At the end of December, a PR agency representing Tim Tebow’s new signature line of Soul brand headphones—model number SL300, $299.95 retail—emailed us to invite us to a CES event at which Tebow himself would be showcasing his headphones and “speaking with the media.” The event was total bullshit. Just like celebrity headphones. More »
Toys? Toys. We’ll be talking to ThinkGeek about running a successful online business, how to stay novel in a world of noise and Toys. Mostly toys.
Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!
Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with ThinkGeek
Filed under: Misc
While the biggest story of CES 2013 may have been Ultra HD, Android was still a huge part of the show, and it showed up on a handful of new devices that were unveiled this past week. Nobody can deny the impact that Android has had in the technology industry, as well as in tech culture, throughout that past several years. We ended up getting a ton of hands-on time with a number of new Android-powered devices, one of the most-popular being the IdeaPhone K900 from Lenovo, and we ended up talking with Lenovo’s Mark Pinner about the new device.
The IdeaPhone K900 is a beast of a phone. It has a 5.5-inch 1080p IPS display with an Intel Atom Clover Trail Z2580 processor inside. There’s also a Sony Exmor BSI sensor with an F1.8 focal length lens to make up the 12MP rear camera, and it has the widest aperture of any smartphone-based camera right now. The front-facing camera has an 88-degree viewing angle, which again, is the widest angle lens on the market right now for a smartphone.
We also took a look at the Sony Xperia Z, which is a completely waterproof smartphone and the company’s newest and best device to date. It’s got a 5-inch TFT LCD HD Reality Display, Qualcomm’s S4 Pro APQ8064+MDM9215 quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM, and an internal storage size of 16GB. There’s also a 2,330 mAh non-removable battery that provides up to 14 hours of talk time or up to 510 hours of LTE standby time. And of course, the 13MP camera on the back will allow you to get some excellent shots.
The infamous YotaPhone also made an appearance this week, and it’s a smartphone that actually has two 4.3-inch displays — there’s the main one on the front that’s a regular LCD 720p HD display, and then the back has an e-ink display. The e-ink screen is meant to stay on all the time, and the purpose of the phone is to push whatever you have showing on the LCD to the e-ink display for saving battery.
Chinese manufacturer Huawei unveiled two new phones at CES, with one being a gargantuan 6.1-inch phablet-style smartphone, the Ascend Mate. The specs are fairly disappointing, with only a 720p HD display and an 8MP camera, but the 6.1-inch screen definitely turned some heads at the show, for better or for worse. The company also announced the Ascend D2, which has a 5-inch 1080p HD display and a 13MP camera. It also has a 1.5 GHz quad-core Hi-Silicon K3V2 + Balong V7R1 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage. The device itself is a little chubbier than most smartphones on the market right now, but it’s extremely lightweight.
ViewSonic, who’s mostly known for their great computer displays, outed a new 24-inch Smart Display that runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It comes packing with an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor with 4-PLUS-1 technology, and it also has HDMI via MHL, full-sized USB, and Bluetooth connectivity. While the company refers to it as a display, it’s essentially a massive tablet that comes with all sorts of goodies, including Tegra Zone with a handful of games the work with NVIDIA’s Tegra line of processors. Of course, it has a stiff MSRP of $675, so be sure to bust out that piggy bank and save up your coins.
Some other new Android stuff we saw was the ZTE Grand S LTE, packing a 5-inch 1080p display, as well as the Pantech Discover, which is AT&T’s latest budget powerhouse, sporting a 4.8-inch 720p TFT display, a 13MP camera, and a dual-core Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon S4 processor, all for the price of only $50 after signing a new two-year contract.
As far as Android tablets go, there were a few that stood out. We took a look at the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, which was revealed for Verizon this week, and it essentially comes with the same features as the other variants, except that it runs on Verizon’s blazing fast LTE service. We also fooled around with the Archos GamePad, which comes with a 7-inch 1024×600 display and has built-in physical controls on the sides.
Overall, while a lot of the new Android devices that we saw this year weren’t anything to write home about, a few stood out from the crowd. One reoccurring theme is certain though: bigger screens, faster processors, and better cameras, are continually making their way into smartphones every year, and we’re already pretty excited for what 2013 has to offer in the Android industry, and we can’t wait to see what CES 2014 will have in store. Let us know what you were most excited about from CES in the Android realm, and be sure to hit up our CES portal for all our CES 2013 news and hands-on.
CES 2013 wrap-up: All about Android is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Over the last few days, I’ve spent hours churning out posts in front of the “world’s largest 3D video wall” at the back of LG’s CES booth. Every neuron in my body is exhausted. I may never feel emotion again. More »
For a few years now, Sculpteo has taken a different approach to goal of mainstreaming 3D printing. While the competition races to produce the first popular consumer printer, Sculpteo keeps its eyes on the cloud. We’ll be discussing the company with co-founder and CEO Clement Moreau.
Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!
Update: video embedded
Filed under: Science
We heard from our friends over at TechCrunch (thanks, John Biggs!) that a company called Zivix has been showing off a cool little MIDI guitar at CES, so here it is! Dubbed the JamStik, this digital instrument serves the same purpose as the already-available You Rock, except this one comes with real guitar strings, works wirelessly over WiFi, features a lower latency (under 10ms instead of about 20ms, according to Zivix’s lab test), and it also has a shorter neck plus a much smaller body for the sake of portability — even for some casual plucking on the plane. The JamStik also supports string bending thanks to the way it detects finger movement on the neck — the rows of infrared lights and sensors under the strings make the magic happen.
Of course, you’d need a PC or an iOS device (with CoreMIDI-compatible apps like GarageBand and Animoog) to get the audio, and for the latter, Zivix will be offering three apps: JamTutor guitar teaching suite, JamHero game (very much like Guitar Hero and Rock Band) and Jam Live music remixer. We had a go using a wired prototype JamStik, and apart from the slight delay between our strumming and the audio output (which will be further fine-tuned before going retail), we had a lot of fun with it. Check out the demo videos after the break, and expect to see the JamStik hit the market this summer for somewhere around $249 to $299.
Continue reading JamStik portable MIDI guitar lets you play and learn on the iPad wirelessly
Filed under: Misc
Wearable domination at this year’s show? Vuzix certainly had quite a presence at CES with those Smart Glasses we’ve been hearing so much about. We’ll be discussing the product and the state of wearables with the company’s CEO, Wearable domination at this year’s show? Vuzix certainly had quite a presence at CES with those Smart Glasses we’ve been hearing so much about. We’ll be discussing the product and the state of wearables with the company’s CEO, Paul Travers.
Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!
Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with Vuzix’s Paul Travers
Filed under: Wearables
Vizio had a lot of cool things to show off at CES 2013, but one of the most exciting is its new 11.6-inch Windows 8 tablet. The tablet doesn’t have a name yet, but the specifications speak for themselves. First off (and perhaps most importantly to some) is the fact that this tablet is running Windows 8 rather than Windows RT, which is great news for those who want the full Windows functionality on a slate.
Another feature worth getting excited about: 1080p resolution. Despite the fact that the screen is only 11.6-inches, the tablet is still displaying at 1920×1080. That smaller screen size naturally means that the pixel density is great, which in turns means that consumers can look forward to particularly sharp visuals. Videos, especially the clip from The Lorax we saw, looked absolutely wonderful.
Powered by a dual-core AMD Z-60 APU, AMD Radeon HD 6250 integrated graphics, and 2GB of RAM, users will have quite the speedy little tablet on their hands. There were a few dropped frames when swiping through apps, zooming, and playing HD video, but overall it was a pretty smooth experience, which is impressive for a tablet running the full version of Windows 8 at 1080p resolution. The 64GB SSD this bad boy ships with should do its part to keep things moving nice and fast, which is just icing on the cake.
The tablet itself is surprisingly thin and light – Vizio states that the tablet is 0.4″ thick and just 1.8 pounds. I was expecting a heavier tablet when I picked this up from the stand, but was pleasantly surprised when I realized how light it is. More importantly, it feels good in the hand and looks really good. We’re looking forward to seeing more from Vizio’s new Windows 8 tablet as we move closer to its release date (no specifics on that just yet), but for now, it definitely seems like the company is on the right track. Check out our CES portal for even more from the show!
Vizio 11.6-inch Windows 8 Tablet PC hands-on is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
CES 2013: The year Ultra HD turned into the pipe dream of the future to the present reality you can’t afford. Now that UHD TVs are about to hit the market, manufacturers are, of course, showing off 4K concepts like this glasses-free 3D 4K panel from Stream TV Networks, which you will be able to drool and dream about but never ever ever ever buy. More »
iRobot had a few surprises up its mechanical sleeves this week, including the Mirra 530 pool cleaning ‘bot. We’ll be speaking with the company’s outdoor product manager, Jeff Karlson about that device and the rest of the company’s diverse roster of products.
Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here!
Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with iRobot’s Craig Henricksen
Filed under: Robots
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