CES 2009 in Las Vegas provides an excellent venue for the introduction of cutting-edge technology as well as gadgets that simply make the current offerings a little better. We see both of these scenarios in place over at the respective booths of LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics. Let’s see what they have at this year’s show.
LG Prada Bluetooth Wristwatch
Despite popular belief to the contrary, the first full touchscreen mobile phone was not the Apple iPhone. It wasn’t the HTC Touch either. The first full touchscreen cell phone was actually the LG Prada Phone. There were other touchscreen phones at the time (like the Palm Treo line), but they had physical keypads too. The Prada was the first of its kind.
In keeping up with the merging of technology with fashion, we see the introduction of the LG Prada Bluetooth watch. This is meant to be an accompanying accessory for your LG Prada Phone, allowing you to answer calls, check your signal strength, and read text messages without actually pulling the phone out of your pocket. If you’re going to wear a watch anyway, you may as well make it do more than just tell the time, right?
Going Beyond with LG Touchscreen Watch Phone
Going even further than the LG Prada Bluetooth wristwatch is the LG GD910 3G Watch Phone. An engineering concept was on display at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show and it was hidden away behind a glass display. This year, LG had a working model on the show floor. Check out the video below…
You get “normal” talk and end buttons on the side, but the main menu interface is done through the small touchscreen display. You swipe your way through the various features, almost as if they were on pages or a 3D cube. This is a fully functional 3G phone, including Bluetooth (it ships with a headset), a speakerphone, basic PIM functions, and a music player.
Super Thin OLED Technology
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology comes with a lot of advantages over conventional LCD technology. The substrate and overall construction is a lot thinner. The “screen” is actually flexible, opening up the opportunity for curved displays and ones that can wrap around your wrist. The colors are also supposed to be more vibrant and natural-looking.
LG was showing off some of their latest OLED technology at CES, further emphasizing just how thin and amazing this technology can be. Commercial applications are still very limited at this point and we haven’t seen any OLED displays that are HDTV-sized just yet, but we’re getting there.
Wireless HDTV and More
Just like the 3G Watch Phone mentioned earlier, Wireless HDTV technology isn’t exactly new either. It was already on display at last year’s Consumer Electronics Show, but the technology has been further refined and improved with the newest generation of transmitting boxes from LG.
In a nutshell, you can mount the compatible HDTV anywhere in the room and then place the set top box in a cabinet next to your couch. All of your home theatre equipment, like your Xbox 360 and Blu-ray player, can then connect to this box. The box, in turn, transmits uncompressed 1080p HD content to the TV itself. This makes your home theatre experience a lot more seamless and convenient. Here’s a video that runs through all that LG had to offer in HDTV…
As you can see, LG has been quite busy with HDTV and other new home theatre products at CES 2009.
LG Keeps Eye on the Environment
In trying to keep up with all of this great technology, it’s easy to forget about the impact that we have on Mother Nature. Gadget geeks can go green too by trying to lower their power consumption and minimize their waste.
LG Electronics is also dedicated to the environment, so the company has several initiatives in place that help to minimize their impact on the environment. They have LED-backlit displays, for example, where the individual LEDs completely shut off when not in use. LG has also worked hard to reduce packaging. For example, instead of providing both a USB cable and an AC wall charger for mobile phones, they provide a single cable and a small adapter.
Super Slim Samsung TL100 Attacks Casio
Hopping over to Samsung, we took an in-depth tour of what the Korean manufacturer had to offer in the camera and camcorder department. It’s easier and more affordable than ever to snap tons of digital memories, but you also want it to be convenient and stylish.
The new Samsung TL100 takes on the same part of the market as the Casio Exilim line and the thin cameras from Sony. Measuring just 16.6mm in thickness, the Samsung TL100 is pretty darn skinny. Key features include a 12.2 megapixel sensor, Smart Auto Mode, 2.7″ LCD, face detection, SVGA video recording, and digital image stabilization.
More Zoom, Less Bulk with Z10W
If you’re looking to get really close to the action without actually getting all that close to the action, then the Samsung HZ10W just might be the ticket. Up until now, most ultrazoom point-and-shoot cameras came with rather bulky lens barrels. This made them somewhat inconvenient to slip into your pocket. The Z10W, by contrast, has a retracting barrel that makes it a lot more travel-friendly.
The 10.2 megapixel camera offers 10x optical zoom, manual controls, red eye fix, optical and digital image stabilization, smile shot, blink detection, and a 24mm wide angle Schneider lens.
On the video side of things, the Samsung Z10W can also shoot 720p HD resolution video at 30 frames a second. It uses H.264 compression to keep the file sizes a little more manageable.
Stepping Up with SL420 Camera
While not offering as much optical zoom as the Samsung Z10W, the Samsung SL420 is a good option for the consumer who doesn’t quite want to step up to the digital SLR end of things. This 10.2 megapixel camera runs par for the course with most of its highlights, but it does push the envelope slightly with its 5x optical zoom. It’s definitely smaller and thinner than the Z10W too.
Other features include SVGA MPEG4 video, optical and digital image stabilization, smile shot, and rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
Alien Eye Camcorder Angles Up
Many real camcorders on the market (let’s leave things like the Flip Mino and Creative Vado aside for a moment) look pretty much the same. It’s a barrel thing with a flip-out display. The trouble with this design is that it’s not nearly as comfortable to hold for an extended length of time.
The Samsung HMX-R10 is probably one of the strangest camcorders I’ve seen in a while, because the lens has been angled upwards at 25 degrees. In this way, you can hold the camcorder as if it was pointed at the ground (a more comfortable position), but it’ll continue to shoot straight ahead. It’s weird-looking, for sure, but it does seem more comfortable to use.
Some of the more notable features here include full HD recording (1920×1080), 9 megapixel digital stills, SD/SDHC memory card slot, 5x optical zoom, and a 2.7-inch touchscreen display.
SSD-Equipped Samsung HMNX-H106 Camcorder
The flagship model from Samsung in the camcorder department is the Samsung HMX-H106. What truly makes this camcorder special is that it doesn’t make use of a conventional hard drive, opting instead for the speed and reliability of a 64GB internal solid state drive. SSDs are getting more affordable and camcorders are a perfect application for them.
If the 64 gigs aren’t enough to stash your digital memories, you can also expand the capacity through the available SD/SDHC card slot. Recording full HD video with its 1/4.5″ 2.2 megapixel CMOS sensor, the HMX-H106 can take 4.7 megapixel stills, stay alive for 12 hours of recording, and keep your shaky hands in check with its optical image stabilization.
Rounding out the specs are the remote control, built-in strobe flash, Schneider Varioplan HD wide-angle lens, time lapse recording, and your choice of HDMI, component, and composite output.
Korea On the Rise
For many years, people assumed that the best consumer electronics came out of Japan. That was where you find the coolest video games and the best televisions. While Japan still offers a lot of great stuff, we are really starting to see some superstars out of Korea as well. Samsung and LG are leading the charge and this surge of great Korean tech can only be good for the consumer. Standby for more CES 2009 and flip the page if you’re after pictures.
Discuss This Article in the Futurelooks Community Forums
CES 2009 – LG and Samsung Photo Gallery
