CES – Aftermath?

Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA is over and I am sitting here in snowy Kiel, Germany and don´ t know what to write – though (or because?) I spent the last week idling on twitter and my Google Reader for CES tech news.

Now what do I remember? Lots of tablets, many of them nVidia Tegra 2 powered, X86 smartphone prototypes based on Intel´s new Moorestown platform running Moblin, some netbooks, based on Tegra 2, Intel´s Atom N450, Freescale´s i.MX515 or Qualcomm´s Snapdragon, 3D TV devices, and some more stuff.
Let´s have a short list of devices, that I got exited about:

Freescale Smartbook/Tablet. I like its general approach (tablet+docking), though there are certainly some shortcomings about this reference design:
– the keyboard could be a little bit bigger without expense of the docking unit
– a touchpad or trackpoint would be nice, and as we just started dreaming: what about a foldable docking/keyboard (you know, like these old PDA keyboards)
– resistive touchscreens are nice, but capacitive ones are usually even nicer
– no active digitizer –> no real handwriting input

That´s it – still this is a nice design, if a device like this reference design would hit the market at $200, I would not hesitate too long buying it. Still, I would prefer a device that has the additional features mentionned above for $250 to $300.
Check out Sascha Pallenberg´s Hands On at netbooknews.com.

Next interesting device is another tablet: NotionInk´s “Adam” tablet, based on the nVidia Tegra 2, featuring a Pixel Qi 3Qi screen technology (which is power saving, has an e-ink like mode (good daylight readability), but is TFT based – a development based on the OLPC XO´s screen)

Check out Slashgear´s Hands On session – this is certainly an interesting device.

More? Well, I like the look of Lenovo latest additions to the Thinkpad line (Thinkpad Edge and X100e), but the specs do not sound too promising, as the battery life of the AMD powered offerings are unlikely to offer a satisfiying battery life – and the Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300… I would have prefered a Core i3 CPU, but that might be a matter of time. High end smartphones will run on ARMv7 and x86 SoCs in 2010 – we will see which kind will perform better.
Many interesting devices, but nothing really mind blowing for a person that follows tech trends all the time.

Maybe that Apple tablet… no, it won´t be that mind blowing, but surely its presentation will be awesome and whatever it will be, it is supposed to sell well ;-)