Samsung

Samsung always has a huge honking booth filled wall to wall with people and this year was no different. This year though, it seems that the number of truly new products was down to a minimum. When instructed to show us what was actually new at the show, our guide could only muster up the following products…

There was a lot of buzz around OLED screens at the Samsung booth. Although this product is still a ways off from entering the marketplace, it was easy to see what benefits the technology will provide the consumer. The super thin profile along with a bright and vibrant picture give it the cool factor it needs for TV applications. The only problem is the longevity which the Samsung reps were careful to continually reiterate when talking about the product. Samsung showed off a few 31 inch units that got quite a bit of attention from the crowd. I guess we’ll only be seeing this technology in cell phones for just a little while longer.

Like LG, Samsung has been dabbling with 3D Television as well. Last year, they introduced a 3D capable DLP HDTV set that was upgradeable to 3D for about $200. Unlike the LG concept, the Samsung TV’s require a kit which includes two pairs of glasses and some software to update the set to display the 3D picture which is picked up by the glasses. At CES, Samsung brought the technology to their plasma products, and once these 3D Ready sets hit the market, you should be able to order a similar kit to upgrade them to 3D. You can see above that the intended target market is definitely gamers.

Also interesting at the Samsung booth this year was how much Web and Media integration was taking place inside the TV sets themselves. The picture above shows off what looks like a full scale media center built into one of their flat panel TV’s. The set is connected to the web and updates its content online. Along with the usual media stuff, you can also download new Yoga Poses to fine art, making the TV set more useful, even when you’re not watching TV. They also showed off a set with a custom RSS reader built in that retrieves content like stock quotes and weather from USA Today. Unfortunately, you only get USA today so it’s definitely a gift for those state side.

The last truly new thing from the Samsung folks was a portable media player boom box. Where things should be getting smaller and more portable, it seems that Samsung went the opposite direction with this puppy. It does plugin to your TV set…but so do other media players about a tenth of its size. However, it is also a DVD player with built in bluetooth and a hard drive.

For more pictures from the Samsung Booth, check out the CES 2008 Samsung Photo Gallery.

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