The world’s smartest suitcase is about to get bigger

This week, we’re at the enormous tech tradeshow CES 2016 in Las Vegas, bringing you the latest, coolest and most exciting new technology straight from the show floor. Find out more here, and see what we’ve covered so far here. 

We’re pretty crazy about the Bluesmart connected carry-on suitcase. It’s cabin-sized luggage infused with tech that makes it ridiculously useful: you can track it by GPS in case it gets lost, it can charge your phone or tablet, it tells you if you leave it behind, and it can be locked and unlocked from your phone (or just by being near it). It can even tell you how much it weighs just by pulling on the handle. Amazing.

We met up with Bluesmart at CES this week and they gave us some great news: there’s going to be a check-in version. It’ll have all the same features, but in a larger edition suitable for your main holiday baggage.

We don’t have images of the new product yet, and Bluesmart didn’t have one to show us at their stand, but we’re guessing it’s going to look much the same - just bigger. We’d like to see a non-black version this time though, because finding a black suitcase on the luggage carousel is like an epic game of Where’s Wally without the fun.

The original Bluesmart was crowdfunded on Indiegogo, and is one of the platform’s most famous and well-loved successes. At the time of writing, it’s raised over 2 million dollars. Not quite as much as the cat-ear headphones, but that’s the internet for you.

We like Bluesmart because it’s been designed with tech in mind: there’s a special laptop compartment so you can easily pull out your PC at security, the app is well-designed and useful (available on Android and iOS), and the built-in battery charges phones up to six times. That’s perfect when you pull an accidental Tom Hanks and end up in the airport all day with nothing to do.

The GPS and 3G tracking features in the carry-on suitcase are going to be even more useful in the full-sized edition: it’s much more likely that your main suitcase will get lost than your cabin bag. If the airline mislays it, you’ll be able to find out exactly where it is and give them what for. That’s pretty reassuring.

However, be warned: it’s not going to be cheap. We don’t have a confirmed price yet, but the carry-on Bluesmart costs $399 (about £275) plus postage, so we can only imagine the full-sized version is going to be serious dollar. Hopefully the company will do a package deal for both sizes, but even so, you’re looking at the price of a holiday to get your luggage.

We’ll update you when we have a confirmed price and availability date, but we’re told the Bluesmart connected check-in should be available for preorder this summer, delivering in the Autumn. Get saving - we will be.

All images: Bluesmart