CES 2013: Day 2 Round-up

While the first day at the Consumer Electronics Show gave us a glimpse of how 4K resolution and smarter intuitive gadgets seem to be the amazing tech that manufacturers are focusing on, the second day at CES 2013 was abuzz with tablets and some more smarter gadgets.  Here’s a quick roundup of which gadgets and innovations shone the brightest at the Day 2 of the CES 2013. Television In the television space, we saw Samsung steal the show on Day 2 by offering the world’s firstCurved OLED television. The curved OLED panel provides depth to the content displayed for a more life-like viewing experience. The TV will also offer an immersive panoramic effect that is not possible right now with the current set of conventional flat-panel TVs.  Curved OLED from Samsung (Image Credit: LA Times) Besides, Samsung has also shown a strong foothold in the TV space with its slew of new plasma and LCD screens. The newest launches at CES this year include the flagship F7500 LED 3D TV, the F8500 series plasma, the F9500 OLED TV  while the LED line is represented by the F8000 and F7500. We will also see some impressive features in the higher-end models, like the solid A15 quad-core 1.35GHz CPU that claims to be around 3.6x faster than last year’s dual cores. The line-up will also come packed with features like the ability to decode HEVC video, two hand gestures, pinch to zoom, voice commands and gesture recognitions.  Samsung has geared up to bring out world-firsts at the CES this year. The next in its CES 2013 devices line-up is a soundbar that can connect with a TV using wireless Bluetooth technology. The HW-F750 soundbar is built with a vacuum tube amplifier to provide natural sound. It has a smart gyroscope sensor that ensures the soundbar can be placed virtually in any nook of the house; it will then gauge its surrounding to improve sound. Phones and tablets There are no brownie points for guessing that big phone makers plan to elevate the high-end phone space with smartphones featuring large display panels. However, it’s not just the big phone makers who plan to do so. Huawei also showed off its Ascend phones featuring large screens. Then, ZTE has unveiled its Grand S smartphone featuring 5-inch 1920 x 1080p full HD display. At the on-going CES 2013 exhibition, Alcatel has also announced three new high-end smartphones – the One Touch Idol Ultra, One Touch Idol and the One Touch Scribe HD.  Although a low show for phone lovers, the second day was abuzz with a slew of new tablets. Firstly, we saw Acer take the wraps off the highly anticipated Iconia B1. This Android Jelly Bean based tablet is targeted at young users and families and has been making news especially for its price point that enables it to compete with the Nexus 7. The Acer Iconia B1-A71 will be available with a starting price less than $150 (approx. Rs.8,250). Click here for the complete specs of the Acer Iconia B1. Powerful gaming tablet from Razer Razer has also showcased its fierce and powerful gaming tablet – dubbed Edge – that promises to bring full PC games in the mobile space. This Windows 8 tablet/gaming console/laptop appears to be very powerful as it is said to come with  Intel’s i5 or i7 processors, discrete graphics through Nvidia GT640 LE GPU, up to 8GB of RAM, over 30 frames-per-second for all current titles, and more. Panasonic also showed its 4K Windows 8 tablet prototype. This tablet looks really massive and gets us thinking if 4K resolution really makes sense for a 20-inch screen. However, it shouldn’t be surprising to see smaller displays featuring 4K resolution in the tech space. Panasonic’s 20-inch Windows 8 prototype is integrated with an Intel Core i5 chip and its spec sheet shows micro-USB, microSD ports and Wi-Fi, to name a few. Panasonic doesn’t stop here, it has also introduced the ToughBook rugged 10.1-inch Windows 8 tablet dubbed Toughpad G1 featuring Intel Core i5 processor. Polaroid also dished out new Android Jelly Bean enabled tablets – the 7-inch M7 and the 10-inch M10.  Mobile apps The CES 2013 saw Ford inviting the developer community to bring in-car apps and launch the Ford Developer Program for anyone who can build apps for its vehicles. The company wants app developers to develop apps for either Android or iOS using Ford's SDK and submit them. The automaker will review these apps and then take a call if they can be published on the application stores of the popular mobile platforms. Another renowned auto maker is GM who is initiating such programs for developers to create apps for its vehicles. GM will be offering a software development kit through its own website and developers can work with GM in a secure manner to build apps for the company. Nuance Communications, known for introducing the famous Swype input, has also launched theSwype Living Language that uses crowdsourcing to analyse new words and phrases in real-time, continuously updating its language dictionaries. In addition to integrating the power of Dragon voice recognition, Swype has also been augmented by integrating with personalised, intelligent dictionaries that learn and adapt to the words and phrases that people use most.  This year at CES, we are seeing a complete range of smart gadgets. Yesterday, we saw LG display its home services that allow users to control home appliances from their phone even when away, and now Belkin adds its WeMo line of smart home products. The Belkin WeMo Light Switch can be activated remotely via smartphone app. The free WeMo app is currently available for iPad, iPod touch and iPhone, with Android 4.0+ compatibility promised "shortly after launch".  Cameras Social connectivity and Wi-Fi enabled cameras would surely be the trend for the year 2013. Following on the lines of the Galaxy Camera, Polaroid has unveiled its new Android-powered camera with a swappable lens. The Polaroid iM1836 claims to be the first Android-powered micro four-thirds camera. Running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, it features an 18.1-megapixel sensor and a unique sensor-in-lens design. The CES this year also saw Pentax put on show the 12.1MP point-and-shoot MX-1. Though the company launched just one camera, interestingly it announced a new online purchasing program allowing users to customise the Pentax Q10 in vivid colours. Android-powered mirrorless camera All In One Toshiba has put forth two new All In Ones – the 21.5-inch LX815 and 23-inch LX835. Both these Windows 8 enabled AIOs come with third generation Intel Core processors and the LX835 is also touch-enabled. Both also feature two USB 3.0 ports and four USB 2.0 ports and can be configured with up to 16GB of memory and 3TB of storage. Asus had also shown us the Transformer AIO running on Windows 8  and featuring extended 18.4”, 10-point touch LED-backlit IPS display, third generation Intel Core processor technology and Asus’ SonicMaster technology to deliver crystal-clear sound through its integrated speakers. Besides, CES 2013 also gave us a glimpse of the next gen connectivity using Wi-Fi -the fifth gen 802.11ac products promising 3x faster Wi-Fi. Several companies have introduced Wi-Fi products based on the new 802.11ac standard, enabling 3X faster theoretical throughput and 6X greater power savings. Though finalised in late 2012, an increasing number of Wi-Fi products based on 802.11 displacing 802.11n will be seen this year. We will be seeing smarter routers using the new standard from companies like Linksys, D-Link, Trendnet, Broadcom, Qualcomm and Belkin. Windows 8 based All In One Next, Gigabyte has announced support for 4k display resolutions using multiple standard 1080p displays with Intel Collage display technology. The tech event also saw Kingston's DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0 USB flash drive which will allow users to carry 1TB of data in their pockets.  With manufacturers vying to make devices smarter, the second day of the CES 2013 came to a close. Windows 8, 4K and a hoard of tablets have upped the tech game for the year. We hope that these devices make their way to the Indian soil soon.