CES… Finally

Ok, so it took a while, but I finally got a chance to sit down and write a little about my great adventure to Las Vegas to attend the 2012 CES.  It is my third year in a row attending, and my 9th show overall.

I got a chance to see a lot of great things from the world of consumer electronics, including the LG OLED TV (which is only 4mm thick!).  Yes, I know that has nothing to do with wireless phones, but it was really cool and the picture was AMAZING!!!  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures like I did at the Samsung booth, but there are plenty floating around on other blogs.

The showcase TV from Samsung was great quality as well, although it came in a little thicker than the LG.  I have attached a few pictures so you can see.

On the wireless phone side of things, there were some great products on display.  Although I am not a fan of the Windows Phone platform, Nokia was very strong with their Lumina 900 phone.  Very solid hardware, and a great feel overall.  I am looking forward to its release on AT&T in the next few months.

Huawei also had a strong showing with their Ascend line.  These Android phones are lightweight and have some great processing power.  I am looking forward to seeing where they will land in the US, as there are no carriers slated to release them any time soon.  Huawei makes a great product, and I am hoping that the carriers here in the US pick up some of their higher end products.

The lone US manufacturer, Motorola, had a great showing as well, with the Droid RAZR MAXX on display.  They wouldn’t allow me to play around with the menus, since they are keeping that part under wraps until the launch in a few weeks, but the LTE phone bound for Verizon was super thin and had great web browsing speed (even though all wireless services had issues in the convention center with data speed and call quality).

The biggest shock was from Blackberry.  Although they didn’t have any new products on display, a discussion with one of their business representatives revealed that there is an interesting piece of software on the way from RIM.  Geared towards the enterprise customer, the software allows the Blackberry to connect via the cellular (or WiFi) data connection into a company’s hard line (or virtual) PBX, so the user can appear to be calling from their desk when not in the office.  It will also allow for extension dialing directly from the mobile handset, and will use the data connection on the phone for calling.  This will allow companies using this software to utilize a lower package with their carrier, and ultimately provide a cost savings after the cost of the software is taken into account.  The only requirement is that the company have a BES in place, as the software is an add-in with the BES platform.  There is no pricing available yet, but I am sure that it will be reasonably priced.

On the accessory side, there were some manufacturers that were promoting their waterproof coatings for their products.  Fujitsu has a coating that will be available on their products soon, and they displayed working products in a fish tank.  Another company introduced a coating that will waterproof any phone for the low price of $59.99.  They displayed it on an iPhone under a shower head.  The catch with them, is that you have to send them your phone.  This won’t be a big deal for someone with a GSM phone that has a spare laying around to use for a few days, but anyone on a CDMA service (Verizon or Sprint) will be without a phone while it is getting the treatment.

Wired headsets for mobile phones were making a comeback this year as well, with products from Able Planet, Etymotic,  and Altec Lansing taking the top marks in my eyes.  MacAlly also had a great headset for the price as well as Incipio.

I tried uploading the pictures, but the file sizes were too large.  I will make an attempt to resize them and load them at a later date.

More to come later…

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