Ces2011
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Acer Liquid Mini and BeTouch E210 hands-on
Acer didn't just land in Vegas with Iconia tablets galore -- it brought along its new Liquid Mini and BeTouch E210 Froyo smartphones. The 3.2-inch Liquid Mini is the most interesting of the two, and like its larger older brothers, it's made of a black glossy plastic, which is bound to pick up more fingerprints than Sherlock Holmes. It will be actually be available in quite a number of hues, but Acer only had the black one on display. Still it's one cute phone, and with a 600MHz Qualcomm 7227 processor, 512MB of memory, and a 5 megapixel cam it's bound to fill Acer's mid-range smartphone offering quite nicely. That said, the unit we saw hanging around Acer's private suites wasn't working all that well -- in fact, it rebooted itself twice. This one was running Acer's own software layer on top of 2.2; the BeTouch E210 seemed to be running stock Froyo. Speaking of the BeTouch, it's a lot like the E130 with its BlackBerry-like form factor and awesome physical keyboard, except the E210 has been slimmed down and upgraded to that aforementioned 600MHz Qualcomm CPU. The E310 on display was working much better than the Liquid and while it wasn't blazing fast, it kept up with our scrolling and navigating in and out of menus. No word on US availability, but they should be hitting the UK market sometime soon. Hit the break for some beauty shots. %Gallery-113385%
Philips bringing ultrawidescreen TV, wireless Blu-ray player, apps and eventually Android TV to USA
And here we were worried that Funai's takeover of the US arm would lead to a falloff. Whatever its name or corporate structure, Philips has brought plenty of US-bound heat to CES 2011, with none bigger than the news that we will see the company's sweet 3D-capable 21:9 ultrawidescreen HDTV on this side of the Atlantic in the second half of 2011. Today it also announced plans for a Blu-ray player with wireless HDMI, the world's first (meaning you'll probably need a dongle on any TV to use it until compatible displays arrive later in the year) but no surprise for an outfit that's been pushing HD streaming for some time. On a similar front its MediaConnect app on new TVs and Blu-ray players will let it stream anything playing on a PC to the TV screen WiDi-style (video embedded after the break.) %Gallery-113388%
IOGEAR GW3DKIT wireless 3D media kit banishes your components to the closet
We went hands-on with IOGEAR's wireless HD system last year at CES, and now we've managed to do the same with a prototype of the boutique brand's new GW3DKIT 3D wireless streamer. The kit consists of a 3D transmitter and receiver that each feature four HDMI inputs as well as one component, composite, VGA, and USB input. Each box also features one HDMI and USB output. Together the system is designed to stream full 1080p 60Hz HD video / 5.1 audio along with 3D content over WiFi (802.11n) from as far as 100 feet away with supposedly little latency or wireless interference. IOGEAR says to expect the system sometime in Q1 of 2011, and no official pricing is available yet, but we've been told it would be around $499 by IOGEAR's CES booth staff. If everything performs as advertised, it sounds like a great solution for you home theater minimalists out there who prefer components out of sight. We'll reserve official judgment though until we can go eyes-on with some extended tested. For more information, be sure to check out the full PR after the break.
Hauppauge debuts Broadway live TV streamer for iPhones and iPads, WinTV-Aero-m receiver for PCs
It may look vaguely like an accessory to a late-80s PC that's sprouted antennas, but Hauppauge's new "Broadway" live TV streamer does have a few more modern tricks up its sleeve: it can stream live TV to your iPhone or iPad. That can be done over WiFi in your house or over the internet anywhere else, and the device packs a multi-format receiver that can tune in both digital cable TV channels and ATSC over-the-air broadcast channels (or analog TV, for that matter), which are all conveniently compressed for streaming. Alongside it, Hauppauge has also rolled out its new dual-format WinTV-Aero-m USB receiver for PCs (pictured after the break), which will let you receive Mobile Digital TV broadcasts designed for mobile TV reception, as well as high definition ATSC digital TV broadcasts. Look for it to be available soon for $69, while the Broadway streamer will be available in "about six weeks" for $199.
Next-generation Mercedes mbrace iPhone app hands-on (video)
Last year Hughes Telematics had the Mercedes mbrace iPhone app on display, providing some OnStar-like functionality like locking your car remotely, unlocking your car remotely, and even getting navigation to your car for those times when you park way out in the lot and can't find it again when you're suffering from post-shopping marathon mental lethargy. Now there's a new version coming, getting submitted to Apple at the end of the month for a February release, and it adds a suite of new navigation features. Full details after the break.
Movea SmartMotion Air Mini Keyboard remote and Air Mouse revealed alongside Sunrex partnership
Don't quote us on this, but we've got a feeling that remotes will be more than just remotes by the time 2012 rolls around. HDTV companies have been slyly adding motion support to their remotes here at CES, and with PrimeSense's technology going over so well in the Kinect, there's an obvious next-step when looking at TV control. Movea -- the company responsible for the Gyration Air Mouse and Air Mouse iOS app -- has just teamed up with Sunrex here at CES, with the newly formed relationship expecting to yield new kit based on the former's MotionIC platform and SmartMotion technology. We're told to expect the first products to be available in Q1 of this year, with the SmartMotion Air Mini Keyboard remote and SmartMotion Air Mouse being named in particular. The former includes a full four-row QWERTY keyboard and relies on 2.4GHz wireless technology, but no images, pricing and availability details are available just yet. %Gallery-113688%
Icron Technologies unveils 20-meter USB 3.0 cable, mostly because it can
Looked at your stash of USB 3.0 cables lately? Chances are that each and every one of 'em are three meters or shorter, and there's good reason for that. Signal degradation over long distances is a problem that the world at large has been dealing with since the early days of human life, but somehow or another, Icron Technologies has figured out how to bend physics. The company has just announced a partnership with Intersil Corporation, and the two are linking up in order to produce a 20 meter USB 3.0 cable. Reportedly, it'll deliver a full 5Gbps of USB 3.0 throughput over the full 20 meters, but there's no mention of a price. Rest assured, it'll be far more than you're prepared to pay.
Jungo and RealVNC partner up, aim to marry phones and infotainment systems
Quietly, in-car infotainment systems have progressed greatly here at CES 2011. What started a few years back with the integration of SYNC into Ford vehicles has blossomed into an industry-wide obsession, and now two of the biggest names that work behind the scenes are joining up to better integrate mobiles (and applications) with vehicle entertainment systems. Jungo and RealVNC's newfound bond has resulted in a CEA-approved solution to make that kind of magic happen, and it's one that just so happens to support Terminal Mode. The combined Automotive Connectivity middleware will enable a car's head unit to automatically detect, access and control mobile devices in the vehicle and display their content on the screen in the dashboard. The design combines VNC (remote access and control) technology from RealVNC with Jungo's tech, featuring device connectivity, media and network management, USB and Bluetooth protocol stacks. Hard to say when automakers will grab hold of this stuff and start offering it from the factory, but if we know anything about progress in the automotive industry, we'd say we're still a year or so out.
AMD's E-350 Zacate APU finds a home in Zotac's Zbox AD03 Blu-ray HTPC
AMD's Fusion APU has had its coming out party here at CES, and already companies are champing at the bit to offer updated systems with the E-350 embedded within. Zotac's offering up a revised version of its Zbox HTPC this week, with the AD03 boasting an all-too-familiar exterior, a slot-loading Blu-ray drive and the aforesaid 1.6GHz E-350 APU. There's also an AMD Radeon HD 6310 GPU, a pair of DDR3-1066 RAM slots, room for a 2.5" SATA 6Gbps hard drive, a USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 sockets, an optical audio port, HDMI / DVI outputs (a VGA adapter is included as well), Gigabit Ethernet, support for Dolby TrueHD / DTS-HD Master Audio bitstreaming, 802.11n WiFi, a 6-in-1 card reader and a bundled copy of Cyberlink's PowerDVD software. The "Plus" version of the system actually ships with 2GB of DDR3 memory and a 250GB 5400RPM hard drive, whereas the standard version leaves it up to you to fill those voids. Mum's the word on pricing, but we suspect it'll be loosed on the universe soon. %Gallery-113263%
The Engadget Podcast Show livestream extravaganza starts at 8PM PST / 11PM EST!
We're not sure if we can top the excitement of a power outage tonight (in fact, we hope we don't), but what we can do is talk about the second official day of CES and whine about being hungry for around an hour. How does that sound? It all kicks off at 8PM PST / 11PM EST, livestream and chat are after the break, like always. Oh, and here are the last three shows, in case you missed them: Engadget Podcast Show 003 Engadget Podcast Show 002 Engadget Podcast Show 001 Update: It's over! But you know, you can watch it again tomorrow when the archived recording goes up. And then we'll do it again, one more time.
LG LSM-100 Scanner Mouse hands-on
We just made our way to the LG booth here at the Consumer Electronics Show and found this multifaceted gizmo that the company is dubbing the Scanner Mouse. It does exactly what you think -- works as a mouse and scanner. You might recall something similar from back in the day, but LG is looking to commercialize the idea. The bottom of the rodent has a clear (glass or plastic sheet, we're not sure) packed with five LEDs for the camera to see the image being reflected off of the mirror inside. To kickstart the scanning process on a Widows or Mac machine, you simply press the scan button and huzzah -- the software will activate and display the area the scanner is hovering over. Thanks to the dual lasers found on the top and bottom of the underside, you can actually rotate the mouse in any direction and it'll pick up whatever it's looking at -- it'll even translate copy on a page into editable text within a document editor. It also functions as a proper mouse (duh!), featuring a scroll wheel as well as left, right and back buttons. The software, in case you were wondering, couldn't be any simpler to use. Formats such as JPEG, TIFF, PDF and PNG are exportable to your favorite social networks, and you've got basic editing functions to make your scans just right. Head on past the break to see an in-action demo. %Gallery-113346%
Mitsubishi's 92- and 155-inch screens are bigger, biggest
After hearing about Mitsubishi's 92-inch DLP we just had to get our eyes on it and sure enough, we spotted models lurking around CES, along with the 155-inch display made up of OLED panels. There's not much to say about the DLP that we didn't cover during our 3D roundup, it's just bigger, with other changes and details still TBA -- we're waiting for 'em to cross the 100-inch mark -- while the OLED seemed suited to its potential purpose of lighting up stadiums and other similar areas, with rather impressive viewing angles although the seams in the panels were quite apparent up close. %Gallery-113376%
Microsoft shows off Home Server 'Vail' app for Windows Phone 7
Things may have been looking bleak for Microsoft's upcoming version of Windows Home Server, dubbed "Vail," when HP announced that it was dropping the OS in favor of WebOS last month, but Microsoft has now given it a boost of confidence that should put any rumors of its death to rest. The company is showing off an add-in for Vail that will let you manage alerts on your Windows Phone 7 phone, access media stored on your home server, and in turn send pictures stored on your phone to your server (but not other media, apparently). Still no firm word on a release, but Microsoft says it will available "soon." Hit up the source link below for Microsoft's complete walkthrough of the app.
Crapgadget CES, round two: TASER C2 now in pretty colors
The most disturbing part... are the smiles.
MSI Butterfly and Angelow all-in-one PC concepts, eyes-on
MSI's new tablets felt like prototypes, but the device pictured above is truly far out -- it's the MSI Butterfly, one of several whimsical concepts the company teased about a week ago. We actually ducked into MSI's booth right before it covered the whole display with a giant plexiglass box and got some reasonable snapshots, but nothing remotely resembling a proper hands-on, so you'll have to make do with the gallery below and whatever dreams may come. %Gallery-113326%
JVC shows off prototype 50-inch 21:9 full HD 3D TV, says it could hit US later this year
When the Philips' 56-inch 21:9 3D TV was released in Europe with no US ship date in sight, darkness fell over our home theater world. Then, Vizio announced its own 21:9 3D TV and we knew it was all going to be ok. They say when it rains it pours though, and now it's looking like JVC will release its own 50-inch 21:9 full HD 3D TV in the US sometime in the third quarter of 2011. Other details are scarce, but JVC's talkative CES booth attendant also mentioned the TV might be sold in varying sizes and might feature internet connectivity. The possibility of internet connectivity was also supported by a few screens teasing an integrated information bar, which appeared on the left-hand side of the screen without blocking HD content. Needless to say, we'll be keeping a close eye on this TV as more news emerges, and in the meantime bide our time dreaming of the ultra-wide CinemaScope-style movies we could be viewing in late 2011. Oh and if you're curious that's JVC's newly-announced TH-BC3 soundbar positioned right below it carrying a sweet paper iPhone 4. %Gallery-113369%
GoDAP amplifies your mobile audio and provides optical output for iPhone 4
Most of the gadgets we're seeing here at CES 2011 this year aren't too big a surprise -- we set up meetings even before we walked into the convention center, and the surprise is in seeing the new gadgets we've only read about before. But the GoDAP was a surprise, found just by walking around the show floor and checking out the booths. It's made a Japanese company named VentureCraft, and it's a clip-on unit for the iPhone that not only works as a rechargeable battery, but also serves as a headphone amp, spiking up the output audio on your iPhone 3GS or 4. The current model for the 3GS isn't quite as impressive as the new model -- it's just basically got a volume control (though the audio heard through headphones does sound really clear and loud). But the iPhone 4 model (of which we only saw a prototype on the show floor -- the real thing "will probably be thinner," according to VentureCraft, and should be ready to ship around April) is really interesting. It has digital audio output, and can send it through a optical cable in either 96k/24bit or 48k sampling rate (adjusted via a toggle). That means you can use the DAC port to kick out audio to a home theater system directly from the iPhone itself, and because the amp is running, it'll sound that much better. The frequency response is listed as 10 Hz to 120 kHz and suitable headphone impedance is listed as 16-100 ohms. The op-amp is a Texas Instruments/Burr-Brown running on each channel, which all adds up to some pristine digital audio output. These are billed as battery chargers as well, but we suspect they may be more of a drain than a dedicated battery -- while you use the amp, you'll probably need to just keep it plugged in. The unit isn't cheap -- the 3GS version (without optical) runs $199 shipped from Japan, and the iPhone 4 version will probably be somewhere between $300-350. That is shipped, VentureCraft told us -- no extra charge, even though the unit is coming from Japan. But come April when this thing is ready, the right user might find it just what they need. We've got a quick video from the booth on the next page.
Samsung NX11 hands-on
It's always a shame we don't have more time to play with every gadget at monstrous trade shows, and that goes double for cameras. So while we can't give you more in-depth discussion on the image and video quality, we will say that Samsung's NX11's inclusion of the i-Function lens is a decided victory. For those who don't know, it's a special lens with a ring and i-Fn button you can use to manually adjust various settings (exposure, ISO, shutter speed, etc.), and it works like a charm. Looking at pictures of a picture-taking device is some form of awesome, right? Right. %Gallery-113312%
Verizon and Panasonic demo broadcast Full HD 3D at CES
Currently the only way to feed your 3DTV full HD 3D (1080p per eye) is to watch a Blu-ray disc, which is great and all unless you're a sports fan, than not so much. Motorola and others have been working on ways to deliver Full HD 3D via typical broadcast delivery avenues -- yes, we also want to know what happened to 1080p60 2D -- but at the CES Bloggers Lounge Verizon and Panasonic were demoing said 3D format over a Verizon FiOS TV lab setup. The press release and embedded video (after the break) were short on details, but Verizon did tell us that it takes twice the throughput of 1080p 2D -- which isn't actually the case, but what do you expect when you don't get to talk to the engineers? We assume the demo is using H.264 Multiview Video Coding like Blu-ray uses -- especially since the demo was on a Panasonic Blu-ray player -- but many in the industry question this codec's application in the broadcast world since ESPN claims that its backwards compatibility with 2D isn't as valuable as Dolby and Sensio's way of encoding full HD 3D, which are more efficient. We're very skeptical that this demo will actually amount to any foreseeable measurable benefits to consumers, but are reassured that both companies like 3D enough to spend the time to get together and make a demo happen. Update: Verizon PR responded and confirmed that the demo is using the same format as 3D Blu-ray; H.264 Multiview Video Coding.
Seen at CES: iDevices through the years
We saw these displays over in the actual iLounge booth (they also have a deal to sponsor some of the iPhone-related displays here at CES), and thought you readers would enjoy a look. Basically iLounge went back and obtained a version of every single iDevice out there (with the exception of the two iPad models currently out), and mounted them all on the wall lined up from oldest to newest. It's a pretty cool look at Apple's most recent history. Above, you can see the iPod line from the original device in 2001 up through the iPod classic, as well as the iPod shuffle from introduction shrunk down into the current square form. And after the break, you can see the various iPod nanos, and all of the iPod touch and iPhone models so far. It was definitely a cool little look at Apple's history in between all of the other CES chaos going on this week.
