Today’s trip took us to the central hall of CES, where the big manufacturers had the biggest displays of the whole show. We weren’t surprised to see the familiar names, but there were a few that most people didn’t know who brought everything they had.
Hisense brought a ton of TVs plus much smaller gadgets with them, intent on impressing consumers here in the USA. Huawei did the same, with a mix of products including cell phones and tablets that looked every bit as polished as the offerings from Samsung and other well known companies. Here’s to hoping that one of these companies becomes the next LG — new blood is good!
Speaking of LG, they were there with a gigantic presence that started with a walk-through 3D video wall. It’s clear that LG is walking the line between product lines, offering a robust selection of 3D, which was last year’s big technology, with 4K (UHD) and OLED televisions.
Samsung’s booth was absolutely huge and they were showing everything from televisions to washing machines. Their new smart televisions are much much faster than previous models — a welcome change of course. A rep said that in many cases you can go from menu to streaming content in under 10 seconds, compared to close to a minute with older TVs.
Intel was there, of course, showing next-generation Atom chips and ever faster processors, but we were most interested in their Wireless Display technologies. WiDi is a consumer-friendly form of wireless transfer build into many Intel-equipped PCs.
With Wireless Display, a PC can beam full HD content to a TV from across the room. Pairing the devices is as easy as pairing a bluetooth headset. Their demonstration area was consistently packed.
Speaking of devices talking to each other, the Zigbee Alliance was there in force! They have a whole plan for connecting everything in your house from blinds to appliances to home video. DIRECTV’s thrown their support behind Zigbee and so have many other manufacturers.
We talked at length with the reps from RCA about their mobile DTV-equipped products, and it looks like we’ll have the chance to test it hands on soon! Their DDA850 is an android tablet that also incorporates an ATSC and mobile DTV tuner for entertainment anywhere.
Finally, we wanted to tip our hats to our friends at engadget. They set the bar super-high with their stage filled with tech luminaries, and it was a pleasure to watch them work!
Tomorrow we’re off to the north hall!
