CES 2011 Wrap-Up

I was lucky enough to attend CES 2011 this year in Las Vegas, Nevada. I got the chance to see numerous amounts of gadgets from all perspectives including getting one on one demos with some of the latest gadgets soon to come in the year 2011. Although I felt overwhelmed with the amount of 3D Televisions and tablets, I witnessed . It was overall a great experience; I also was able to meet lots of well-rounded individuals. 

Day 1 started with keynotes from Verizon CEO, Ivan Seidenberg introducing Verizon’s new LTE network which could be the new home of the iPhone later this month. CEA President and CEO, Gary Shapiro also gave a speech addressing the current state of the CE (Consumer Electronics) Industry. Later on Audi AG Chairman of the Board of Management, Rupert Stadler, gave a speech on leadership and Samsung President, Boo-Keun Yoon demonstrated the new portfolio of Samsung.  I also got hands-on with various companies. 

Day 2 was filled with a slew of keynotes during the morning; including various CEOs. I got a lecture on the newly announced Yahoo Connected TV; similar but not better than the Google TV. Yahoo Connected TV has one special feature that Google TV doesn’t it allows you to interact with your television with quizzes about the segment your currently watching; don’t it would be a use of most consumers. I also got hands-on with one of the very few 4G MiFi’s, Clear Spot 4G, only $45 dollars a month for service including unlimited data; a good deal. Also you have two options; first option you can either purchase (for $199) or lease (for $6/month) device and pay the monthly plan for $45/month or the second option you can receive the device for free of charge and pay your monthly fee of $45/ month but your bound by a 2-year contract; neither option offer a pay-as-you go option. 

Day 3 I got the opportunity to test ride in a concept car of General Motors, the en-v, which is an all electric vehicle specifically designed for the Shanghai Expo. There has been no set date/year for production of the en-v for the public. I also got a very well presented demo of the BodyGuardz which is a screen protector designed for the whole body of your device. Another one on one demo I received was with the Blackberry Playbook, something that can really compete with the Apple iPad; contains a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, a 5MP rear-facing camera and 3MP front-facing camera. 

  Day 4 I found a really cool backup service, clickfree, very unique from the other backup solutions that I’ve used, not only does it backup on schedule without hassle. Another feature that most of us run into is that when you do a backup its wipes current information on your hard drive with clickfree it doesn’t alter any of the current files on your hard drive. 

I really enjoyed CES 2011, it has been a great experience for me and the TekSocial website. This CES  was certainly the year of the tablets and 3D televisions. Hopefully I will be fortunate enough to attend next year and provide more coverage for TekSocial.com. For your enjoyment I’ve included all the coverage of my CES Experience below. An lastly I uploaded all the pictures’ I took at CES 2011 to my Flickr. 

CES 2011 - What We are Expecting

With CES about to kick off in Vegas tomorrow, alot of people will be wondering what will be announced/shown off in the event, and that is what I'm going to talk about now very briefly.

First off we are expecting total "Tablet" domination at the event. Since the release of the Apple iPad last year many companies have been drawing up plans to compete with the product, hence Samsung's release of their Galaxy Tablet which is Android based. Also HP have started shipping their Windows 7 Tablet called the HP Slate.

As with 2010's CES conference I am also expecting 3D to be a big hitter at the event aswell. With talk of Nintendo 3DS (Which I very much doubt Nintendo will go public with the product at this event) being 3D glasses free, I would expect companies to bring other 3D products which do not require the usage of 3D glasses.

4G, the next installation to the mobile internet. This is almost certain to be introduced by various companies at this years CES. With various 4G devices already in the market today, I would not be suprised if even though its almost certain to be announced in the CES event that companies will keep this to a low aspect.

Ofcourse there are many many other products to be announced in the CES event.

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The LG GD910

At CES 2008 LG gave us a sneak peak at their innovative watch-phone, the GD910. This year at CES, they took it out of the display case and out onto the floor. The watch features a 1.43 inch diagonal touch screen, and 3G networking. The interface looks similar to other LG touch screen phones, such as the Dare and Voyager, and yes, you use your finger. That's right! no stylus for a 1 inch screen.(Imagine typing a phone number with that!) If you think this product sounds exciting and you can't wait to get your hands on one, you better make sure of one thing: you live in Europe. That's right, the phone works in Europe only. Rumors suspect AT&T may pick it up for America some time this year. The watch is still a prototype but should be out soon.