Top five cool mobile products at CES

Unlike TVs, smartphones didn't make as big a splash at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show held at Las Vegas. Perhaps it's because manufacturers were waiting for the upcoming Mobile World Congress that's happening at the end of February in Barcelona, but there were still some handsets that were announced.

There's also a whole slew of wearable tech devices, such as smartwatches, meant to integrate with your smartphone. While still a new category, these gadgets are likely the way forward this year, as manufacturers and consumers experiment with new ways to better integrate technology into their daily lives.

Here are the five products that caught my interest.

Asus Padfone Mini (Credit: Asus)

Sporting a 4-inch smartphone and a 7-inch tablet dock, the PadFone Mini is, as its name suggests, a smaller version of the Asus PadFone range. Those who don't quite like the 10-inch PadFone Infinity's tablet dock will find the Mini's 7-inch slate more comfortable in the hand. Specs wise, the Mini isn't quite as well equipped, its 4-inch display sports a low 800x480-pixel resolution, a 1,170mAh battery and is powered by a dual-core 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2560 processor.

Check out our hands-on here. Pebble Steel (Credit: Pebble)

The new Pebble Steel sports the same e-paper display and is water resistant like the original Pebble, but comes clad in stainless steel instead. The watch face gets a Gorilla Glass upgrade for better scratch resistance and the standard package comes with two watchbands -- metal and leather. Retailing at US$249, the new smartwatch is available for pre-order and will ship at the end of January.

Razer Nabu (Credit: Scott Stein/CNET)

Razer's latest gadget is quite unlike its other gaming-related products. For a start, it's a fitness band and smartwatch combined and has two OLED displays. That means it can also display notifications from your smartphone on the from the palm side of your hand. It's rain- and splashproof, and Razer says it will last up to seven days before a recharge. A developer model will cost US$49, with consumer versions to retail for just 'a little more'.

Check out the hands-on here.

Sony Xperia Z1 Compact (Credit: Sony)

Sony's latest handset takes the best features from the current 5-inch Xperia Z1 handset and shrinks them down to a 4.3-inch frame. Still, you'll get the same waterproof, metal and glass design, snappy Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 4G connectivity and 20.7-megapixel camera. This makes the Xperia Z1 Compact better than Samsung's Galaxy S4 Mini and the HTC One Mini, which offer watered-down specs due to a smaller chassis. The Z1 Compact is set to go on sale in Europe in the middle of February.

CNET's hands-on can be found here.

Typo iPhone case (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

While the idea of having a keyboard case for a touchscreen smartphone isn't new, Typo's approach is pretty bold. Specifically, the BlackBerry kind of bold. The case features a keyboard that looks just like the iconic BlackBerry keyboard with the ridged keys, and yes, a lawsuit has been filed, in case you're wondering. So if you're hankering for some QWERTY action on your iPhone 5S, this US$100 may be just the thing (if it's still around after getting sued).

Read the hands-on.

About the author

Aloysius Low is a Senior Writer at CNET Asia and covers all things mobile. A former World of Warcraft addict, he now dabbles in social media to stave off the withdrawal symptoms. As a lover of all things furry, he's also the unfortunate slave/minion of two adorable cats.

(Credit: Asus) Check out our hands-onhere. (Credit: Pebble) (Credit: Scott Stein/CNET)

Check out the hands-on here.

(Credit: Sony) (Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Read the hands-on.

About the author

Aloysius Low is a Senior Writer at CNET Asia and covers all things mobile. A former World of Warcraft addict, he now dabbles in social media to stave off the withdrawal symptoms. As a lover of all things furry, he's also the unfortunate slave/minion of two adorable cats.