Samsung took the stage and walked us through a wide range of products introductions covering a gambit of categories. There was talk about televisions, smartphones, tablets, computers, home appliances, cameras...the list goes on. There was a consistent motif with Samsung, LG and other vendors...the solutions have to be simpler to use.
Smart Appliances
In the category of refrigerators, Samsung has been the top seller for the past four years. These smart appliances feature interactive touch-screens, mobile apps and connectivity to help manage your daily life.
This year Samsung is introducing a Smart Washer and Dryer set that will track your wash and notify you when it is ready for the next cycle.
Home Theater
Samsung spent a great deal of time talking about the television and how it will return to being the center of the home. New functionality and capabilities will continue to be added creating a hub for the family and the home.
The ES8000 is the new flagship in the companies LCD SMART TV line-up and features a new dual-core processor, the ability to upgrade the core processing platform for future-proofing the device and a host of system and network services.
Some of the more interesting features is the ability to control your tv via body gestures and voice. And a host of new connectivity solutions between these main television displays and secondary displays such as the company's line-up of smartphones and tablets.
It was clear that Samsung, like other television manufacturers are realizing that they are part of a full ecosystem and need to be more actively involved in the content creation. Samsung was also talking about partnerships and deals regarding content in the form of new interactive features or applications like their newly announced deal to be the first television to offer "Angry Birds" the extremely popular tablet and smartphone game.
There is a great deal of talk about the other services of the new SMART TV's to really create this hub in the family. Photo and video sharing, family fitness monitoring, a kids zone and a full marketplace of downloadable applications.
And not to be outdone by LG's announcement of a 55-inch OLED television with its extremely vibrant color capabilities and thin form factors, Samsung also announced by the end of the year, they too would be selling one.
Smartphones, Tablets and Samsung's "Things in the Middle"
Apple's late leader Mr. Job's once said that the iPad's 9" display is the perfect size to complement the iPhone. He is referring to the fact that the iPad's screen gives you more real estate and you need to create dedicated but new application interfaces to properly take advantage of the larger screen.
The way Samsung pumps out 10 sizes (exaggerating) between the iPhone all the way up to larger than an iPad...they seem to be out to prove him wrong!
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| Samsung Galaxy Note |
To that end, Samsung announced the Galaxy Note that definitely splits the difference between a smartphone and the traditional tablet sizes. This smart-phone-tablet features a 5.3 inch HD Super AMOLED vibrant display and includes a 256 levels of pressure pen unlike the old-stylus' on phones. This pen can detect how hard or lightly you are pressing and adjust the ink drawn to match.
The Galaxy Note is an exclusive with AT&T.
Another big announcement in the tablet corner is the update to the original Galaxy Tab. The new Galaxy Tab 7.7 LTE features the Super AMOLED PLUS display technology which is stunning to see in person, an IR port to allow for home remote control type behavior and will be launching exclusively with Verizon.
PC Computing
Samsung has seen success with its original Series 9 laptop and is introducing its successor at CES. The new version features a single form aluminum body and finger-print resistent texture. This 15 inch laptop weighs in 2.5 lbs and measure .5 inches thick. The display is extremely bright and the keyboard is backlit. The computer is said to boot up in 9.8 seconds and have a 10 hour battery life.
And to keep with the trend of this year's show, Samsung also introduced the all-new Series 5 Ultrabook. This ultra-light laptop still comes with a 14" display and a DVD drive even in this small form-factor.
Cameras
There was talk about their camera line-up which seems to lean on their connectivity and ability to upload straight to email, Facebook and YouTube but to date I have not been blown away with this product line. Not to say they won't get better but this is something we'll have to wait and see.
You can read more about the products being introduced at CES 2012 in our
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Larry Pacey, award-winning designer tracks the latest news on consumer products, electronics, appliances, smart devices, networking and the gadget lifestyle.
