IFA 2019 is winding down, and there were plenty of things announced to get excited about. Huawei is pushing 5G processors, we saw a ton of speakers that are smarter than ever, and quite a few new phones were announced that we're looking forward to.
Check out our list of our favorite gadgets and announcements from the event!
Best of IFA 2019 – TCL Plex
TCL isn't a well-known player in the smartphone market, but they're making moves to change that. They're not doing it by going after the heavy hitters of the Android world, either, but instead taking on the newly popular mid-range market where everyone's paying a lot of attention to.
At IFA this year, they announced the TCL Plex. It's a very capable little device with a triple-camera system, aimed pretty squarely at the Pixel 3a. It's priced at just €329, which is extremely aggressive for something with a Snapdragon 675, 6GB of RAM, 128GB of RAM, and a spacious 3820mAh battery.
At that price with those specs, we can't but be excited for how TCL fares in a crowded Android market. It's our favorite device that we've seen at the event this year, and we're looking forward to its release.
Best Smartphone – Sony Xperia 5
Sony announced the Xperia 1 not too long ago, and despite limited success and a bumpy launch, it was a refreshing step away from their usual offerings. That 21:9 ultrawide screen was built for watching media, but it was a tough sell for many people because of how huge the screen was. That tall aspect ratio doesn't do well with big displays.
So at IFA, Sony introduced the Xperia 5. It took all of the great things about the Xperia 1, like that media-friendly aspect ratio, camera enhancements from Sony's Alpha department, and display enhancements from the Bravia division, and put it in a package that's a little easier for most people to hold and use. It's still a 6.1-inch display, so it's not tiny, but it's manageable.
The rest of the hardware is equally impressive. There's a Snapdragon 855, 6GB of RAM, a triple camera system, 128GB of storage to hold all those photos, and Sony's excellent track record of software updates. We're still worried about how expensive it'll be, but we think it's the best phone that was announced at IFA this year.
Best Smart Home – Lenovo Yoga Smart Tab
Android tablets are in a weird place. It's not a good place, either; there really aren't very many good options for an Android tablet, besides Amazon's Fire Tablets for cheap media devices and Samsung's Galaxy Tab S for premium tablets. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of pretty mediocre devices that come and go without much fanfare.
So Lenovo decided to take a risk at IFA, and they announced the Yoga Smart Tab. It's still a regular old Android tablet, sure, but it's also a key piece of your smart home. The tablet comes with its own stand/hanger that allows you to set the device up and use it to control your other devices, watch videos, and more, adding an extra layer of functionality to what we normally expect from Android tablets.
It's unique, and we love it. Instead of doing the same thing over and over despite limited success, Lenovo is trying to carve out a new segment of devices and find success that way.
Best Accessory – Huawei FreeBuds 3
A smartphone isn't complete without a complete ecosystem of software and hardware behind it, which is why we see companies like Samsung and Huawei announce so many extra gadgets to go along with their flagship phones. Huawei's latest trick is the FreeBuds 3, which look to be some of the best truly wireless earbuds for an Android phone that you'll find.
There's definitely some AirPod inspiration here, but Huawei makes improvements in key areas. They support Bluetooth 5.1 and Bluetooth LE, they can pull off some active noise-canceling, and they charge over USB-C and wirelessly. Oh, and they come in black instead of just white. Need we say more?
We'll still need to get our hands on some to really see if the sound quality holds up, but we're excited for Huawei's earbuds.
Most Innovative – LG G8X
The LG G8 ThinQ is one of our favorite smartphones here at Talk Android, so we were naturally pretty excited to see LG deliver an even more unique take on smartphones by using the G8 as its base. That's where the LG G8X comes from.
Instead of following the typical trend of folding devices like everyone else is chasing, LG is making a “folding” device that sports a second-screen attachment. It's similar to the accessory we saw announced with the LG V50, but a bit more refined to make for a better user experience.
It's still a really quirky device that probably won't see a ton of mainstream adoption, but we dare you to find anything else crazier that was announced at IFA 2019. Don't worry, we'll wait.
