors had even opened…
A portable Sonos
A battery powered Sonos speaker has been on many people’s most-wanted list for a while now and it looks like their wish will be granted at IFA this year. Leaks published by WinFuture suggest the Sonos Move will come with a base station, which will mean it acts like any other Sonos speaker when docked, but use the built-in handle to pick it up and it’ll switch to battery power and Bluetooth connectivity. The Move is also expected to come with Alexa and Google Assistant onboard, but they’ll only be available when it’s docked and connected to Wi-Fi.
A double-folding LG phone
LG has been dropping IFA hints like its birthday is approaching, so we’re pretty convinced the show will see a new folding phone, probably dubbed the V60 ThinQ. A teaser video posted to the company’s YouTube channel shows a dual-screen phone that opens and closes both ways (above), suggesting the displays on the new one will be able to fold back on each other. Why? Good question. We expect a whole multitude of beans to be spilled at the LG press conference on 5 September.
New budget Nokias
The return of Nokia never really set the world alight but its recent handsets have brought some nice touches to largely affordable phones – and that looks set to continue if Nokia Power User’s leaked renders of the 7.2 are anything to go by. Despite the name it’ll come with a 6.2in screen including a barely noticeable notch, while its sleek chassis has three rear cameras arranged in a circle above the fingerprint scanner. It’s also expected to come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor to keep things ticking over. Get the pricing right on this one and Motorola’s G range might just break into a sweat.
A smaller Xperia
Sony’s phones aren’t really a big enough deal to hold a special event like Samsung or Apple does, so you’ll often see a new one unveiled at IFA. This year that’s most likely to mean the Xperia 2, which leaked renders suggest will be slightly smaller than the Xperia 1, with a 6.1in 21:9 display rather than 6.5in, plus a slightly rearranged rear camera layout. The insides are expected to be almost identical similar though, with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, 6GB of RAM and a 3000mAh battery. While you’re at it, Sony, we’d take an upgraded pair of those excellent WH-1000XM3 noise-cancelling headphones you announced last year as well.
Fancy tellies from Philips and Samsung
And probably Sony, LG and the rest as well to be fair, but we’re particularly keen to see whether Samsung will add more 8K models to its ultrabright QLED line-up, while Philips has hit a rich vein of form recently with its Ambilight OLEDs, especially with the built-in B&W soundbar. More of the same please everybody.
Huawei smartglasses make it to Europe
Despite churning out another top-notch smartphone, Huawei hasn’t had an easy time recently. That could mean it keeps a low profile at IFA but it could also take the opportunity to expand on its range of smartglasses and bring them to Europe. If they do indeed get an upgrade, could they be running Huawei’s new Harmony OS?
Tom Wiggins
Contributor 
