Today will be the last day for CES 2012. This year’s edition brought numerous tech premieres and generally allowed us to take a glance at what 2012 will be all about, technologically speaking.
Tablets were there (the top of the class sporting the Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 update on top of quad-core processors and high-res displays), ultrabooks were there too waiting patiently for Windows 8 Metro touch UI, enormous smarthphones like the new Sony Experia S or the HTC Titan II (4,7 inch display!!!) were also present. Similarly, HDTVs looked their best after some harsh dieting (see the 4mm thick 3D OLED HDTV from LG) and seemed to have lost their remote controls solely to rely on Kinect-like interaction with the user.
Apple was not present, and for that matter they didn’t needed to be – 2012 will be all about iPad 3, Apple TV and maybe even a new iPhone. Let’s not forget Apple is expected to refresh its Macbook line any time soon.
Also, keep a close eye on Windows 8, as its good looks are not the only great feature it brings to the PC world – it also comes with improved multitasking and security, build-in cloud features, own app store and even ARM support of the box (yes, that means tablets).
Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas is of the yearly highlights for tech aficionados. And over the last 40 years some amazing gadgets made their debut here: we had the Palm Pre, OLED displays and Dell Adamo subnotebooks in 2009. 2008 was mostly about the retirement speech held by Bill Gates. In 2001 we saw the first Xbox there, along with plasma TVs. Two years later high-definition television and Blue-Ray conquered the scene. Going way back in time, we had the first camcorder and CD player at the 1981 edition.VCR in 1970. You got the idea.
At this year’s edition (January 7-10) many highly-anticipated consumer technologies are expected to surface: wireless chargers, eco-friendly devices (like the Vaio W, Sony’s netbook made out of recycled soda cans), HDTVs, 3D TV, netbooks, e-book readers, internet radios, home energy-management devices, mobile DTV etc.
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Just hours before CES 2010, at Google’s Mountain View headquarters the first Google-branded phone was unveiled. Nexus One is truly great phone which can teach Apple’s iPhone some new tricks: multitasking, full Google apps integration, 5Mpx camera, better display and battery, great processing power (1Ghz Snapdragon processor).
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During the first days at CES, Microsoft broke in the news on its motion-sensing Project Natal. The revolutionary Xbox 360 add-on will be available just in time for this year’s Christmas shopping season. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off some Windows 7-enabled tablet prototypes, but no mind-blowing moves here.
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Also at CES 2010, HTC opens its smartphone lineup to the masses with the new HTC Smart running BREW, especially build for European and Asian markets.
