So the trade show for all the geeks out there came and went. This year’s CES has shown us some of the best and the not-so-best of what companies have to offer to satisfy our never-ending crave for gadgets. We’ll show you the hot items in this year’s show through this series of best picks.
Last year saw the rise of the oh-so-many tablets, some are good, some aren’t. But that doesn’t mean that it would stop there. Here are some that might make it to the consumer cut this year.
Motorola Xoom
What better way to use Google’s Android Honeycomb OS with this 10-inch Xoom from Motorola. Having a 1GHz processor, front camera with 2 megapixels and a rear one with 5, boasting a display resolution of 1280×800 and being simply attractive. If this is the promising outlook for this year’s batch of tablet releases, then we’re solved.
Blackberry Playbook
What’s still unknown about the Playbook? For those still not in the know, this 7-inch beast really packs a punch. Having a 1024×600 display, rear and front view cameras having 5 and 3 megapixels respectively, a dual-core 1GHz processor — no wonder this thing can do lots of wonders, without breaking a sweat to boot. Being simple in design aesthetics and all makes this the perfect business machine. Although Blackberry has a lot more to go with the OS and apps, it’s still one of the best one in CES.
Asus Eee Pad Slider
OK, so this may not be the top picks but going in its current route, it definitely has potential. This 10.1 inch tablet has power, graphics power with the Tegra 2 inside. And unlike most tablets, this one has a physical keyboard. Now why would you want 1 for your gadget? It’s all up to you. Props to Asus for taking a different route in this market.
Dell Streak 7
Like the Asus one, this also has a Tegra 2 processor with 1.3 megapixels in front and 5 megapixels in the rear for its cameras. What makes this stand out? Well, it’s the first tablet to utilize T-Mobile’s 4G network, offering speeds like no other. Although it falls short by still having Froyo instead of Honeycomb and by having a WVGA resolution unlike the competiton.
HDTVs and their weird names
With the non-stop pursuit of top-notch entertainment experience, companies will continue to release HDTVs and will also continue to name them with weird combinations of alphanumeric characters. Of course the featues also matter but you get the picture.
Panasonic Viera VT30 Series
Getting to dimensions going the 55 to 65-inch range, the VT30 promises the streak started by last year’s TC-PVT25 being named as the best plasma for 2010. This series offers deeper blacks (how deep can black be?), vibrant dynamic contrasts and faithfully reproduce those 1080p/24 sources as needed. The design itself is very elegant in simplicity and don’t forget that this also has 3D for the glasses afficionados out there.
Sony XBR HX929 Series
2011 has Sony bombarding us with an additional 25 new sets to their growing HDTV line. However, you can’t just ignore their frontliner as it promises to deliver… at least that’s what they’re saying. The 3D TV comes in with an array of local-dimming LED backlights and of course, deep blacks. It also has 802.11N built in. It doesn’t include the glasses for your 3D experience so get ready for a large cash out on this one.
Samsung LED D-8000 Series
Boosting your 3D experience with LED dimming and including a sleek remote to boot, Samsung has something in store with the D-8000. In one word, gorgeous. It also has a plasma version for the plasma junkies out there.
Polaroid – getting back and going Gaga
You’ve read that right, Polaroid has gone Gaga… with the Polarez GL20
Yup, as Lady Gaga presented these as “The camera of the future”, these pair happens to be a camera unit with 1.4-inch OLED displays under each eye. The lenses are attached in the bridge part of the frame, directly projecting them onto the display. You can also opt to insert an SD card instead and watch something else.
Apparently, Lady Gaga came up with this concept on her Fameball tour slapping iPod screens onto her pair of glasses and being Polaroid’s creative director, she punched the idea and we have the GL20.
Aside from the SD cards, you can share images and whatnot with the USB cleverly hidden as the earpiece, or go wireless with Bluetooth. You can start going Gaga with these sometime in spring.
Polaroid GL30
Continuing on, here’s the GL30. This is somewhat a modernized version of the old-school Polaroid camera they’ve been known for early on. No specifics were given but it still has the instant photo feature you’ve known and love. It looks good as well.
That’s it for this first part of the top CES 2011 pics. Stay tuned for the next ones.