As the annual Consumer Electronics Show – the showplace for the newest gadgets about to hit the market – wraps up in Las Vegas, we touched base with Global’s technology guru, Steve Makris to get his impressions of this year’s show.
What is the big thing at CES this year?
CES 2012 is about doing more with all your devices at home and when away. It’s about having access to your files wherever you are from a smartphone, tablet, computer and TV.
How smart are TVs going to be this year?
TVs will do more online, much like a tablet. But top models from Samsung have an Xbox Kinect-like built-in feature that recognizes your face and profile settings, has voice command for changing channels and doing browser verbal searches onscreen. It also recognizes gestures.
TVs also have new smart viewing features like the LG dual model for gamers allowing two players sitting side-by-side to see their view perspective on the same screen, by wearing special polarizing-like glasses. Samsung’s Dual TV is similar in that it lets two users watch their own channels on full screen HD at the same time, again with their own special glasses.
Where is 3D going from what you saw?
Frankly, nowhere. The good news is that Panasonic has joined LG and Toshiba adding three passive glasses 3D TV models. There is not much new in 3D content. I really expect all these 3D glass systems to be obsolete in several years.
Are TVs getting cheaper on the low end and how much better are they getting for deep pockets?
Despite the cutting-edge technologies in the new TVs, lower tier models using older technologies like LCD (none LED lighting) panels as well as five-year old 720p plasma screens make for great HDTV big-screen viewing for less than $1000.
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On the mid-level end, prices for the average consumer will give more bang for the buck because of cheaper technology and a competitive market. Expect last year’s prices for similar 2012 models with more features.
What is the coolest TV you saw?
The 55-inch OLED ultra-thin TVs from Samsung and LG even blew me away. No one is openly talking prices but my sources tell me these screen size models will be in stores later this year for $7,000 to $9,000.
The best conventional LED TV I saw was the Elite 60-inch model from Sharp, which licensed the Elite name from Pioneer. It has the deepest blacks, cleanest rich colours and may be overpriced at $6,000 considering it doesn’t look as sleek as competitors, but the quality of the image speaks for itself.
Sharp also showed its 60-ICC model which impressively upscales today’s best full HD TV to Quad TVs resolution, something real pricey Quad TVs ahown at CES are currently impractical to own.
What is new in tablets and laptops?
Tablets will be plentiful in 2012 but look for new shapes and sizes. Samsung’s 5.2-inch Galaxy Note is actually a large smartphone available soon with Telus, Rogers and Bell. It uses an included stylus with a 250 pressure point range, effectively making it work like a real pen or brush for real handwriting.
Sony’s Walkman Z is a quality media player running on Android which can run Android Store apps and works well with Sony’s expansive entertainment system.
Android is showing up in Windows laptops like the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 which runs on a powerful full voltage Intel i7 processor in Windows but also can switch to a separate smaller Qualcom chip running Android extending the battery to 10 hours.
Is the new BlackBerry PlayBook upgrade too little too late?
Unless you are committed to using the BlackBerry phone system, yes.
The free software upgrade, available next month, is what the PlayBook should have been when it was first released. RIM has lost too much precious time with delays, low vendor support and can only hope to keep most of the business core BlackBerry phone users onboard.
The upgrade actually makes the PlayBook a strong contender against Android tablets as it will also be able to run Andoid apps, effectively adding tens of thousands more apps to its current 50,000 available apps.
It also is built better than most Andoid phones and at its discounted price, I would consider the new version 2.0 a steal, and very usable.
Its much awaited built-in email and calendaring is independent of, and does not need a BlackBerry phone. It does a great job of integrating most popular email accounts like Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo and AOL, as well as integrating social network accounts. It turns the BlackBerry Smartphone into a remote control for watching movies from the PlayBook on TV and more. It also includes a BlackBerry Video Storefront for renting movies and TV Shows.
In fact, the PlayBook without the business companionship of BlackBerry phones has no ties to the RIM server.
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