No Longer a “CES virgin” – Thoughts After 2 Days at CES 2011: Tablets, TVs & Other Tech

In many ways, 2 days at CES 2011 (International Consumer Electronics Show) is not enough time to really absorb the show. I was only able to essentially pay only a few vendors any quality time, others were quick, short visits, and others were just walk throughs getting from one place to another. On the other hand, 2 days is completely exhausting. I found myself really enjoying returning to the peace and quiet of my hotel room and not be part of the human pinball game as I fought for position to view a tiny electronic gadget. But this was my first time at CES…I now think I have a better strategy for next year!

My post that I wrote on the plane ride over to CES had a comment that I thought this year’s show would be the year of the tablet. To some extent, it was. I got to play with the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a prototype of the Panasonic Viera and the Coby Kyros (honestly, a brand I had never heard of). The Blackberry Playbook looks really solid as well and while I didn’t get to play with it, I did watch a video of it in action, with multi panels of crisp video running simultaneously. It looks like it could actually be a winner. Below is the Samsung Galaxy Tab:

Below is a quick video introduction to the Samsung Galaxy Tab:

Here are a few tablets by Coby Electronics called the Coby Kyros, like the Tab are running Android 2.x which I have a feeling will be a pretty good OS for tablets. What got me about the tablet by Coby, was how inexpensive it is, starting at $199, which is an awesome price point for a device like this.

Here is the Panasonic Viera:

As part of my involvement with the Intel Advisors program, I got to spend some one-on-one time with some of the devices that Intel is helping with. What is interesting is not only the variety of operating systems that are popping up on tablet-like devices like Android, JoliCloud and MeeGo, but also the form factors. You are seeing tablets that are more like netbooks with pivoting screens (Dell Inspiron Duo), to straight slates and tablets as well as slider types. I’m pretty sure that innovative designs will be proliferating the space within 6 months as there were many prototypes out there like the Panasonic one (shown above).

But the show was much more than tablets. I thought that 3D TV was going to quietly slip away or at least not be as big of a thing this year. How wrong I was. These TVs are simply getting much better, with even slimmer form factors (they are almost razor thin now) and more embedded functionality (like Google TV/Smart TV). Manufacturers continue to “app-enable” their TVs and devices (like DVD players). And we are starting to get some peaks at 3D technology that doesn’t require glasses to see. It’s pretty impressive actually and those 3D TVs that you do need glasses to use are simply amazing. On top of that, other companies are starting to come out with devices that work with the 3D technology. One great example is the new Sony Bloggie 3D (which I haven’t tried but got a quick pitch on it). Essentially consumers will be getting devices in their hands to create just about any type of content that they want, whether it is pictures, video, audio, 3D pictures or video, you name it. (As we discussed in an upcoming Cast of Dads podcast that we did at the show, consumers will have almost endless possibilities at content creation – and many of the gadgets seen at the show will be great tools to help create, manage, distribute and showcase this content.)

Some Samsungs:

And the LG wall:

I spent most of my time at the central hall of the expo, however there were two other halls that I barely had time to visit, thus, needing more time would be better. My coverage of the show is pretty sparse, as was my AT&T cell coverage. I think that the decision makers of CES need to get AT&T to beef up their infrastructure, especially for this show like I heard that they did for SXSW (bring the COWS – “Cell Towers on Wheels”!)

Some gadgets that I saw at CES that I’m hoping to review are:

• Corbra’s iRadar – radar detector that interfaces with your iPhone
• Parrot Asteroid Car Deck – next generation of the RKi8400 based on Android OS
• Pioneer Dual DINN deck – interesting feature I saw in one of the higher-end decks was the ability to pull your twitter and Facebook streams and have your messages read to you via your car stereo.
• Griffin Technology Crayola Pen – got to a prototype in action first hand (see video below)

Over the next few weeks, I will be posting some pictures, videos and other highlights from my experience at CES 2011. Again, it just scrapes the surface but it is helping me to get my ideas and strategy for CES 2012. I guess I had better start planning!

Disclosure Text: I am part of the “Intel Advisor” program and am compensated and/or receive other value from Intel to attend events on their behalf, including the 2011 CES show. I have a material connection because I received a gift or sample of a product for consideration in preparing to write this content. I was/am not expected to return this item or gift after my review period. More information can be found in my About page as well as here.

HTD says: With CES 2010 out of the way, I can get back to my regular life (yeah, right)! What was your favorite announcement or gadget of CES?