Our sources tell us Hanover is somewhere in Germany, but that's all we've confirmed so far. Luckily, while we might fall short with this whole "geography" thing, we did manage to sneak onto the show floor here at CeBIT 2008. Most booths are still heavily under construction, but we did manage to pick up a few scoops before we passed out from the paint fumes. Check out the gallery below for some quick booth snaps and artistically-framed exhibit hall exteriors.
Kodak wasn't showing off too much new product at this year's show -- or if it was, none of the gear was stuff we follow -- but can you really get a good feel for a trade show without touring the booth of the company whose name is synonymous with photography? Of course not, which is why we gathered together a gallery which pretty well represents everything you'd see had you been here yourself. Isn't that great? We trudge out to Las Vegas so you don't have to.
Canon's got a lot of product to fit under its umbrella, so the booth is quite the monster. Just about everything in the digital photo workflow is covered here, from the cameras (duh) right up to the final print. All interest/skill levels from amateur to pro are covered too. Check out all those lenses, only to be topped by what looked like a museum collection of Canon point-and-shoots. And yet, Canon found time and space to put in some really big, beautiful prints just to get you back to what photography is all about.
Sony's booth has to be pretty big to hold all the imaging goodies, so here's a whirlwind tour of it. You know Sony's making a play for the big boys in the DSLR arena, so the alpha-series had a good amount of serious-looking real estate. The fleet of Sony point-and-shoots were also on display; with all the colors, shapes and sizes the display looked like a candy counter. Tech development also got some floor space, and the live demo of face detection used by Sony's Handycams was particularly fun.
Step on down into Nikon's booth with us. Lots of goodies on display here, but what really struck us was how much the central section of the booth was taken up by (gasp!) photos. Seriously, it had a bit of a gallery feel, except with way more people. But we're here to get our geek on, so it's over to the gear counters we go! The stripped-down D3 body was nice, and Nikon showed off one in cross section as well, just so you don't have to cut your own in half.
Apple's Macworld 2008 booth is naturally gargantuan this year, but practically empty -- that is, if you don't count the teeming hordes of people surrounding the MacBook Air table and watching the presentations on the big screen. Apple only has its new product on display, which means mainstays like regular iPods, iMacs, MacBooks and MacBook Pros were nowhere to be seen. The booth is fairly dominated by an end-to-end table filled with MacBook Airs and their respective Apple guardians. Time Capsule seems a bit of an afterthought, as does Apple TV.
Besides having one of, if not, the best product showings at CES 2008, iriver also had one of the most high-tech booths. Gone were the booth babes and ignorant product hacks -- replaced instead by virgin-white cases and interactive displays which allowed their products to speak for themselves. Fortunately, we also had the chance to confirm one of the most peculiar icon choices in CE history: the raised-dog icon on their S7... yes, he's really treating the booth like his own personal fire hydrant. See a video tour of the booth after the break.
No matter where we go, RIM seems to have this same booth style where all the good stuff (the phones, that is) are stuffed in a central nucleus, causing massive crowding. Don't get us wrong, it's entirely possible that's the effect RIM is shooting for, but heaven help us poor journalists try to get a shot of the goods contained within. The Canadian manufacturer didn't have any earth-shattering announcements for the show -- just a couple of new 8130 colors -- so the highlight has to be the giant Pearl that was harassing passers-by. Click on!
We'll be honest, Mustek -- you're not exactly giving us a lot to work with. First you don't release any PR on your new products, then when we get to the booth, you seem unsure if you've even got new products. Of course, we did manage to find your suspiciously-Sharp-ish Blu-ray player, a new widgetified photo frame, and that lovely iPod dock. Check out our "tour" and see for yourself.
Blu-ray's booth was a drastic change from their red neighbors; people were in line for swag, watching demos, playing with BD Live, and taking pictures with Homer and the huge pirate ship. We tried a little BD gaming as well, but we think we'll stick to just watching the movie. We did catch a glimpse of Panasonic's automotive Blu-ray player and 7-inch HD in dash display and let us tell you, we were impressed -- seriously you can see a difference even on a 7-inch screen.
HD DVD and Blu-ray had their booths right next to each other and as you might expect the amount of traffic was night and day. As you can see in the pictures, the HD DVD booth was pretty desolate, but the seating at the stage was full of people watching the demonstration. We also tried to say hello to our friends in press relations, but like many people this late in the show, they already left.
In terms of layout, UTStarcom's booth is close to a dead ringer for its showing at last year's CES; just the promos and handsets have changed, basically. The darlings of the show have to be the HSM180, an absolutely bizarre HSDPA candybar featuring two circles for a keypad, and the TXT8010, a QWERTY slider with an attitude for CDMA networks. Check 'em out, yo.
We took a stroll through the THX booth, where they were showing off all sorts of audio Jedi magic. In-car audio got some attention, evidenced by the Lincoln MKS at the booth featuring THX tech. Worry not, though, the living room experience hasn't been forgotten.
Xohmigod, it's the Xohm booth at CES 2008! The booth itself was pretty small and unremarkable, but cut these guys some slack, they haven't even had a commercial launch yet. There were a handful of test devices on display with Xohm modems integrated, including a trick little gaming device with a slide-out control pad, an ASUS Eee, an OQO Model 02, and a couple of data cards. Xohm's open structure allows for all sorts of bizarre, independent devices to hook up to the network, so with any luck, this is exactly the kind of variety we should see after the launch gets official.
