Top 10 Gadgets Launched @ CES 2012

Lenovo Ice Cream Sandwich TV

The world's first TV that runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system was unveiled by Lenovo. The K91 TV runs Android 4.0 and not Google's TV software, which is based on Android Honeycomb. The company claims to have wrapped a new smart "Sandwich" UI that unites three major smart TV functions, including Video On Demand (VOD), Internet applications and traditional TV programmes around Android 4.0. The 139.7-cm (55-inch) 3D TV is powered by a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm processor and has 1 GB RAM. The television set also has a 5 MP camera, which integrates with the facial recognition tech on board the TV. Lenovo has also included an Android app store of its own called the Lenovo store.

Motorola Droid 4

The fourth generation of Motorola Droid Android smartphone has been unveiled at the show. It is a 4G LTE device that sports a 10.2-cm (4-inch) qHD display. The smartphone resembles the Droid RAZR, the only exception being the presence of a full QWERTY keyboard. With Droid 4, the company aims to target the Android phone fans who always wished for a physical keyboard. The smartphone is 1.3-cm (0.5-inch) thick and is powered by a dual-core 1.2-GHz processor, 1GB RAM, an 8-MP camera, 16GB internal storage and 4G LTE. Verizon will launch Droid 4 and has said that the device will eventually be updated to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It will be priced between $199 and $299 on a two-year contract.

Lenovo Intel Smartphone

Intel and Lenovo announced the world's first Intel-powered Android smartphone -- the K800 at the show. The smartphone utilises Intel's Medfield mobile platform -- the Atom Z2460 1.6GHz processor. According to both the firms, the new Medfield platform is a "no compromise" mobile processor in terms of performance and battery life. The smartphone iwll run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and will have an 8 MP rear camera along with a front facing camera. It is expected to be available in china in the second quarter of this year.

Samsung Super OLED TV

Samsung released it 55-inch super OLED TV. The television boasts that same eye-popping picture quality, super fast response times and ultra-thin form factor that is the hallmark of OLED technology. the unique thing is that the TV is produced from a single pane of glass and is powered by a dual-core chipset. Users can run multiple apps simultaneously and open multiple pages on the tabbed web browser. The TV can also be controlled via voice controls along with the traditional remote controls. It has two unidirectional microphones and background noise cancellation technology that allows the user to activate selected apps, activate the search function in the web browser and tell the TV what to search for. It also has a built-in camera enabling face recognition feature and motion control.

Toshiba Excite X10

The world's thinnest tablet was released by Toshiba which measures just 7.7mm, around 0.9mm thinner than the previous thinnest tablet in the world -- the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The 25.7-cm (10.1-inch) device has a capacitive touchscreen with a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution. It is powered by a 1.2 GHz dual-core TI OMAP4 processor and runs Android 3.2 Honeycomb operating system. Other tech specs of the tablet include, 1GB RAM, up to 64GB internal storage, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, microHDMI, microUSB, 5 MP rear camera and 2 MP front camera. The tablet will be launched initially in the US market at $529 (approx Rs 27,936) for the 16GB model and $599 (approx Rs 31,635) for the 32GB model.

Nokia Lumia 900

Nokia used the CES 2012 platform to unveil its latest Windows phone offering - the Nokia Lumia 900. The phone will be available exclusively on the 4G LTE network of AT&T. The company did not announce the pricing and availability of the phone. The smartphone sports a 10.9 cm (4.3) inch AMOLED ClearBlack display with a resolution of 480 x 800. It is powered by a 1.4 GHz Scorpion processor and will include 16 GB internal memory. The phone will run Windows 7.5 Mango operating system and will also come with an 8 MP rear camera and a 1 MP front facing camera.

LG Blast Chill Refrigerator

LG unveiled its three-door refrigerator (model LFX31935) with extra large capacity at the show. The refrigerator has a proprietary 'blast chiller' feature. With this quick chill technology, the 91.4-cm (36-inch) refrigerator can cool off a 12-ounce beverage can in less than five minutes, when other typical refrigerators take around 40 minutes to cool off a can even within the freezer compartment.

SpareOne Mbile Phone With 15-Years Battery Life

SpareOne launched a mobile phone that offers a battery life of 15 years. The phone has been designed for emergency situations and can stay without being charged for years. It runs on a single AA battery and allows users to program the mobile phone for instant access to phone numbers of key contacts. The phone is also able to automatically transmit its location via its mobile ID. It includes a built-in torch as well.

Cotton Candy USB

FXI Technologies demonstrated its new USB stick dubbed as 'Cotton Candy' at the show. The company showcased Android 4.0 and Ubuntu on the world's smallest PC. The Cotton Candy is a USB stick-sized computing device which allows users a single, secure point of access to all personal cloud services and apps through their favourite operating system, while delivering a consistent experience on any screen. The Cotton Candy USB stick comes equipped with an ARM Cortex-A9 (1GHz) CPU from Samsung, an ARM Mali-400 MP (Quad-core, 1.2GHz) GPU, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, HDMI output and the Android operating system. The power-packed stick decodes MPEG-4, H.264 and other video formats and displays HD graphics on any HDMI-equipped screen. Users can control content via smartphones, keyboards, mice and other USB peripherals. Other than the Ice Cream Sandwich and Ubuntu 2.3 offerings, the device is reportedly technically capable of running Windows 8 since ARM is a supported architecture. The device is slated to go on sale in Q2 at a price below $200.

ViewSonic ViewPad e70

ViewSonic unveiled its budget Android 4.0 ICS tablet device aka ViewPad e70. This new device boasts of the most updated Google's Android platform and that too at a much cheaper price tag -- just $169. The ViewPad e70 sports a 17.7-cm (7-inch) screen display with a low 800x480 pixel resolution and an unidentified 1 GHz single-core processor. It is said to ahve a fairly responsive capacitive touchscreen. It packs in a microSD card slot, microHDMI port and 4GB storage. It is said that the tablet will offer Amazon Appstore and Amazon Kindle app but without the official Google Android Market.

-- Upasana Rajpal, EFYTimes News Network