CES 2013, Las Vegas Preview

So another year has flown by in the tech world and we’re round to that time of year again where the industry comes in to Las Vegas for one of the biggest technology shows of the year; The Consumer Electronics Show. Spearding itself over a large area of Las Vegas and with a large number of manufacturers having private suites in various hotels up and down the strip, there is virtually no end to the kinds of technology that can be seen and a whole host of unveiling that are set to take place; some of which have been announced and some which may be left as a surprise.

For the second year running myself and Andy are heading out to the show and this time we are also joined by Peter who also does reviews on the site. By having a slightly larger team, we aim to get you more content from the show and hopefully we will be able to get a few new names to work with in the future, which could mean more reviews in the pipeline.

So what is the talk of the show this year? Well, outside of computers and the associated hardware that we normally focus on, one of the bigger things that we will be seeing relates to 4K televisions. We’ve seen and heard a lot about them just recently and we are hearing that a number of manufacturers are going to be showing off the new technology in all its super high definition glory.

As part of our pre-opening endeavour to spot some upcoming tech, its clear to say that a large number of manufacturers are not shy to let us get a small glimpse of what they have to offer. We did find that one or two however are holding their card close to their chest and Samsung had their stand covered from virtually every angle so this would lead us to believe that they must have something special to unveil this week.

Hisense (situated opposite Intel in the main convention centre) had a number 4K screens on their stand all fired up and showing some full resolution content. First impressions and all I can say for now is wow! – with screens on display that go all the way up to a staggering 110″ across, our first impressions are very good with the clarity of the image along with vibrant and deep colours, contrast and supreme detail. To give a reference as to the pure size of this screen, I stood by it just for scale (I’m just over 6ft tall).

Moving a little further in to the halls, Sony’s presence this year is massive with a stand that has a complete wrap around display suspended from the ceiling comprising of 19 projectors working seemlessly together to give a single continuous image. Their stand is broken up into many sections with areas dedicated to cameras, headphones, home audio, notebooks and largely to no surprise  monitors.

A number of side by side comparisons are on offer showing 4K working its magic in many different ways, such as displaying ultra hig resolution images that can be looked at clear as day. The two monitors below are showing the exact same image, the left in 4K and the right in standard 1920*1080. At a distance you can make out what the text to the right is meant to say, but the left hand side however is totally different with a totally transparent difference to be seen.

Moving away from the monitors, there is a whole variety of other things on display varying from cameras and home cinema systems, Intel with their ultra books by the masses, Bluetooth enabled watches that connect to your phone, Ford with new in car technologies including WiFi in the new 2013 Focus and in car audio to name but a few categories.

Outside of the convention centre and the exhibition halls in the Venetian hotel, a large number of exhibitors (especially those of whom we relate to directly) have their own private suites in hotels up and down the Las Vegas Strip. Here they have many products to show off and with a large number of meetings lined up and potentially a number of video interviews as well. All in all there is a lot to be seen, but what we will aim to get is what we feel to be the best pickings from the show for the computer and mobile markets.

Finally, as I round this off, on behalf of the eTeknix team, I would like to give our thanks to Gigabyte and Sapphire, who without their sponsorship, this trip would not have been possible. Stay tuned here on eTeknix.com, our Facebook page , our Twitter feed and finally our YouTube channel, where you can keep up to date with the latest content direct from CES 2013.