Hasta La Gadget!

Panasonic has jumped on the 4K bandwagon, but not just in TVs: the company has a ridiculously appealing 4K Windows 8 tablet at CES, squeezing 3840 x 2160 pixels into a 20-inch frame. Officially a prototype, though one which Panasonic tells us is very likely to see production, the unnamed slate may not fit into your purse like an iPad mini, but it does have some compelling applications in graphic design, video editing, architecture, and more. Read on for our hands-on first impressions.

Panasonic’s claim that the 4K tablet is the “lightest and thinnest” in the the 20-inch category seems a little redundant, given the scarcity of rival machines, but the rest of the specifications hold muster. As well as the 230ppi 15:10 display there’s an Intel Core i5-3427U 1.8GHz processor and NVIDIA GeForce graphics keeping things ticking along, along with 4GB of RAM (up to 16GB supported) and a 128GB SSD.

Connectivity includes microSDXC, a single USB 2.0 port, WiFi a/b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.0; there’s also a front-facing 720p HD webcam, though the absence of a rear camera is unlikely to disappoint too many people given the whole thing weighs in at 5.3lbs and measures 18.7 x 13.1 x 0.4 inches.

The display itself supports ten-finger multitouch, but also an Anoto-powered digital pen that can be used to annotate documents, sketch, or generally make more precise edits. Panasonic had a few suggested uses for the slate, with one demo showing a live preview from a nearby DSLR, complete with editing tools, while another demonstrated how a pair of the 4K tablets could allow for collaborative work in different locations, each mirroring the changes made on the other. The crispness of the display is what engages you first, though, with Panasonic’s demo schematics ink-on-paper precise even when you got up close to the glass.

While you might not whip the 20-incher out in the line at the grocery store, there’s nonetheless a battery inside with a “healthy” 2hr runtime estimate; given the size of the screen, and the fact that most users will probably only ever rely on onboard power when toting the slate between rooms, that’s probably more than sufficient. It’s definitely a two-hander when carrying it, but it’s not ridiculously heavy.

Pricing and availability are still a mystery, with Panasonic coy about being specific on launch plans. Still, there’s definitely a drive to get the 20-inch tablet onto the market, and with 4K still not having much relevance in TVs – despite the plethora of sets supporting it at CES – out in the mainstream, this could be the best application for Ultra HD resolution so-far.

Panasonic 20-inch 4K Windows 8 Tablet hands-on is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Last week, Imagination Technologies gave us a glimpse of its next-gen PowerVR Series 6 mobile GPU and its prowess with OpenGL ES 3.0. That demo didn’t showcase Series 6’s full potential, as the company could only let us see a test chip on an FPGA board that could deliver only 1 GB/s of bandwidth — one tenth of the GPUs performance capability. Now that Imagination Technologies’ first Series 6 partner, LG, has given the go ahead, the time has come to see what Series 6 can really do on an optimized board destined for an HDTV.

In addition to the Series 6, the company also demoed an older Series 5XT GPU that’s been upgraded with some recently released API extensions. Those APIs are meant to breathe new life into Imagination Technologies’ older GPUs and give them some of the rendering features found in the Series 6. Interest piqued? You can see the GPUs do their thing in our demo video after the break.

Continue reading Imagination Technologies’ PowerVR Series 6 mobile GPU debuts at CES, we go eyes-on

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment

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When you’re surrounded by huge 4K TVs cranked to retina-damaging brightness, it’s easy to get desensitized to the high resolution. But, when you are standing in front of a 32-inch monitor (31.5-inch to be exact) at that same resolution, it’s a whole different story. In the gargantuan halls of CES, Sharp is showing off the 4K-resolution low-power IGZO LCD panels it announced November last year. They had two touchscreen versions on show — one for Windows 7 and another for Windows 8 — as well as one non-touch model. The touch versions were also slightly different in that you can lie them horizontally if you need to. Honestly, the resolution and color reproduction on the panels were absolutely incredible. They looked so good, in fact, that I fantasized about tearing it from the table and making a break for it, if only for a second.

That’s the only way I could end up “owning” one, as the non-touch model will be “at least” $5500 when it launches in February, and the touch models will be “at least” $1000 more when they arrive sometime in Q2. They aren’t really intended for general consumption, anyway, but for the medical sector, serious design pros and other commercial uses. The pics we got of them can be found in the gallery below, but unfortunately, it was hard to do the displays justice in the crowded, dimly lit Sharp den.

Filed under: Displays, HD

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Panasonic had this creature plonked front and center in its booth and all the sound and light whipped us into a 80s boombox throwback frenzy that could not be denied. First and foremost, Panasonic informed us this isn’t currently targeted at the US market — but we suppose if enough of you pop by the booth and crank it to 11 they may reconsider. Specs were a bit thin but we do know it’s made up of thousands of blue lights, oversized knobs and the speaker cabinet contains four speakers powered by three separate amps — the bottom speaker being a huge 15″ “Ultra Super Woofer.” Power specs were touted as having 23,800W (PMPO) and 2160W (RMS) but numbers aside it is seriously loud. We cranked it a bit and found it really base heavy but just as Party Rockers Anthem was building up during our volume test security rolled up and ruined the whole affair. Again, no details on pricing or launch but it did make us all grin, big stupid “did you hear how friggin’ loud that was?” grins. Gallery after the break.

James Trew contributed to this report

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals

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Nestled in the corner of its home appliances stand, Samsung’s upgraded T9000 fridge-freezer stood imposingly next to last year’s model, but the major differences here are an expanded touchscreen and improved app selection — including Evernote integration. We had a few pokes at the interface, which also includes a read-only Twitter client and Epicurious access and it’s relatively responsive — if not up to the standard of your favorite tablet. But given that it’s Evernote, your grocery demands / last ditch pleas for milk can easily be hooked up to any device capable of running the popular app. This particular appliance also includes an exchangeable quadrant that can act as either a fridge or a freezer. Unfortunately, Samsung isn’t telling us anything when it comes to prices or launch dates, but it’d be a shame to see this gigantic WiFi fridge turn into vaporware. We’ve got a tour of the T9000 uploading — it’ll be up soon.

Continue reading Samsung’s Evernote-ready T9000 smart-fridge hands-on

Filed under: Misc, Household, Samsung

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