Hasta La Gadget!

Among the many, many things that LG is unveiling at CES this year is the curious addition of a sound bar with built-in video streaming. That still sounds like a contradiction of purpose to us, but the Smart Sound Bar, also known as the NB3730A, is more fascinating once you dive into the details. The large-sized bar pumps out 300W across its 2.1 channels, and its WiFi takes internet audio and video from CinemaNow, general internet radio, Netflix, Pandora and Vudu. Bluetooth audio is built-in as well. It’s ultimately built for those who don’t have an online-capable TV, Blu-ray player or media hub at their disposal — a group whose ranks are thinning quickly, but certainly still exists.

We got a quick glance at the Smart Sound Bar for ourselves. From a design perspective, it’s simple to operate and thin, if not exactly short. This won’t be a good fit for that small TV in the basement, then, although it’s perfect for that big wall-mounted set. We’d like to tell you how well it works in real life, but expo conditions dictate otherwise: LG unfortunately lacks an internet connection for the sound bar on demo, and an extra-crowded booth isn’t the ideal environment for gauging audio quality. If you’re mostly wondering whether or not it will fit into the living room decor, however, we’ve got a gallery for you below.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, LG

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Not content with showing off its handy aPen Touch8 for those Windows 8 laptops which lack touch capabilities, eFun also let us play around a bit with two of its newest Nextbook tablets here at CES 2013. For starters, the 7GP, as its moniker would indicate, is a 7-inch (1024 x 600) slate that’s sporting Android 4.1, a 1.5GHz dual-core CPU alongside 1GB of RAM and 8GB of built-in storage. The 8GP, on the other hand, is a tad bit larger than its sibling with an 8-inch, 1024 X 768 IPS display but boasts pretty identical internals, so essentially you’d be spending 40 more bucks for a little more screen real estate. Speaking of which, while one of the tablets biggest features could be their relatively small price tag, eFun kept emphasizing to us how it believes the fact that they are Google-certified is perhaps the most important thing — and yes, the ability to have Mountain View’s Play store is definitely worth mentioning.

Much to our disappointment, however, we weren’t able to download any applications from Google Play or, for that matter, even browse the web, though that’s not the company’s fault, since having thousands of souls packed in a room makes for some very unreliable WiFi connectivity. Internet issues aside, both the 7GP and 8GP were rather smooth and quick when doing every-day tasks such as opening up apps and swiping between pages — which is likely due to the pair feeding off of Google’s Project Butter. Furthermore, were quite happy to find how thin-and-light the tablets are, with both Nextbooks being slightly thinner than something like, say, the Nexus 7 or the 7-inch Kindle Fire. All in all, eFun’s 7GP and 8GP aren’t too bad a choice for those looking to keep spending to a minimum, but at $130 and $170, respectively, there’s no doubt that shelling out some extra cash can still get you much, much more bang for your buck elsewhere.

Filed under: Tablets

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Source: eFun

We bet you’re yawning at the mention of 4K TVs by now, but here’s a slight twist on that high-res concept. LG is showing off the so-called Ultra HD Touch display at its CES booth. It’s pretty much what it sounds like: a 4K TV with five-point multitouch. LG isn’t demoing this product as a TV — though technically it could work as your standard set; instead it has the Ultra HD Touch running an interactive program created by the French company Intuiface. We could tap to select and enlarge information on different periods of art history, and we could rotate and perform pinch-to-zoom with individual elements on-screen. We could also dive into a drawing app, which included different pen options for doodling directly on the display.

Obviously, this sort of educational setup would be perfectly suited for a museum, though LG hasn’t committed to any particular application of this display. Essentially, the idea is to demonstrate that touch technology on a giant 4K TV is quite possible — and pretty neat, if you ask us — rather than to debut a new high-brow product. But we have a feeling there will be more of such setups to come. For now, at least, you can check out our hands-on video past the break.

Continue reading LG Ultra HD Touch Display hands-on (video)

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, LG

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So this is crazy. Monoprice is coming out with a $100 action camera next month. Yeah, the company best known for their ridiculously cheap and awesome HDMI cables sells a bunch of other super high quality gear, like the MHD Action Camera. More »

Polaroid has its generically named Kids Tablet on hand at CES — and don’t you worry, we tested its child-proof design with a few hearty drops — but the company is also displaying two full-grown Android tablets. The smaller of the two is the M7, which packs a 7-inch, 1,280 x 800 display. Under the hood is a 1.6GHz dual-core A9 processor with 1GB of RAM, and a 2-megapixel front camera sits to the left of the display. We found the tablet very responsive when swiping through home screens and jumping in and out of apps. This guy is running Jelly Bean — with a skin of tile-like widgets running on top (it seemed a little too similar to Windows Phone 8’s Metro interface, if you ask us).

We can’t emphasize enough how prevalent the fingerprints were when we picked up this device. Sure, it was well into a long day at CES, but the display was much greasier than other tablets we’ve handled. The tablet sports a rubber, textured backing which may seem cheaper than a metal finish but provides for a very comfortable grip. There’s 8GB of internal storage, and the microSD card slot allows you supplement that. The MSRP is $129, with release for this spring. For now, check out our hands-on gallery and video after the break.

Joseph Volpe contributed to this report.

Continue reading Hands-on with Polaroid’s M7 Android tablet (video)

Filed under: Tablets

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