Ramping up to CES 2013

An example of an invite to a cocktail party at CES

It's that time of the year again -- done with the turkey coma and on to the Christmas shopping and New Year's champagne with a culmination of a tough and rewarding year of work at our jobs.

It's time to getting psyched about CES 2013 in Vegas.

What biggest change do I see forthcoming in our working space?

Proliferation of touch enabled ablet pcs in our workspace. PC at the desk, touch enabled tablet at meetings, lunch and in the evening.

Here's what I'm sure to see at CES this year

• 1080p HD phones
• Bigger, Thinner TVs
• Obnoxious 3D TVs and Cameras
• 4x HD devices
• New Tablets and Touch enabled Laptops

A lot of this is the regular annual junk that's sort of boring.

Here's what I'm looking forward to this time:

• Our team at Wannabtechie is growing a bit more and so three of us are heading that way this year including our new lifestyle specialist who will post on the blog before we go up there for work
• See what interesting software and interaction environments will emerge prior to the democratisation of tablets in the workplace
• Convergence of DSLRs, Mirrorless, Compacts and Smartphones
• Smarter Toys
• Next Generation Consoles (Xbox 1080, PS4?)
• Generally have fun in Vegas
• Maybe we'll go check out Grand Canyon

Source(s):

www.wannabetechie.com

CES 2011: LG's Smart Web-Connected Home Dream via THiNQ

LG seems to believe in a world of smart appliances. Pretty sure this was a running joke at some point but when we look at most of our appliances today running on Android or Windows CE, it really isn't a joke anymore.

LG's dream definitely has positive benefit for us. Preheat the oven on the way home or run the washer while you're commuting -- all right from your handheld device. Check what's in your fridge while you're at the grocery store and keep an eye on your home via the HOM-BOT. On top of all this, the devices communicate with a smart-meter to ensure you're energy usage is optimised. Wannabe Techie, i'm pretty sure you're salivating at the possibilities if this is just scratching the surface of smart home devices.

Source(s): LG Press Release

www.wannabetechie.com

CES 2011: Hot Hot Smartphones

This is an updating post for the week of CES 2011. Check back for updates.

Sony Ericsson

Experia Arc. 4.2" Android 2.3 1Ghz beauty.

LG

Optimus Black. "world's thinnest smartphone" coming in at 9.2mm thick. Android 2.2 upgradeable to 2.3.

Samsung

Infuse 4G. HSPA+ handset, 1.2Ghz, 4.5" Super AMOLED plus screen. Android 2.2.

Motorola

Droid BIONIC. 1Ghz dual core =2Ghz. 4G LTE (10x 3G). 4.3" qHD display.

Source(s): Gagadget, BGR, Motorola

www.wannabetechie.com

Vizio Back Again: VIA Tablet and Smartphone running Android

Another thing to look forward to CES Jan 6-9 2011 is Vizio's launch of the VIA Tablet and Smartphone, say the folks at BGR.

The last time Vizio did a 'first', was to release a high quality - high value Television set. I remember telling some friends about this company Vizio and how good their TV was and everyone I knew got one. The rest is history. Vizio both took a fair market share and lifted total category dollars, making it easier for people to trade up and buy a flat panel television.

Tablets are nice toys; smartphones are becoming our next necessity. Let's see how these devices standout at CES and if they're capable of repeating history, resulting in increased tablet and smartphone adoption globally.

HC EVO 4G Shift = Droid Incredible + Epic 4G

BGR just sent out a blast about the revelation of the latest HTC 4G phone with a slide our qwerty. To us it looks like Droid Incredible and Epic 4g have been mashed up to create this phone.

Of course no AMOLED screen but it has 4g and a slide out keyboard. Ian and I are both EVO users -- swype's really great but it isn't like using a keyboard. The Droid Incredible had a great screen size and snappy performance. Walmart Wireless has it here.

update 1.1: Radioshack isn't wasting any time. They're launching this phone on Thursday Jan 6th for $149.99. Details here.

Here's a video from Wirefly:

source:BGR, Wirefly

Verizon's Red Brick Road to LTE. ATT Right behind.

LTE is proving to be super fast. Even though we're super excited about the advent of Sprint's WiMax in the bay area, it is only a matter of time for the crushing to happen.

So far we've seen only tests and working pictures of LTE connectivity devices (dongles). Today we just came across images of two handsets that are not just technically capable of handling an LTE connection, but also showing an active 4G connection over LTE. Sick. Hit the links below for the deets courtesy of the folks at BGR.

Samsung-SCH-I520

HTC Incredible HD

edit1.1: looks like we have a date for the HTC Incredible. January 6th 2010.

edit1.2: the page for the HTC Incredible HD/Thunderbolt 4G is now live here.

edit1.3: Verizon is not going to keep us waiting. We'll see the 4G handsets at CES, Jan 6-9 2011.

edit1.4: AT&T isn't going to be left behind. Not only are they announcing their LTE plans at CES today, Rolling Stone magazine also outed HTC's plan for a 4G AT&T handset.

source(s): Gizmodo, GigaOM, Verizon, BGR, Cnet, Android Central

Nokia N8 ... Powered by Windows Phone 7 OS?

When Nokia hired Microsoft Exec Stephen Elop September of this year, I knew some big changes were coming up for the mobile strategy of both firms.

Nokia, suffering from a corporate structure that is resisting change by resting on the laurels of its global featurephone domination, needed a facelift. Suing Apple wasn’t really doing it for the Finnish company’s powerhouse image. Nokia had a leading edge OS – Symban S60 – in the N95, but that was back in 2007. Nokia is now essentially last in line in the smartphone race.

Microsoft on the other hand released a seriously depressing device – the Microsoft KIN. Was it the marketing, was it the feature set, was it the delivery? Nobody knows completely, but we’re all on the same page -- that it bombed.

Nokia has excellent hardware device construction. They’ve made some of the best devices of our modern age, cramming some serious electronics into our palms, featured in films and music.

But, they could really do with a single OS line (right now they’re befuddled with Symbian^3, Meego and Maemo).

Microsoft on the other hand could do with a solid, dedicated hardware partner and some customers for their refreshed OS -- Windows Phone 7. They’ve developed a fantastic device but just frankly too late to the game. Anybody who would have gotten a Windows Phone (like Ian and I) waited so long that we lost hope and jumped ship to Android earlier this year. Sure, Microsoft has teamed up with Samsung and HTC to offer some fantastic devices -- but these manufacturers are goaled on moving devices, and are uncaring to whether they carry Android or Windows Phone 7. With the Android share numbers that we're looking at right now, wonder what the big wigs with the ROI pitch-books would do.

Going back to where I started this article and the hint of the image that’s been circling the internet; there is a lot of value in an alliance between Nokia and Microsoft. Great hardware + software = awesomeness. Nokia has a ton of featurephone customers who will upgrade to a smartphone when LTE (true 4G mobile network) becomes daily coffee and data plans become much cheaper. When they’re ready to switch, Nokisoft will be ready for all those consumers. @ 40% of global mobile consumers, that’s an amazing place to be.

Let’s find it all out during CES 2011. Keep checking back, wannabetechie!

update1.1: some blogger just commented that even though this could be a perfect stopgap measure, it is very likely to be warded off as 'loony' as Nokia has the same stringent control patterns exhibited by Apple. See the rant/post here. You make the decision.

The Next Generation of Smartphones

Buying a computer isn't an easy piece of work. You spend hours to weeks (depending on how detail oriented you are) on trying to find the right machine that works for your budget and needs. As with most of us, a few years later when we're ready to replace the machine, everything has changed.

One of the biggest changes we saw was a move from Pentium to the Core architecture (Intel). A lot of people were confused with the technology shift. Core Solo, Core 2 Solo, Core Duo, Core 2 Duo etc. A lot of words, often confusing. Basically, think of a core as an engine. Double (or triple or quad) them up and it's like having a bunch of engines inline. A significant improvement in power. There was a significant performance different when the number of cores doubled.

Fast forward to today and that same shift in technology is coming to smartphones. BGR reported last week that LG just revealed the first dual core smartphone.

I'm excited to see how the operating systems will take advantage of this leap in technology. We're just a quad core processor (4 cores) and an improvement in low power good brightness display technology from seeing super computers in our palms.