How-To Geek’s Best of IFA 2025 Award Winners

How-To Geek is on the ground at IFA 2025, getting our hands on the latest technology. While there is a lot to choose from, these are the gadgets that we think stand out as the best of IFA this year.

Not sure what IFA is? The Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin is an event held every year in Germany. Since it started in 1924, it’s become Europe’s biggest tech show, attended by many big brands and hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 8

A highly portable laptop is always going to involve some trade-offs in terms of capability, but Lenovo’s latest edition of the ThinkPad P1 seems to carry that balance well. It includes both integrated Intel Arc graphics and the recently-released Nvidia RTX Pro 2000 Blackwell graphics card, and you also stay on the cutting edge with its Wi-Fi 7 support and two Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports, in addition to a Thunderbolt 4 plus a USB-A port capable of hitting 10Gbps.

The ThinkPad P1 Gen 8 is also a laptop you can configure and generally make your own. You can go with up to 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM and up to 8TB of M.2 PCIe 5 storage. The 16:10 OLED touch display hits a 3.2K resolution and its 90WHr battery is designed to be replaceable by you. You also get your choice of operating systems, including Windows 11 Home or Pro and four different Linux distributions.

We haven’t heard about a price tag yet, but the Gen 7’s base configuration MSRP’d for $3,369. I’d expect a little higher than that for Gen 8, especially given the current economic environment. –JG

XGIMI Horizon 20 Max

XGIMI’s new Horizon 20 Max projector is jam-packed with just about every feature that a home theater enthusiast could ever need—a 4K native resolution with a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio, an extreme 5,700 ISO lumens brightness rating, generous optical zoom, plus support for HDR and DTS:X immersive audio. It’s even got a motorized pan-and-tilt system, so you can adjust its projection angle without getting off the couch, and it introduces a Pro Tuning Menu for those who want to go beyond the automatic keystone or picture quality settings.

But, predictably, this projector comes at a pretty painful price. A Horizon 20 Max projector will run you $3,000 at MSRP—you can score it for $2,400 during the pre-order period, and it’ll probably go on sale every now and then, but the lower-end models in the Horizon 20 lineup are far more accessible than this flagship. If it’s any concession, all of the Horizon 20 projectors come with fancy features; it’s just a gradient of fanciness. –AH

Govee TV Backlight 3 Pro

This section is sponsored by Govee. Product choices and opinions expressed are from the sponsor and do not reflect the views of How-To Geek editorial staff.

Govee has spent the last few years turning TV backlights into something more than just a strip of LEDs, and the TV Backlight 3 Pro is its most ambitious attempt yet. It introduces the industry’s first HDR triple-camera system, designed to capture on-screen colors more accurately than past generations. Bright highlights, dark shadows, and everything in between are reflected more precisely on the wall behind your TV.

The upgraded LuminBlend light strip is also a noticeable step up, with higher brightness, smoother transitions, and more accurate whites thanks to the LuminBlend color system. Combined with new AI-driven features like an AI filter, automatic black-bar detection, and scene-based color tuning, the 3 Pro feels less like an add-on and more like a natural extension of the screen.

As you’d expect, it integrates with all the major smart home platforms, including Matter, Alexa, and Google Assistant, and supports Govee’s DreamView syncing if you want other lights in the room to join the effect. It goes on sale worldwide starting in late September and sets a new bar for immersive home entertainment lighting.

SATELLAI Collar Go

As someone who has lived with four generations of dogs, often two to three at a time, I know first-hand the anxiety that occurs when your pet is missing or sick. There are plenty of dog tracking collars out there, but most stop at location tracking. SATELLAI’s new Collar Go stands out to me because it goes further. When paired with the companion app it not only provides satellite-backed real-time location tracking, but also shows you historical tracking, allowing you to see your pup’s previous routes and favorite places. Additionally, it provides escape alerts, customizable audio commands, and a built-in “Find My Dog” light and audio cue system that makes finding your pet in the dark or heavily wooded areas easier.

The Collar Go delivers 15 days on a single charge and has an IP68 rating for waterproofing. But what really sets this product apart from others in this class is the AI-powered health platform that tracks and analyzes your dog’s activity patterns to provide tailored health and nutrition recommendations. Our animals can’t tell us when they’re hurting or in distress, and technology like this helps provide insight into what’s really going on with your pet. Collar Go is scheduled for release in the US in November 2025 and is expected to launch at a competitive price point. –RH

Soundcore Work

It’s difficult to follow along at meetings sometimes. While digital meetings can be recorded and transcribed via apps, you don’t get that same luxury when attending meetings in person. The Soundcore Work is looking to alleviate that frustration.

This small device will record your meetings and even offer AI summaries of your recordings so you can skim over the main points. If there’s something particularly important, you can even double-tap the recorder to mark it, ensuring it won’t get lost among any chatter or derailments. Best of all, once you transfer the data to your phone, the device will erase the recording.

The Soundcore Work will be $99.99, plus $15.99 a month for “more.” Anker didn’t specify what “more” was. The device isn’t available for pre-order but is expected to be available in select markets later this month, with a global launch in November. –KH

Ooni Volt 2

The last place you might expect to find AI is a pizza oven, but that’s not the case at IFA 2025. Ooni, one of the most popular makers of pizza ovens, announced the Volt 2. It has a feature called “Pizza Intelligence” that aims to help get more evenly baked pizzas.

The Volt 2 can reach a max temperature of 850F, and it can fit pizzas up to 13-inches wide. Yet it’s still small enough to be used indoors on a counter. That extreme high heat is the key to getting pizza crust that rivals what you might get from a restaurant. It only takes around 90 seconds to bake a pizza. Of course, the temperature can be adjusted manually, and there are presets for Neapolitan, New York, and deep-pan styles.

The “Pizza Intelligence” feature simply uses sensors to adjust the top and bottom heating elements to minimize temperature fluctuations and cold spots. Ooni is launching the Volt 2 on October 1, 2025, for $699, which is actually $200 less than its previous electric pizza oven. –JF

DOOGEE V Max Play

This section is sponsored by DOOGEE. Product choices and opinions expressed are from the sponsor and do not reflect the views of How-To Geek editorial staff.

When DOOGEE says “rugged smartphone,” it really means all-in-one survival tool. The V Max Play combines next-gen durability with unexpected features—like a portable projector built right into the phone itself. Capable of delivering a bright 480p image just about anywhere, it turns downtime on the trail or nights by the fire into full-on movie nights.

And that’s only part of the package. The phone also packs a deafening 130dB speaker, a 1200-lumen camping light, and a giant 20,500mAh battery that can last for days or recharge your other gear on the go. Add in a Dimensity 7300 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a 200MP camera, and you’ve got a phone that’s as practical as it is fun.

Pre-orders open September 15 with a $100 discount, bringing the price down from $769.99, with handsets shipping in early October.

UGREEN MagFlow 10,000mAh 25W Power Bank

There’s something to be said about clipping a massive charging brick to the back of your svelte smartphone, but we still live in a world where this is a necessary evil. UGREEN’s new MagFlow Qi2 wireless charger isn’t just chunky—it’s fast too. While most similar packs on the market cap out at 7.5 or 15W, this one manages to hit the iPhone 16’s maximum theoretical wireless charging speed at 25W.

This should allow you to charge your iPhone 16 to 50% within 30 minutes, which means less time spent with what feels like a small book on the back of your iPhone. The charger also includes a built-in display, which shows you how much of the 10,000mAh capacity is left.

There’s a built-in USB-C connector with 30W two-way fast charging, which means you can charge the power bank and your other devices at 30W in single port mode. There’s also another USB-C port, so you can charge three things at once. Just remember that the power budget is shared between these ports, so the more things you have connected at once, the slower things will be. The charger will cost $89.99 when it arrives in early October. –TB

Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514

In recent years, Chromebook and Chromebook Plus laptops with x86 Intel or AMD CPUs have become the most popular option. But recently, Arm CPUs are back with a vengeance, and the MediaTek Kompanio Ultra is creating quite a buzz.

The Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 is the first Acer Chromebook to feature this powerful new chip, if not the first Chromebook overall. Chasing the standard set by Apple’s M1, the Spin 514 promises 17 hours of battery life with CPU and GPU performance that allow much more than just basic computing, with tasks like video editing and 3D modeling on the menu.

With Google’s decision to merge Android and ChromeOS at some point in the future, it seems that Chromebooks like the Acer Spin 514 might be a future-proof option for new buyers. –SB

JBL Grip

JBL has long produced Bluetooth speakers. The Grip is its latest range, which the company says was “inspired by the proportions of a seltzer can.” That should give you an idea of the audience being targeted here—this speaker is perfect to take to the beach for a party with your friends, which thanks to the IP68 dust and water protection means you can sling it around without concern. It also has an integrated rope hook, so you can attach it to your backpack or bike for blasting tunes on the move.

With 16W output, 12 hours of playtime (with an additional 2 using JBL’s Playtime Boost feature), and Auracast support for multi-speaker pairing, the Grip looks to be a powerful companion. It’ll be a stylish one too, since it comes in six colors and has an ambient light on the back that you can control through the JBL app.

The Grip launches on September 28, 2025, and costs $99.95. –JK

Lenovo Smart Motion Concept (Project Ballet)

Lenovo showed off a few concepts at IFA, and when they leaked last week, the rotatable laptop screen took most people’s attention. I don’t often mirror my phone’s screen to my laptop, which seemed to be the primary use case. Instead, I was more interested in the “Smart Motion” concept, also called “Project Ballet.” It’s an adjustable laptop screen that’s also motorized. It can supposedly integrate with your laptop’s webcam and microphone system so that it can respond to your movements and commands.

The stand is also a powerful docking station with several USB and display ports, plus an Ethernet jack, integrated into the base. Lenovo claims there’s an “AI ring” accompanying it too for gesture control, which I can only assume is a ring you wear on your finger. I wouldn’t call gesture-based actions “AI”—more like good programming—but it nevertheless sounds like a helpful concept, especially if you’re someone like me who moves around the office a lot.

Since it’s a concept, we don’t know if we’ll ever see Lenovo’s Smart Motion Concept on the shelves. Still, you might see future Lenovo laptop stands involving more automation, which would be cool. –JG

Lenovo Legion Go 2

Gaming handhelds are taking the gaming world by storm, and Lenovo’s latest entry in the field, the Legion Go 2, is among the best of the best.

The Legion Go 2 comes packed to the gills with some of the best hardware you can pack into a handheld. It has an 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen Z2 processor paired with a Radeon 890M, which will likely deliver double-digit performance gains over the previous generation. It also features up to 32GB of RAM and up to a 2TB NVMe SSD—plenty, even in the era for 120GB games. The display is an enormous (for a handheld) 8.8 inch, 1920×1200 OLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate. It also has two USB-C USB 4.0 ports, an AUX port, and a microSD card slot.

Despite the size, it is actually quite comfortable to hold in your hands, and the weight—about 2lbs—isn’t heavy to the point of being uncomfortable, especially if you’re sitting.

Lenovo’s Legion Go 2 comes with a price tag that matches the specs, around $1100. However, if handheld gaming is your preferred gaming medium, and you have the cash to spend, you’d be hard-pressed to do better. –NL

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Those are our 2025 Best of IFA award winners. For more insights straight from Berlin, head to our IFA 2025 hub.