CES 2013 – My Top 10
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has come to an end again and so many products have been shown off. Here are some of my favourites for this year.
1. Ultra HD TVs
Ultra HD and 4K displays was the big buzz word this year. All the big TV manufacturers announced and revealed their Ultra HD TVs this year at the CES. Ultra HD TVs have a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels which a 4 times the resolution of our current 1080p TVs.
Now all that has to happen is for all the content providers to up their game and start giving us content in that kind of resolution.
Above is Samsungs 85 inch 4K “floating” TV. It uses a metal frame that has inbuilt speakers and let you easily angle the TV to your liking. One thing for sure is that I won’t be able to afford it.
2. Nvidia Project Shield
The gaming handhelds are making a comeback. There are the Razer’s Edge Gaming Tablet and the Nvidia Project Shield.
Nvidia is known in the industry to supply some of the best graphic chips for PCs, Laptops, tablets and mobile phones and at CES this year they shows off a gaming handheld that is Android based and can mirror to your big displays while on the same network.
I think it is a nifty little device, but right now it is a niche product that hasn’t got a release date or a price attached to it. Check out some impressions in the video below.
3. Oculus Rift Virtual Headset
Remember VirtuaBoy from the 90s? Oculus Rift is the grown up version.
The headset will give the user a very compelling virtual reality experience. It will immerse the user into a wrap-around 3D world – you will feel like you are part of the game. Here are some impressions:
4. The Pebble
I pre-ordered my Pebble in September when it came out on Kickstarter and I was very happy about the fact that they will start sending it out to us at the end of this month.
Instead of packing in a ton of features, Pebble focuses on a few simple features. You can get quick notifications for texts, email, and calls along with custom watch faces and some music control. All that in a small form factor and with an e-paper display – what more can you want.
5. Panasonic 4K Tablet
It wouldn’t be a consumer show if there aren’t plenty of tablets to be shown.
Interestingly enough, last year was the CES of Android tablets and while there are still quite a few of them, this year was the year of Windows 8 tablets.
Vizio, Panasonic, Lenovo and Viewsonic announced and showed their Windows 8 tablets off at CES this year. Interestingly enough Panasonic showed off a 4K 20 inch Windows 8 tablet that includes a stylus to navigate the Operating System.
It is primarily targeted at Designers, Photographers and Architects.
6. Mobile Phones
Plenty of mobile phones were announced and showed off at CES this year again and most of them were 5 inch Full HD display, quad core processor ones, but 2 stood out for me.
Samsung flexible OLED phone prototype and the dual screen YotaPhone.
This is the first time we actually see a flexible display being used and how it could change the interactions we will have with our phone in the future. The bend sides of the screen showed scrolling messages that the user can interact with without having to look at the main screen, e.g. you don’t have to take it out of its cover. this is still a prototype and Samsung was very tight lipped about it coming to a phone near you, but I am sure it will be implemented soon into upcoming handsets.
The Yota phone took a very interesting approach with its Dual screen smartphone. It placed a display on either side of the body and while one side is a 720p 4.3 inch display, the other side is an always on e-ink unit that can be found in e-readers like the kindle.
The advantage here is that the e-ink display can be read in any lighting conditions and it can be used for specific applications. So you can see your notifications without having to turn on your display. There will be a SDK so you can expect more apps to support it in the future.
It is definitely an interesting approach.
7. Activity trackers
Remember the ill-faded Jawbone or the Nike FuelBand? Both of them are personal fitness trackers that monitor your every sporting move and give you results.
Obviously they aren’t the only ones and and Fitbit announced its new Flex wristband.
It syncs wirelessly with your iPhone (and soon with your Android) giving you real time access to your data. It is water resistant and it includes the ability to track sleep quality, set alarms, and integrate with a wide variety of fitness devices on the market through the company’s apps, services, and online dashboard.
And of course it comes in different colours.
8. Self Driving cars
Yes you have read correctly, Audi showed off its self driving A7.
Audi’s car is not the type that drives your wherever you want right now. It works like this: you walk out of the mall, you want your car. You open an app on your smartphone, press a button, and the car drives out to you. Short distances, right now pre-determined and guided by Laser scanners, but it is still pretty cool, check out the video below from the Verge.
9. Samsung Series 7 Ultra
Just because I am in the market for a new ultrabook and I had my heart set on an Asus Zenbook, Samsung came along and showed off its new Series 7 Ultra.
With a Core I7 CPU, Full HD display, up to 16Gb of RAM and a 256GB SSD drive in, just tell me how much and when I can purchase it, tell me, tell me now.
I don’t know what else to say, but Samsung just changed my mind away from Asus.
10. Scary Robot Spider
Doesn’t the title say it all?
Let me know which products you liked best from the CES this year in the comments.
