The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show is finally complete. It offered all of its attendees and interested parties worldwide plenty to look forward to in the tech world. There are too many products to discuss in just one wrap-up, so here are some of the highlights from this year's show in Las Vegas.
Motorola Xoom
The iPad may currently hold a comfortable grip on the tablet crown, but that does not mean that other manufacturers won't try to take it away. Motorola's new Xoom tablet was introduced, and it made quite a splash, earning the label as the best new gadget at CES. Such a distinction is a nice start for the Motorola device, which is the first made to run on Google's Honeycomb OS developed specifically for tablets. The Xoom's use of the tablet-specific Honeycomb OS has many suggesting that it could become a strong competitor to the iPad.
Among the highlights of the Xoom are a 10.1-inch display, which is slightly larger than the iPad's 9.7-inches, as well as a 1 GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 processor. The tablet also has a 5-megapixel camera, something that the iPad does not currently have. The Xoom is set to ship sometime this quarter in a 3G version, although a 4G capability is expected later this year.
Motorola Atrix 4G
In an effort to compete against its rivals in the Android arena of HTC and Samsung, Motorola revealed smartphones for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. While each of the smartphones has its merit, the highlight of the new Motorola lineup is the Atrix 4G.
The Atrix 4G was created with enterprise IT managers in mind, and is headlined by a dual-core processor and its exclusive webtop application. Webtop allows users to mobilize their desktop and manage the phone's content through a larger screen using a docking station. Webtop can be used to browse the web via Firefox, for instant messaging, making phone calls, and running Android apps simultaneously. The Atrix 4G has a 4-inch display and sports cameras on its front and back for video chat. The smartphone is expected to hit the streets this quarter.
Blackberry PlayBook
Tablets definitely were a hot theme at this year's CES, and Research In Motion did its best to be trendy by introducing its Blackberry PlayBook tablet. The PlayBook is being dubbed as another strong competitor to the iPad, although it seems to be more business-minded due to features like corporate data access and compatibility with the Blackberry Enterprise Server.
The PlayBook has a 1 GHz processor and a 7-inch HD display. It has multitasking that allows you to switch between apps easily, supports Flash and HTML 5, and also has front and rear-facing cameras. The PlayBook can be tethered to a Blackberry for 3G access, and also has integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It's set to release this quarter for a price below the $500 mark. A 4G version will supposedly be released this summer through Sprint.
Intel Sandy Bridge Processor
Intel's new Sandy Bridge processor was introduced during a CES press event, and the announcement was a welcome one for followers of the video and gaming arenas. The Sandy Bridge's graphic engine is the first in the industry that is based on 32 nanometers. It is being described as the next big thing in video and gaming technology. Sandy Bridge succeeds Intel's Nehalem chip and will be shipped in the future in desktops, laptops, and more.
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