Dubai: Have you ever been to Dubai’s fish market (yes, it’s air-conditioned and has a mall-like experience, more aptly called the Deira Waterfront Market)?
Gitex Shopper at the Dubai World Trade Centre is a bit like that.
Except that, instead of fish, you can grab electronics bargains. If you’ve never been to both, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Gitex Shopper is where you can get the hottest electronics products that come at huge discounts — and it's open till late at night, especially on the usually busy final day. So it may be wiser to go bargain hunting early.
All items are brand new.
Retailers of top electronics brands have different reasons for giving such one-offs, and it’s up to the most discerning buyers to take the call.
Gitex Shopper is also where demos of new technology can be expected. So here’s a basic guide on the Gitex Shopper later this month:
What is it?
Gitex Shopper is the region’s largest consumer electronics event. It is the one-stop shop for the biggest savings on electronics from the top brands and retailers under one roof. Visitors can grab the latest products, from gaming consoles and speakers to printers and washing machines, recreational drones, TV sets, even e-scooters.
This shopping extravaganza offers mega discounts on selected items available exclusively at the venue.
There are on-the-spot electronics auctions. It’s literally like the fish market of technology products, only in Dubai.
When is it and where?
The 2019 edition of Gitex Shopper will be held at the Sheikh Saeed Hall, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai.
It runs for five days from September 24-28, 2019.
Sheikh Saeed Hall is right next to the World Trade Centre Metro Station, so access is easy.
What is the best way to get there?
Again, we think the Dubai Metro is the best way to get there.
What bargains can I get at GITEX Shopper?
- SmartPhones
- Laptops
- TVs (QLED/OLED 4K/8K HDR Smart TV)
- e-Scooters
- Drones
- Intelligent cleaners
- Massage chairs
- e-Games (Tournaments)
- VR gear
- Game consoles
- Smart watches
Some fast facts on Gitex Shopper:
- 82 per cent of visitors plan their purchase at the show
- 81 per cent of visitors came to the show for offers and deals
- 54 per cent delay their purchases to buy at the show
- 30 per cent visitors wait for the show to buy electronics
- 14k is the average monthly income of show visitors
- 40 per cent were first time visitors
What about raffles and prizes?
It's a shop-and-win arrangement. You have to be be in it to win it. Retailers are going all the way with promos, with daily raffles and prizes.
There's a crazy list of items you could win, including:
- iPhone XRs
- Honor 10i
- Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
- Spend 2k and win 2k back
- Scratch and Win
- Tornado watches
- Vacuum cleaners
- Discount vouchers
What are the features and activities?
- Shopper Games
- Virtual Zone
- KidZania
- Shopper Trade In
- Flash sales
- Super deals
Entrance Tickets?
Dh20
You can buy entrance tickets here.
Technologies to watch out for at Gitex?
Below are top picks we think are awesome tech trends to watch out for:
1. OLED/QLED display: 4K vs 8K
Display technology has improved a lot in recent years. If you're looking for the best screen quality for home, personal or professional use, just remember some really simple industry terms:
- 8K — it's a higher resolution standard than 4K — thus quadrupling the total number of pixels just like 4K did with 1080p. 8K is 7,680 x 4,320 resolution, or approximately 8,000 horizontal pixels.
- 4K — it's around 4,000 horizontal pixels at 3,840 x 2,160, and 1080p is around 2,000 horizontal pixels at 1,920 x 1,080.
- QLED — QLED is a Samsung-specific marketing term for LCD TVs that uses quantum dot technology to enhance performance in key picture quality areas, differentiating it from LG’s OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) line-up.
- OLED — LG’s OLED comes from Organic Light-Emitting Diode, and is its own marketing term for the light-emitting diode display technology.
As 8K emerges as predominant display technology (but are still quite expensive), 4K is coming down in price, though still quite good in quality. Knowing the different would help you pick and choose the display technology that's right for your needs and budget.
2. Biometrics / personal authentication system
Imagine a world without passwords. Facial recognition. My-voice-is-my-password kind of thing. And how many times have you forgotten your password — and rendered the your electronic gear no better than a doorstop?
For authentication, smartphones, laptops and even immigration boarding gates are increasingly using biometrics.
It overcomes the weakness of password use. That's one of the use cases of AI (artificial intelligence), which is used alongside other tech breakthroughs.
We’re increasingly living in a world of customers apps without passwords. Just show your face, or press your thumb, and you’re good to go.
Tip: have your cloud credentials (name, email address, passs) written down somewhere in case you need to refer to them. It's always useful.
Web authentication system promises to unleash enhanced user convenience and experience. Experts say that authentication interfaces — provided they are secure — and a password-free access to technology could have a significant impact on the way we all use technology in our daily lives. Imagine a world without passwords.
3. Fintech
When was the last time you met a physical, human bank teller? Financial technology (fintech for short), has detached us from our banks, as it increasingly becomes mainstream. It usually works in conjunction with item No. 1 mentioned above.
Think about the number of you bought a pizza online or performed e-store transactions, and never actually used physical money. That’s fintech.
Whether its transferring funds through a mobile payment app or dabbling in some cryptocurrency, 2019 is the year of fintech and it’s all around us, without us realizing it. And it’s about to transform the world as the technology giants want to get slice of this growing pie too.
When we increasingly use electronic gear for financial transactions, it greatly enhances our lives. Using biometrics to perform bank transactions from your mobile phones, for example, has detached us completely from traditional banking. At Gitex, find the right gear for you that maximises the fintech you can you for you daily needs.
4. Smartphones: AI and Bluetooth 5.0
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most important recent developments in mobile phones. You'll hear the term all the time at the venue. There are AI phones that go for as low as Dh415.
AI is a collective term for intelligent machines and computer apps able to simulate human intelligence. AI enables users to have a virtual digital assistant, with intelligent phones having the built-in ability to carry out their assigned tasks with human-like intelligence.
And of course, the latest iteration of the Bluetooth communications technology is version 5.0. The biggest upside for Bluetooth 5.0 is low-energy use, thus enhancing battery life. If you use Apple ‘s AirPods, note that they don’t use Bluetooth 5.0 yet; they follow the Bluetooth 4.2 format with a special chip for improved connection. On Android, Bluetooth 5.0 would greatly enhance Bluetooth headphones.
2. Drones: Test your pilot skills at the Gitex Experience Zone, and on-the-spot advice as to what model fits your budget for your intended use.
3. Talks to experts: Texperts from techradar.com are present with hourly tech-talks at a special booth near the drone booth. They dispense tech-related advice to people who care to listen.
5. Gaming: GPUs
For gamers and people who their computers for graphics-intensive applications (designers, for example), a graphics processing units (GPUs) is even more important than the CPU.
For a gamer, the process of figuring out how to buy a GPU can be intimidating — you must consider the monitor, the chassis size, and your own settings for games and apps.
This year’s Gitex Shopper edition will have Virtual Zone, where online game tournaments are organised. Be sure to register first in order to be allowed to try the new gaming machines. On certain days, popular multi-player games will see numerous participants try to take each other down.
Gaming experience has greatly improved, thanks to the drop in price of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), that part of a computer that accelerates numbers-crunching required by realistic graphics.
6. Blockchain / cryptos
GPUs and blockchain technology tend to go together. The reason: blockchain networks can only be powered by massive GPUs at distributed datacenters. Blockchain is a new thing and is exploding, because of one unique characteristic: It is the internet of money.
How? It’s rather simple: It allows digital information to be distributed — but not copied. So blockchain technology has created the backbone of a new type of internet.
Because a blockchain network has no central authority — it is a democratised information system in the virtual world, using a shared and virtually-hack-proof ledger, where the information in it is open for anyone and everyone to see — it offers unmatched transparency. GPUs, tonnes of GPUs, are the basic building blocks of a blockchain networks.
Tips on transpo
During Gitex Shopper, the place will be packed from early evenings, with thousands of visitors hunting for electronics bargains. It’s best to take the Dubai Metro as parking can be an issue.
