What CES 2013 left us

The International Consumer Electronics Show, which took place in Las Vegas, ended on Friday, January 11. There were around 150,000 people that visited the different booths at the event to see the more than 30,000 products that were presented by diverse tech companies. The whole idea of CES is to introduce the technology of the future, and in some cases it can seem like science fiction, and others are simply technological oddities that are quickly forgotten. However, a lot of what is there is a good indication of what is to come. Let’s review some highlights from CES 2013.

Smart cars

All the technological advances from the last few years is being applied on a mass scale to the automobile industry, whose major advance in recent years was GPS integration – far short of the enormous possibilities when it comes to user experience inside the car.

Google’s self-driving car still seems to be a ways away, but Audi, Lexus, and Ford presented models with a lot of promise. Audi presented the Audi A3, which integrates a computer chip that gives the car LTE connectivity (the fastest wireless Internet connection), and would allow you to access a variety of advanced web features from within the vehicle.

Meanwhile, Lexus presented a very interesting product: a car equipped with a series of devices and software designed to assist the driver. It comes with high definition cameras and sensors that are capable of adjusting the suspension to the terrain, preempt a traffic accident, and even automatically put on the brakes, for example.

TV sets with even higher resolution

Undoubtedly, where the greatest new technology was presented was in the TV arena. The Ultra High Definition (UHD) TV, based on 4K technology, offers a series of quality images that goes way beyond the standards of current HD. It was the star of the event, and all the big TV manufacturers presented their respective UHD devices.

Samsung introduced an 85-inch TV that amazed not just for its size but also for its features. But what was even more amazing was the OLED 55-inch Curved Display TV, which offers a stunning panoramic effect, and whose curved features provide the same viewing experience from any angle.

Panasonic and Sony also showed off their 4K OLED TVs. It remains to be known when these TVs will be available for mass consumption, because, for example, LG’s 85-inch TV will be released in November of this year with a price tag of $20,000.

Hybrid computers

Just as you would expect, there was a lot of new technology in the tablet arena, as well. Toshiba, Sony, and Gigabyte showed off some hybrid models that transform into notebooks using a system similar to that of the Microsoft Surface product line. Panasonic and Lenovo, on the other hand, introduced a “Table PC” – a device that falls somewhere between a tablet and a desktop computer with a focus not on the mobile sector, but to be used as a multimedia center for the home. This 20-inch or bigger touch screen can be used as a video game console, computer, or TV.

On the other hand, small mobile devices are the big thing in the next generation of  hardware. Micro-PCs were also a big hit, endorsed by Gabe Newell himself, who is the founder of Valve and father of the Steam platform. He spoke and gave much detail for some time about the Steam Box computer,  in addition to how small computers similar to the Mac Mini are going to replace traditional desktops, just as in the case of the Xi3 prototype.

New generation of smartphones

In the smartphone arena, many new devices with different features were introduced, but the product that got everyone’s attention was the Samsung Youm with a flexible AMOLED display. This technology has been around for a while, but now we were able to see it in action. There are many that believe this type of display is very useful because it is makes these types of devices resistant and malleable. Nonetheless, there is still a long way to go before these smartphones arrive in stores.

Nvidia presented its Tegra 4, a new step for high-performance mobile devices that  consume very little energy. Qualcomm, meanwhile, updated its SnapDragon line of processors with new devices, the most advanced of which is 75% more powerful than its predecessors. But the processor that hardware fanatics were really interested in was Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa, powered by 8 cores.

Covering everything that was presented at CES would be impossible, and we’ve shown you just a glimpse of some of the more noteworthy products at the event.