2012 was a bad year for Sony for a number of reasons; the tech giant posted a full-year loss of 56.7bn yen ($5.7bn; £3.5bn) in May and has continued to lose money over subsequent quarters, but 2013 – thankfully –  looks like Sony has got it’s mojo back as last week they announced a brand-new flagship smartphone, the water-resistant Xperia Z and now there’s rumours of a new high-end Android tablet.

The smartphone includes some staggeringly good specs; there’s a 5-inch IPS screen that has a resolution of 1920×1080, which is the same amount of pixels you’d find on a 42-inch HDTV, and equates to a ppi of 441.

Elsewhere the smartphone comes with a 13-megapixel camera which is capable of recording HDR (high dynamic range), a feature borrowed from its camera division, and is normally the reserve of still images.

The phone dimensions are 139 x 71 x 7.9 mm and it weights just 146 grams (including battery). The Xperia Z comes with a 2330mAh capacity battery. Sony has confirmed the Xperia Z will ship with a 1.5Ghz quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 2048 MB of RAM, and will support 4G LTE.

One of the most interesting features you’ll find on the Xperia Z is Sony’s decision to make the handset dust-proof and water resistant for up to 30 minutes.

Tablet version on its way?

Alongside the Xperia Z smartphone leaks have suggested that Sony will release a Android-powered tablet based loosely on the smartphone.

The leaked specs suggest the tablet will be just 6.9mm thick, and will also be waterproof and dust proof adhering to the IP55 and IP57 standards that the Xperia Z smartphone achieves.

The tablet is expected to feature a 10.1-inch full HD (1920×1080) display running Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2 – and it’s thought that tablet will have a 8.1-megapixel rear camera and a 2.2-megapixel front-facing snapper.

Underneath its shell the Xperia Tablet Z is thought to be powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, running 2 GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage . The device is rumoured to come with a 6,000mAh battery and support Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/, Bluetooth 4.0, NF and LTE as well.

Though Sony has yet to make any official announcement about the Xperia Tablet Z, if these specs eventually do feature on the Xperia Tablet Z, then consumers are looking at a very powerful tablet that’ll easily keep pace with the latest iPad or Nexus 10. It’s thought the tablet will be unveiled at next month’s MWC.

Green shoots of recovery?

Ben Wood, an analyst at CCS Insight, noted that Sony’s mobile unit is enjoying a recovery, and recently passed HTC to become the third best-selling smartphone brand in the UK.

He added that efforts to share designs and technologies across the firm’s different divisions would likely be the key to its revival. However, he added that it was too soon to say whether the new handset and tablet would be winners.

“In isolation these look like a very strong products and it’s the most attractive Xperia phone and tablet that I have seen for a very long time,” he said.

“But we don’t know what these devices will be competing with this year.”

“Until we see the next Samsung flagship devices and other top-end devices at Mobile World Congress in February it’s hard to know how they will do.”

Sony Xperia Z Tablet To Launch Alongside Smartphone? 10-inch HD Screen, Quad-Core CPU? is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

CES, the world’s biggest tech show, is packed to the rafters with amazing pieces of new technology, but it’s also the dumping ground for a lot of oddball creations from more fringe technology outfits. Here’s a run through of some of the more unusual pieces of tech that caught our eye at this year’s show.

YotaPhone

Little known Russian company Yota caught our eye with their new smartphone the YotaPhone, what makes the Yota Phone standout from the rest is it has an extra touchscreen on the back using E-ink technology.

On the front of the phone is a impressive 1280×720 colour touchscreen measuring 4.3-inches, and then there’s another 4.3-inch E-ink display on the back. The rear screen hasn’t just been designed to read books – but is actually been designed to address several percieved problems according to the manufacturer: personalisation, notifications and battery life.

Like any other Android phone that front screen is used to control the handset, but a simple swipe from the top of the display to the bottom with two fingers, you can throw any image from the front screen to the back E-ink screen.

So imagine you’re running out of battery but you need to use you phone’s mapping service, well a simple swipe will make a copy of the map and ping it to the back screen to be stored even when you’ve run out of battery power.

The company is already talking with carriers to bring it to phone the U.S., with plans to launch the phone at the end of the year. Pricing is expected to be comparable to other high-end Android smartphones.

iPotty For iPad

Teaching your child to use the toilet can be one the most challenging experiences for any new parent, well don’t worry as a small US tech company, called CTA digital, might well have the tech for you: the iPotty.

No, we’re being deadly serious. This contraption looks to marry a tablet with a potty to try and make potty training a simple as 1, 2,3. The portable potty comes with a splash-guard that covers the device as well as the potty itself, just in case your youngster tries to test the devices water-resistantance.

Hapifork

HAPILABS, the maker of the Hapifork, describes it as “an electronic fork that monitors your eating habits. The HAPIfork gives you precise information about your eating schedule. The HAPIfork alerts you with the help of indicator lights when you are eating too fast”.

Panasonic RP-BTGS10 Bone Conduction Headphones.

Forget your Beats By Dre’s, bone conduction is the future of headphones, well, that’s according to Panasonic and their RP-BTGS10 Bone Conduction headphones. Apparently they designed to: “free up a user’s ears for other important sounds and are wireless to ensure they don’t interfere with active users’ activities.”

Instead of covering the ear, these headphones sit outside the the ear, meaning you can still hear what’s going on around you while still listening to your favourite music.

“Panasonic has always been a leader in sound-quality and innovation and with the new RP-BTGS10 Bone Conduction Headphones, we are taking our headphone offerings to the next level of technological and sound advancement,” said Tom Hanston of Panasonic.

“The RP-BTGS10 model will be an ideal companion for sport enthusiasts including cyclists, joggers, runners and more, allowing them the freedom and flexibility of a wireless headphone while also giving them the opportunity to listen to their favourite music while not blocking out other outside sounds.”

Price to be confirmed.

Re-Timer

Aimed at consumers who do a lot of travelling or shift work, these special glasses bombard your eyes with a green 500 nanometer light over your eyes to help reset your body work.

The Re-Timer has just gone on sale in Australia for $282.67 and will launch in the US in January.

Sharp 8K TV

4K was the big winner at this year’s show, but to be honest we were more taken aback by Sharp’s 8K screen. Sure, it’s a prototype, but this set has a resolution of 7680 x 4320 (that’s around 33 million pixels) which is double 4K Ultra HD and 16 times the resolution of your Full HD TV.

And if the picture quality for this Super Hi-Vision TV isn’t enough to wow you then take note that Sharp, in partnership with NHK, plans to launch it with 22.2 surround sound.

No prices have been given, but don’t expect much change from £20,000.

CES 2013: The Weird And Wonderful Technology We Saw At CES 2013 is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

With Z being the last letter in the alphabet, Sony revealed that they have named their smartphone the Xperia Z because everything before has been a build up has been towards the unveiling of this. So with so much build up what does the Xperia Z have to offer?

Apart from it touting a Full HD 1080p Reality Display with Mobile Bravia Engine 2, the main focus of the design has to be the casing which emphasises on Sony’s “OmniBalance” approach which means it looks the same from all angles.

So take a look at the phone front and back, apart from the front facing camera and the Sony logo and it is all the same. Even the ports have been covered to create a sleek design.

Now you would think that with the smartphone, the design team may have thought long and hard but very little about the robustness. Well, they have even considered clumsy old me into the equation. Don’t want to go into too much detail about me dropping my late smartphone in a bath tub of water but it did, however if the Xperia Z had been invented back then, then my phone would be working fine as the Z Series is waterproof!

Want to find out more about this sleek new smartphone from Sony? Check out their latest ad campaign featuring the Z Series and prepared to be amazed from it super sleekness and robustness…

Sony Xperia Z: Saving the Best Until Last! is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Microsoft’s first attempt at an iPad-killing-tablet was a big fat fail. Well, that might not be entirely true, but for a tablet that cost around the same price as a Retina display iPad it was poorly specced, way overpriced and just didn’t give consumers enough of a reason to ditch Android or Apple.

Why The RT Version Failed.

It also didn’t help that Microsoft chose to release two versions confusing an already confused public. The RT version came first and hasn’t caught the tablet-buying world by storm at all. Mainly because it failed in several areas; it could only play RT apps; it was ridiculously overpriced, especially for a tablet that only offered a 720p screen; and Microsoft in their wisdom released it slap-bang in the middle of several high-profile budget tablet launches. Not their smartest hour.

Surface Pro.

There’s no doubt that the Pro is a much more capable piece of kit, under the sleek exterior it’s essentially a full-fat PC laptop, capable of playing games, photoshop – basically any normal PC software.

The downsides? Well, it’s really quite pricey; as much as £850 and it’s fairly bulky compared to most tablets – but despite that you’re getting a piece of kit that’ll run rings around almost any Ultrabook from last year.

What’s New?

Quite a lot actually. The Pro ditches the rather old-hat 720p screen for a proper 1080p screen, this obviously makes a massive difference when comparing the RT version and the Pro version. Essentially it’s like comparing an iPad 1 and the latest iPad – they’re basically worlds apart. Microsoft have ditched the HD video port for a mini display port, so if you plug it into a decent monitor you’ve got a very capable top-end desktop for Ultrabook money.

Elsewhere the Surface Pro has comes in either 64GB or 128GB versions, with the option to supplement storage with the use of a microSDXC slot – making it a better proposition when it comes to upgrading.

Design-wise Microsoft has had to make some changes due to the tablet using more traditional PC components – to this end they’ve moved the microSD card slot to the right-hand side panel, and added a USB 3.0 port instead of the USB 2.0 port.

Since the Surface Pro has an Intel Core i5 processor it needs some serious cooling. So now you’ll find two adaptive fans inside the tablet, the Surface Pro also keeps the camera on the back, a Skype-enabled camera on the front, and works with all existing Surface covers.

Obviously the tablet is considerably heavier than the Surface RT, and weighs around 900grams, which is 300 grams more than the RT version.

Microsoft has also added a new digitiser pen which is pressure sensitive, making it graphics-artist friendly. The button under the magnetic connector on the pen acts like the right-click button on a mouse. The pen and Surface Pro combo might not be enough to tempt hardcore artists away from their current kit, but you could certainly use it for casual sketching and signing documents.

The internal screen can be mirrored, extended, or turned off when you have the Surface Pro connected to a mini-DisplayPort monitor, with the tablet continuing to work fine via both touch and the digitiser pen even while the screen is off.

How Much?

Well, we’re not entirely sure, as prices have only been unveiled for US customers which starts at $899, that should work out to be around £749 once it lands on our shores. Microsoft will obviously want customers to choose the 128GB version, and we expect that to retail for around £849 – which is around twice the price of a iPad.

Essentially, the Surface Pro shouldn’t be seen as a tablet, but a very capable high-end Ultrabook and that’s the way it has been priced. It’s as sleek as a tablet, but with the functionality of a laptop – and Microsoft hopes it will be the only device you need to carry.

More Surface Pro news as we get it.

Surface Pro Hands-On is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

CES is in full swing and despite the world’s dire economic outlook you’d be hard pressed to tell considering some of the prices being banded around the Las Vegas convention centre. £20,000 TVs, £2,000 Flash drives and $10,000 fridges are just some of the examples of obscenely expensive tech we’ve laid our eyes on at this year’s CES.

World’s most expensive pen drive.

USB pen drives are an incredibly useful piece of tech, they’re perfect for transporting massive files around in something the size of a small keyring.

Over the years flash drives have been getting quicker and quicker, but capacity has really changed all that much. Well, those days are long gone, as Kingston has introduced what they claim is the world’s first 1TB USD 3.0 flash drive, that most importantly isn’t any bigger that the current crop of flash drives.

The aptly named DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0 has impressive read/write speeds of up to 240MB/s and 160MB/s – making it the world’s largest USB 3.0 flash drive.

At the moment the pen drive is only available in 512GB version right now, while its bigger brother, the 1TB version, is expected to hit stores in Q1 2013.

Now comes the shocking part: price. Currently you can buy the 512GB version for a cool $1,750, which will likely make the 1TB version anywhere up to $3,000, which is the price of a small secondhand car. Ouch.

For less demanding users, Kingston has also launched slower and smaller USB drives, with capacities of 32GB and 64GB and read/write speeds of 150MB/s and 70MB/s.

Samsung Unveils Their Scaffold-inspired Ultra HD TV.

4K TVs, or a they should be knowns as Ultra HD (UHD), have been stealing pretty much all the headlines for the first day of CES. But Samsung’s offering has been grabbing those headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Just look at it. It’s pig ugly.

It looks like someone made the world’s largest Ultra HD set and thought “I know, we’ll make the stand out of some old scaffolding I’ve got lying around”. Picture-wise it’s stunning, but you have to wonder who thought it would be a good idea to make it look like a jungle jim? ?And according to our sources the stand cannot be removed.

The set comes will four times the resolution of a normal 1080p set and uses a quad-core processor to upscale 1080p programs into a Ultra HD resolutions. Which is all well and good, but what about actual 4K footage? No-one seems to be talking about the elephant in the room when it comes to UHDs.

Unfortunately for us it’s just too soon for Ultra HD, it might even to be too soon in 5 years time. At the moment 99% of HDTVs see very little 1080p footage due bandwidth limits on services like Sky or Netflix – so why would consumers really consider a Ultra HD screen if we can’t even get 1080p footage at the moment? Until there’s a delivery system and some content, 4K just seems like a pipe dream at the moment.

But, Samsung et al are hoping that impressive upscaling will see earlier adopters jump on the Ultra HD bandwagon sooner rather than later. The biggest barrier to UHD is price and at the moment there is no details on pricing or availability for Samsung’s offering.

Perhaps the most unremarkable feature announced for this product is its ability to link the TV with other Samsung smart home appliances. This feature will allow you to monitor your washing machine from your smart UHD, really?

It’s a highly capable TV with an impressive features list, but what was missing? Perhaps the most important thing: the availability date and a price.

Huawei goes phablet crazy.

Phablet is a new word you should probably get used to, as it a new buzz word to describe a phone/tablet hybrid. Quite frankly it’s a horrible term for a device that no-one really needs. The Galaxy Note was the first phablet, but now there’s a new phablet in town and it comes from the Chinese smartphone maker Huawei.

Measuring 6.1-inches, with the 1280x720p display, the Ascend Mate is the largest smartphone in world, and quite possibly the most ridiculous handset we’ve ever laid hands on.

Specs-wise it’s a mixedbag: there’s a snappy 1.5GHz quad-core processor and surprisingly 768MB of RAM memory, which on the face of it seems a bit on the low-end for a premium handset.

Unfortunately, you can’t take the back off the Ascend Mate as it’s a sealed unit – so there’s no access to the 4,050mAh battery housed inside – the biggest in any smartphone in the world.

Elsewhere there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack, a slot for a microSim and a slot for microSD cards, which you’ll have to use as there’s only a paltry 8GB of onboard storage – which is just a crazy decision to make. On the back there’s an 8-megapixel sensor complete with LED flash and modes such as panorama and HDR.

Due to arrive in China next month, the Ascend Mate will make it to other regions around the world from March.

Lookout for more CES 2013 coverage tomorrow.

CES 2013: Our Top Picks From Day One is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

A couple of year’s ago the opening keynote speaker at CES would normally be a pseudo tech celebrity at the helm of a well-known corporation like Microsoft or Hewlett Packard, however, this year’s CES opening keynote came from Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs, a man your average tech enthusiast probably would recognise or have heard of. It’s a stark example of how the tech landscape is changing under the sheer pressure of the explosion of post-PC mobile devices.

One company that has taken this new mobile world by storm has been Nvidia and their mobile Tegra chipset. The processor and GPU has found its way into some of the world’s best selling Android devices, whether it’s phones or tablets, over the years and 2013 looks like it could be company’s the best year yet.

Before the crowds descended on Las Vegas, Nvidia held a CES pre-show press conference to showcase their latest Tegra 4 chipset. While there might not be any devices running the new chipset as yet, the Tegra 4 is brand-new quad-core processor, which comes with a whopping 72 graphic processing cores and based on the cortex A15 chip.

Billed by Nvidia as the world’s fastest mobile processor, the Tegra 4 is expected to be lightning fast and will shrink the gap between traditional PC-based hardware acceleration and mobile graphics capabilities.

The chip comes with a new computational photography engine that makes taking photos even quicker, and the new engine will be built into the chip itself meaning all devices using the Tegra 4 will benefit.

At the moment we’ll just have to wait patiently until the first Tegra 4-based devices arrive, but according to Nvidia it won’t be that long as the company is also making its hardware debut at this year’s CES with an Android-based handheld console running the new Tegra 4 chipset, called Project Shield.

Not to be confused with the classic cop show of the same name, the Shield will apparently be the first device to run the newly announced Tegra 4 chip. Essentially, the new handheld is a Xbox 360-style gamepad controller with a 5-inch OLED touchscreen attached and while it’s not going to win any design awards it does look a lot more ergonomic than a Nintendo DS or PS Vita.

You’ll find a D-pad, two analog sticks, four front facing buttons, 2 shoulder buttons, dual stereo speakers and all the other features and functions you’d find on a modern-day console controller. The display has been confirmed as a OLED multi-touch display, and is capable of 720p resolution with pixel density of 294.

The Shield will run a pure version of Google Android meaning users will be able to make use of the likes of Gmail and Android’s Play Store – giving users a wealth for apps, games and media, as well as Nvidia’s own TegraZone game store.

Battery life is reported to be as much as 5-10 hours of gaming or 24 hours of HD video playback via the Shield’s 33Wh battery - there’s also the welcome inclusion of a micro SD card slot, although Nvidia hasn’t actually disclosed just how much internal storage the device has.

One interesting feature Nvidia unveiled is PC cross play over Wi-Fi. According to Nvidia you’ll be able to play games from your Steam account, which works in a similar fashion to Sony’s PS3/Vita Cross play – to get working you’ll need Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 650 graphics card and a Wi-Fi connection.

Even more impressive is the Shield is capable of outputting to an HDMI enabled TV so you can play games on the big screen and Nvidia even reckon Shield will be able to output at 4K resolutions.

Nvidia says that Project SHIELD will be out during the second quarter of 2013. No price has yet been confirmed.

Check out the full unveil below.

Nvidia Kicks-Off CES 2013 With Tegra 4 Chipset And Project Shield Handheld is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

TVs have always been a the tradtional heartland of CES’ in the past and in 2013 it will be no different. As a host of manufacturers are beginning to show off their latest wares; including new projector technology, Ultra HD TVs, and new Google TV sets. Here’s what we’ll be looking out for at next week’s CES 2013.

LG Google TVs

LG has all but confirmed two new Google sets for next week’s CES. Both of which will feature LG’s latest LED display technology and LG’s Cinema 3D tech. But the main headlines should, of course, be the inclusion of Google’s software that will add an all-new layer of functionality from catchup TV to big screen apps. So far smart TVs that have added Google functionality haven’t exactly set the AV world alight – but we think 2013 could be the year when they finally become a proper unique selling point, rather than a tacked-on after thought, though it might take Apple to get consumers to realise this fact.

Each model will include LG’s new Magic Remote which delivers a full QWERTY keyboard, which will be at the heart of Google TV functionality. Each TV is expected to have a dual-core processors to ensure its Smart credentials are smooth and speedy. There’s also the inclusion of Cloud gaming service OnLive – which is welcomed inclusion, if you’re a big gamer.

LG 4K UHD TVs

Ultra HD is going to be big new buzzword in 2013 – and LG has announced they’ll show off a couple of more consumer friendly sets measuring 55 and 65-inches.

The main benefit that 4K brings is its resolution, the sets offer four times as many pixels as standard HD sets – but where it will really come into its own is: 3D. The set will be able to produce two full 1080p pictures, one for each eye, meaning a much smoother, more convincing 3D image, which many experts expect will really show off 3D’s real home potential.

LG Smart LED TVs with NFC

This is probably the first time we’ve heard of NFC on a TV, but LG’s LED TVs will come with the new fangled wireless communication technology, meaning you can share video from TV to smartphone or tablet just by tapping the two devices.

LG also boasts that its new line-up of TVs will come substantially uprated CPUs that they reckon run 120 per cent faster than in previous models, while the graphics processors run 300 per cent faster – meaning apps, games and streaming should be flawless.

Samsung 85-inch 4K UHD TV

Samsung is expected to unveil their first effort at a Ultra HD TV at this year’s CES. It’s thought to be a gargantuan 85-inch display and will come with Smart functionality as well as clever pixel technology to give class-leading blacks and contrast levels. Worryingly, no-one is mentioning content – there isn’t any. Well, there is. But there’s no way to deliver it. Could we see Blu-Ray 2.0 in 2013? – maybe, just maybe.

LG Hecto Laser TV Projector

Elsewhere, it’s thought LG will show an all-new project technology, the Laser TV, which isn’t a TV, but instead a projector. Where it get interesting is this new tech can paint 100-inch picture from a distance of 22-inches. The Lazer TV comes with Smart TV and Digital capabilities and on the specs, it offers 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio and comes with a digital tuner and 2x10W built-in speakers embedded in the projector to support virtual surround sound.

CES 2013: TV & Home Cinema Predictions is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Both Sony and Chinese handset maker Huawei have had their new handsets leak online ahead of their expected CES unveil next week.

Press shots of Sony’s new Xperia z and Sony Xperia ZL were uncovered on Sony’s own website and detail what consumers could expect when the handsets get a full reveal at next week’s CES 2012.

We’ve heard about the Xperia Z for a few months now, when it as referred to its codename Yuga, and as expected the handset is running Android and looks strikingly similar to previous leaks.

The other handset that was leaked was the ZL, which is thought to be a variant of the Z, all be it slight smaller, with a more compact design and a oddly placed front facing camera in the bottom right corner.

Tech specs haven’t been officially revealed for either handset but it’s thought that they’ll both sport a 4-inch + display and will be part of Sony’s new flagship range of handsets for 2013.

It’s thought that both handsets will be sporting a 1.5Ghz quad-core processor, 1080p display, 2 GB of RAM and a rear 13-megapixel camera.

While those specs seems reasonable, we won’t know the real breakdown until both handsets have been properly unveiled which could happen at next week’s CES or February’s Mobile Word Congress.

Huawei 

Chinese smartphone maker Huawei are planning a smartphone assault for this year’s CES, and have seen three of their new handsets leak online ahead of their proposed unveil next week.

While the Huawei name doesn’t have the coolness of Apple or the bullet-proof brand of Samsung – they do offering budget Android handsets that are sure to be a big hit in 2013.

Their new W1, Ascend D2, and Ascend Mate are all premium handsets compared to their cheap and cheerful cousins from 2012.

The first handset to leak was the W1, which will be the first handset from the firm to run on Microsoft’s Windows Phone – the handset is expected to feature a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor, 4-inch display, and a hefty 2,000mAh battery.

In keeping with the funky, colourful tradition of most Windows Phones, the handset will come in a range of loud colours and it’s thought that the handset will be pitted against efforts from Nokia and HTC.

The next handset is even more interesting from a specs point of view, the Ascend Mate is thought to have a giant 6-inch 720p display, pitting it squarely up against Samsung’s hybrid tablet-phone the Galaxy Note 2.

It’s thought that handset will have a snappy 1.8Ghz dual-core processor, a healthy 2GB of RAM and a heavyweight 3,8000mAh battery, – all housed in a 9.9mm chassis.

And finally, Huawei will release a handset that falls somewhere between the two: the Ascend D2 is expected to be a 5-inch handset, with a full HD display – it’s reminiscent of the old Samsung s2 and is thought to rival Sony’s Xperia z.

We’ll have more details on all the handsets as we get closer to next week’s CES 2013.

Sony & Huawei Android Handsets Leak Online Ahead of Next Week’s CES 2013 is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The Consumer Electronics Show 2013 starts on the second week of January, and for one week the world’s top tech manufacturers will descend to Las Vegas to show off their latest wares. So, we’ve been scouring the web to try and predict what’s going to be hot at this year’s show.

1080p HD smartphones

The smartphone race isn’t going to end anytime soon, especially as a host of handset makers are thought to be ready to unveil handsets with 1080p screens. The first one we know of is a new handset from HTC, but expect announcements from all the major handset makers over the course of 2013 – with some manufacturers expected to make the first announcements at CES 2013.

Asus 7-inch Android tablet


One of this year’s must-have gadgets is, of course, the Google’s Nexus 7; it’s a budget Android tablet that has gotten Apple so worried they have made their own not-so-cheap tablet. Well, the Nexus 7 is made alongside Asus and there’s a strong possibility of the Asus will release a new version under their own name – so expect the same tablet again but with expandable memory and a few aesthetic tweaks.

Samsung Galaxy tablet


Samsung has been teasing a new tablet that is expected  to be unveiled at CES and it’s not hard to work out what it might be. The new Nexus 10 is actually made by Samsung, so expect to see a new version under their own brand. It’s a solid tablet with an unbelievable screen clocking in at 2560×1600 resolution on a 10-inch display. Hopefully Sammy will add a few extra features and might even upgrade the processor, too.

1080p Samsung Galaxy S4

Samsung has just announced a new handset the Galaxy Grand, a mid-range handset sporting a 5-inch display. But what everyone really wants to know about is the next Galaxy S4 – could it have a 1080p screen? A 13-megapixel camera? Well that the rumours are suggesting exactly that, but its unlikely Samsung will use CES to showcase the handset, but never say never.

New HTC smartphones


HTC is expected to show-off some new handsets, with one handset expected to rival Samsung’s S4, so expect a 4.7-inch 1080p screen, 13-megapixel camera and a hefty price tag.

Ultra HD TV
s

Ultra HD TVs are expected to make a big splash on CES 2013, as the first sets from Sony an LG are already hitting some consumers living rooms this month. At the moment the Ultra HD TV come in at 86-inches and have a resolution of 4 times that of 1080p, but there are a few catches: price, and content. The sets current cost anywhere from £15,000 to £25,000 and at the moment there isn’t really any content in that resolution – expect announcements about that and new cheaper models at CES 2013.

A cheap Windows Phone 8 mobile from Huawei

One notable absence from Windows Phone 8 roster is Huawei, well CES could see the mobile maker make its way to Windows Phone – while that might not sound too exciting Huawie have a knack of making incredibly cheap phones that can run rings around a lot of their premium competitors – if it’s prices and specced well it could be an important handset for Microsoft and Huawei.

Intel Haswell

Haswell isn’t a famous particle physicists, but instead the new name for Intel next generation of processor, which will take over from this year’s Ivy Bridge. Haswell apparently will see a 10% increase in speeds and will see improvements on power consumption, ideal for laptops. A leaked roadmap suggest the first devices won’t see the light of day until the middle of next year, but don’t be surprised if Haswell becomes a new buzzword at CES 2013.

Tegra 4

While were talking processors, Nvidia is expect to showcase their last Tegra chipset. Tegra 3 has powered most of this year’s top Android tablets and smartphones. Well, it’s successor is in the works and has been rumoured for a while under the code name Wayne (based on Batman’s alter ego Bruce Wayne) and is expected to come in both quad-core and eight-core variations. Expect an announcement at CES 2013.

CES 2013: Our Top Predictions is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Acer dropped a ‘one more thing moment’ at the end of their CES keynote and it came in the form of their Iconia Tab A700 their new flagship tablet, which has Ice Cream Sandwich and a whopping quad-core processor.

It hasn’t been officially unveiled, so details about its final specs remain scant, but it was on the show floor for consumers and journalists to have a quick play.

The first thing we noticed is the amazing new screen, it boasts an impressive resolution of 1925×1200, which is just a shade above 1080p. It’s bright and pin sharp, and surely means that plenty of other tablets will make the jump to retina-esque displays in 2012….ahem Apple.

Not only does this mean 1080p playback, it also gives things like text and magazines a little more zing, and makes them look more like printed paper than digital text.

The tablet isn’t going to win a beauty contests, it’s the typical glum Acer design. It’s 9.8mm and a lot lighter than many had expected considering its power capabilities. But, if it’s not inconceivable that it could get a facelift when it finally makes it to market.

The A700 comes with Ice Cream Sandwich, 1.3Ghz quad-core tegra processor, 9,800 mAh battery, 5 megapixel camera, micro USB and microHDMI – there’s no word on price, but we’d imagine it’s going to be towards the higher end of the market.

LG may have stole the show with their amazing OLED technology, but, Sony were on hand at CES to try and steal a bit of their thunder.

They announced a new prototype screen technology called Crystal LED, which they hope will prove to the new defacto screen technology. But can it really compete with OLED ?

Sony showed off a new 55-inch panel which is made up of millions of tiny LED’s that act as pixels and offers a Full HD self-emitting display.

The method they’re using ‘dramatically improved the light and efficiency’ and offers higher contrast ratios, wider colour gamut and incredibly hight refresh rates, when compared to LCD and Plasma’s

Intriguingly, Sony added this new technology was “parallel to its continued development and commercialization of OLED displays, and Sony will work conscientiously to bring the “Crystal LED Display” to market.”

We’ve yet to find out the juicy information such as when we’ll see the technology in use or whether it will cost the earth, but Sony better get a wriggle on before Samsung and LG’s OLED TVs start to gain traction in the market.

Not only did Sony show off the new Xperia S which his the Arc HD in all but name, but they also had another handset on show the Xperia Ion.

It’s the first phone to come out of the new Sony buyout and on paper this handset is an impressive beast. Specs-wise it’s a great phone: a dual-core 1.5Ghz processor, 16 BG of internal storage and a 12 megapixel rear camera.

There’s a front-facing camera on the front capable of recording in 720p. In other exciting news the new phone comes with a massive 4.6-inch screen with an impressive resolution of 1280×720, which Sony is calling HD Reality – the handset also comes with Music unlimited and Video unlimited too.

The main selling point for the Ion is that it’s Playstation certified, meaning gaming on the go will have never looked so good on a mobile. The specs bragging doesn’t stop there though, they’ve also managed to cram in Sony’s Exmor camera technology which mean it will be up and running in 1.5 seconds and can go from pic to pic in two seconds.

The only downside we can see with the phone it’s the decision to release it with Android Gingerbread, which is a little old-hat when Ice Cream should be the only OS on sale for all future Android phone – when will Blackberry learn.

Onlive has made quite a splash with its cloud gaming apps and service, but their not content with that, they want to do the same for the desktop apps.

Much to many people’s surprise they were on hand at CES to show of their latest service, Onlive Desktop, for iPad, which will put the power of your desktop in the cloud.

The service allows iPad users (for the time being) to use Microsoft Office suite on their tablets with full touch screen capabilities all through the cloud without having to worry about whether your iPad can handle it or is compatible.

The way it works is simple: harness the power of Onlive’s goliath server farm to do all the heavy lifting at their end whilst you get the benefits of the full version of office on a tablet.

It might seem like a strange thing for Onlive to be doing, but, in theory it’s likely to be a smoother experience for the end-user because you won’t be playing triple-A games and merely doing spreadsheet work or presentations, where a tiny bit of lag wouldn’t ruin the experience.

In fact: it’s the next logical step. The servers and technology are already there and the tasks it will have to perform will be more than manageable.

Better still they’re are planning a premium version, if you signup to the top package with 50GB of server space, you can also surf the web and use their amazing bandwidth speeds and, better still, it also allows for full flash support on an iPad. Amazing.

In Onlive’s short history they’ve never had any downtime, so it’s more than plausible that businesses could actually rely on the service.

The Onlive desktop app works by downloading the app, signing up and boom – you’re away.

When the service is released on iOS this week, Onlive Desktop will be free. With this you get 2GB of storage and access to Microsoft Office. If you aren’t an iPad user, then an Android version of the service is coming soon.

CES Round-up: The Best of The Rest is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com