CES is one such show that gets all the media and the consumer electronics company in one single floor, and its the event which happens in the first month of a new year. The excitement goes up in the air, and all the speculations and predictions start a week early. This year’s CES also lived up to the expectations, with some excitement.
While there are hundreds of product launches happening at the event, we thought we would pick only a few of the best products and happenings that went on at the Consumer Electronics Show 2013.
The Smartphones: Sony Xperia Z
This is Sony’s first 5-inch phone with a brilliant display and processor. The company is taking some huge step here, and has managed to grab the attention of the media and the customers making a huge launch at the CES. While most of the smartphone unveilings happen at the Mobile World Congress, CES also saw some of the cool phones this year. And the Samsung also updated the Galaxy S II Plus, with better configuration, without throwing much light on the pricing and availability. If there’s something that people are going to look out for from Sony, then Xperia Z should be the one they should look at.
The Tablets: Vizio 10-inch Android Tablet
Its not Samsung or Sony which made a buzz with their tablet releases this time. It was Vizio which made the heads turn with a brilliant configuration that no other tablets have got it in the market. The Vizio tablet runs on a Tegra 4 processor, with a brilliant 300 dpi display. This is not all, people who had a hands-on experience with the tablet were amazed to feel about the weight of the product. This is definitely a huge competition for the tablets that are ruling the market right now.
The TVs: LG 4K 55-inch UltraHD TV
This one is for the Bill Gates and Tatas. LG has unveiled this new 4K UltraHD TV with a 55-inch display and is priced at $12K. Though this TV might not be for the regular customers across the world, this is a huge step in the TV production industry, which LG has taken. Samsung also competed in this race with its own 4K TV, but we think LG has excelled in it based on the quality of the product. The TV line-upo for LG in 2013 has shot up off late. The company revealed that they have got a 64-inch and a 84-inch TVs in their pipeline for 2013. 4K TVs at our houses? Well, we need to look out for a better TV operator now.
The Smartwatch: Pebble smartwatch
Pebble rocked the entire CES this year. And it is the only thing that excited me at the CES. The Kickstarter product would be finally shipping to the customers from 23rd of this month, and the watch just got smarter than before. The Pebble smartwatch now has WiFi capabilities built into it, and the watch comes with a 144 x 168 pixel resolution, sitting on the wrist. This is not all, the watch is light weight, and the software in it looks promising. Lets see if we can get hold of a watch for review once its out in the market.
The Retro Camera: Fujifilm X100S
There were many cameras coming out of the CES 2013. The Fujifilm’s X100S is such a brilliant camera, and we think that its taking the place of the best cameras that came out from CES this year. The camera is super retro styled, and with a brilliant auto focus, which the company promises to be the fastest ever on the planet. This is an improvement to the X100 which came out back in 2010, and with an improved focus mode, this camera was the best.
The Smart Camera: Samsung NX300
Samsung has stepped in into the camera market. The NX300 is probably the best feature rich camera from the company, posing a huge threat to its competitors. The camera has the ability to change lens, shoot videos in 2D and 3D and also lets the user to easily and effortlessly share their pictures and videos with their friends. Priced at $500, the camera seems to be really worth it. And with events like the Google+ photowalk happening for the physically challenged people, these kinds of cameras would always be a boon.
The Gaming Gadgets: Oculus Rift
“This could be a gamechanger”, “This is the future of gaming.”, “Damn, where were these guys all these years?” and “Dude. We really need this.” – These were the words that came out from the visitors who experienced the Oculus Rift at the CES 2013. And yes, this is probably the best ever gaming gadget that has come out recently. And with this, playing games on a flat surface might come to an end. Also, the prototype which was showcased there was a low-resolution prototype, which when comes out would be a hi-res one. We’ll take a deeper look at this in the coming weeks.
The Handheld Gaming Device: Nvidia Project Shield
Nvidia’s Project Shield is definitely promising and there’s no way we could rate it down. While the company is going down due to the rise in smartphones with better gaming capabilities, products like these from Nvidia looks promising. The Project Shield is the company’s first portable handheld gaming device with Tegra 4 processor running Stock Android in it. But there was one more reason that got everyone excited at the Nvidia’s press conference. And that’s the devices’ ability to stream (Yes. Stream) PC games to the gadget with ease. Its new. For all of us.
The Autos: Audi A1
Its not that only Google can drive cars all by itself. Audi, the premium car manufacturer, came up with their concept of self-driving car, in a whole different way. The A1 parks for itself, and comes and picks the owner back when intimated. This is just a brilliant technology, and here’s a video that speaks for itself:
The End:
Even though I’ve been telling so many times that this year’s CES has failed to excite me as it would in the past few years, I was happy about the very limited products that came into the spotlight. All the gadgets listed above were really worth the spotlight and I wish they pop up into the market as soon as possible, and create a whole new user experience for the common men.