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Feinberg: CES 2012, Day 2
January 11, 2012 |Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Yesterday I posed the question asking whether CES will become a toy and gadget store or a stage for truly interesting new technology introductions. Today, I can say I don’t think so, at least not this year. Yes, there are lots of Droid and Apple toys, zillions of tablet and smart phone covers, headphones, skins and cheapie portable speakers ,but, there are also a great number of excellent revolutionary and well thought out evolutionary devices. Today, I spent the entire day on the show floor and I also attended the prestigious and valuable press event, Show Stoppers, this evening. I estimate I may have seen 20% of the exhibits at most. This show is so vast that one has to just window shop quickly, stopping at those where you either have an appointment or there is technology you wish to cover.
My impressions are as follows, as well as some details on some of the more interesting devices:
My vote for the biggest buzz on the show floor is the surprise in the positive reception the new Windows Phone 7.5 with its distinctive interface is receiving. The interface is built around blocks of screen real estate called Live Tiles which is a departure from the standard, icon-based approach used by Apple's iPhone and Google Android, as well as older smart phones. The design has won praise from numerous reviewers. The new devices are available for AT&T customers, but there are strong indications that the new devices will be available on Verizon and other companies in the not-to-distant future.
3-D TV is still a big deal, but it does not dominate like 2011. More on T V later, as I plan on spending time in that hall tomorrow. One clear advance in 3-D is the introduction of some quite good glasses-free 3D displays. Master Image was showing small, glasses free 3D displays up to 10.1 inches. You had to stand at the correct distance and be right in front of the display for the best effect, as larger sizes are not available as yet, but the image was surprisingly good. It was real, bright and effective 3D with no glasses. I would say that what they were able to demonstrate was a few quantum levels better than anything being shown last year.
Robotics are coming of age: Small, simple-purpose robots, which actually learn and seem to develop a personality, were in evidence. A simple device that we all grew up with, the home thermostat, has undergone a design facelift. The NEST thermostat has an Apple-like design, perhaps that is because it was designed by an ex-Apple designer. Who ever heard of people waiting in line or bidding up the price on a thermostat? I can tell you it is happening. Logitech introduced a tiny mini-mouse--it has no buttons as it’s entire surface is touch sensitive. Pick it up off the mouse pad and it becomes a full featured, touch-sensitive remote control.
Of course there were a plethora of tablets, more than I have room to write about--some of them very so-so and some of them appearing to be quite good. Most were Android-based with the best of them being the Droid Ice Cream Sandwich. There were a few Windows 7 tablets and some with various proprietary operating systems. The most interesting on the lot was the ASUS device I discussed in yesterday’s column. There's some anticipation of the Windows 8 tablet OS, but that will be months away. The field is far more varied with a number of excellent choices, far different from last year when you had the choice between the iPad and a few not-ready pretenders.
One new computer category is gaining ground and that is the Ultra Book. Unlike the wimpy, cheap net books of a few years ago, Ultra books are thin, light, true computers which are both elegant and powerful. Some impressive units I saw were from Lenovo, HP, Asus, Acer, and Dell. If you need a true computer, but want it to be very light-weight, thin and elegant, look into the growing Ultra Book category. I expect that there will be numerous reviews on the latest offerings soon.
More tomorrow and a full wrap-up will be forthcoming later in the week.