CES 2021: Razer Wows With Smart Mask & Gaming Chair Concepts

Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is arguably the largest trade show that is all about technology. This is also probably the one event where you will see companies showcase their most ambitious of ideas.

Razer is one such company.

Project Hazel – Concept

We all know that 2020 has been a pretty rough year… but Razer did not back down. With their #RazerForLife initiative, Razer converted their manufacturing facilities to start producing surgical-grade face masks for the masses.

As of the end of 2020, Razer managed to donate 1,000,000 masks worldwide along with a further 100,000+ masks donated by the Razer Community themselves. Masks have somewhat become a new norm, so Razer set forth with Project Hazel, aiming to come up with the world’s smartest mask.

As you can tell, it is a pretty avant-garde design that combines elements from a full-on military gas mask with a filter and the standard cloth and surgical masks that you see more commonly. First off, Project Hazel is not going to be your regular surgical or cloth mask but rather an N95 respirator. N95 is pretty much the highest grade you can get for a mask/respirator as an everyday civilian, so you can be assured it is going to protect you and keep you safe.

But wearing an N95 mask can be really stifling, especially for those who have never worn one before. So Razer implemented a form of active ventilation which will allow the wearer to breathe in and out normally as one would without a mask, and an auto-sterilisation function. We don’t have much information on how it all works at the moment but should this concept come to fruition, we will definitely share more details.

What we can definitely confirm at this point, however, is the clear, transparent design of the respirator. The main reason behind this design is so that people can still fully recognise your facial expressions even while you’re wearing the respirator. It even includes a low light mode where a series of LEDs on the inner frame of the respirator will light up your face so that others can still see your smile and facial expression even in the dark.

As with most N95 respirators, voices will definitely get muffled more so than with most other masks. To combat this, Razer is implementing VoiceAmp Technology. To keep it short and simple, there is an array of microphones within the mask that captures what the wearer is saying and it will output the voice through a set of speakers located in the pods on either side, making the wearer sound as if they weren’t wearing a mask at all.

It goes without saying that the respirator is reusable and thus features replaceable filters and ventilators. It also comes with a wireless charging case with a UV steriliser. So all you have to do is place the respirator back in the charging case at the end of the day, and you will be good to go again the next day. As of right now, Razer is claiming roughly a full day’s worth of battery life, although this could change if and when the product is officially launched.

It even comes with a companion app on your smartphone, which you can use to adjust and optimise the airflow within the mask through the active ventilators. Adjustable ear loops allow for a personalised fit, and the respirator will come in various sizes as well. It will also support Razer Chroma RGB which will not only allow you to fully personalise the respirator to your liking, but also serves as an indicator for when you need to change the filters, or when the battery is low.

Project Brooklyn – Concept

Gaming chairs have exploded in popularity in the past couple of years and have since become ubiquitous even outside of gaming. Project Brooklyn is Razer’s concept design for next-generation immersion in a gaming chair, which they proudly claim will redefine the rules of all-in-one entertainment.

If we were to describe it one word, it would be “transformer”.

The highlight of Project Brooklyn has got to be the automated deployable 60-inch full surround OLED display that will fill up your entire peripheral vision at the touch of a button. In order to make space for your keyboard and mouse, the transformable 4D armrests even allow for a table configuration but of course, you stow it away if you’re using a wireless controller or when you want to recline the chair all the way back and just relax.

As for the chair itself, it will be a carbon fibre bucket seat with leather stitching and will also feature Razer HyperSense technology to provide that tactile immersion via haptic feedback. Razer did show off a full-body HyperSense gaming experience at CES a couple of years ago and they do have the Nari Ultimate headset which does feature this exact same technology. Simply put, it will give you that full gaming experience while you can ‘feel’ every gunshot, every explosion, every thud, every splash and much more.

As with almost every Razer product, you got to have Razer Chroma RGB. The chair will feature a single LED strip that runs across the frame of the metal base, along with a couple more located on the sides of the chair itself. An additional feature is the inclusion of the required display and power cables neatly routed through the bottom of the chair, which will connect your gaming PC to the full surround OLED display and of course HyperSense and Chroma RGB.

Project Brooklyn with racing or flight sims, anyone?

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Written by Soon Kai Hong