CES 2010 What Are They Selling?

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:09:39 EST

As we previously looked at the Android 2.1 Gphone, and discussed CES, let's take on Lenovo and its slate tablet that breaks away from the Mommy Ship. (Docking station, the sequel). Each half has a CPU. A Linux/Skylight in ‘light' mode (< 1KG), and docks to a Win7/Intel Core 2 Duo U4100.

Since both the Nexus One (Gphone) and the Lenovo use the same Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, it becomes as clear as mud. In the end the consumer will select between the two based on physical size and price. It is not clear (to me) at the moment how the Freescale Smartbook will figure in this mix.

The Freescale is a reference piece (not production) to serve as a template for either The Debian style Linux or the Android version. The 7 inch resistive screen comes in under a kilo and quiet without fans.
Being ARM 8 based, (ATI video) it should fit right in there with the other two offerings on performance.

So again, seeing all the same state of the art silicon with the only separation points being size/price (mainly due to the cost of these amazing new screens?), the end user will declare the winner of platform size, not O/S. Best Hopeful Pricing at this moment for this reference design starts at $200

Gudrun pointed out to me that 2 monitors combined with Chrome Plus effectively becomes four monitors with the Google Chrome add-in. I'm happy that Chrome Plus runs the regular Chrome extensions. The Plus folks address my IE needs as well as my paranoia.

Iomega hits with a robust wireless (802.11n/Gbit Ethernet wired) iConnect for <$100 USD. (Win/Linux/Mac Ready). It better work as sold. Marvell in San Jose has a competing media/data NAS device (including Bluetooth?). As I remember the CEO is a real darling with both Silicon Valley and Wall Street.

Speaking of 802.11n, Class 6 (very good speed) SD cards and the finally ratified standard in 802.11n, get married in Eye-Fi. The 8GB card even Geotags your snaps.

Wireless printers (color ink jet) @ 2 digit midget (<$100. USD) . Even more it is claimed to have the smarts for auto doc fix, including bleed through.

Mobile TV for land based stations becomes viable with only ad support since it only takes (now) +/- 100 Kilobucks for a broadcaster to kick out a few mobile TV stations with a couple hours of interface time. Mobile DTV is the new kid on the block and Samsung is rolling out in the Baltimore/D.C. area within weeks. Samsung is also using an AMOLED (3.2 inch), as is the Nexus One we already looked at. While not Android 2.1 (out of the box, today) upgrading is no sweat.

Elsewhere in video land 802.11n and Bluetooth connectivity are making life more painless. 1080p HD via Wireless HDMI is being shown. Great for the 2D TV world. 3D is as I suspected earlier, seeing great announcements, setup on turf wars. Vizio is with SiBeam. We will see if it folds in with HDMI 1.4 and the new add-ons and the 3D Blu-ray thoughts. On 2nd thought, will it matter? We resolved the DVD -/+ war easily enough.

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CES 2010 What Are They Selling?