I did not think my third day at the convention would be as fruitful as it was due to my schedule sending me from conference room to conference room. Thursday, day three of CES, had me very busy as far as exhibits were concerned so I didn’t get ANY time on the showroom floor. Luckily for me, all the conferences had me sincerely impressed for the future in technology and I have plenty to write about.
Nintendo Wii U
My first experience with the Wii U was not unlike my first experience with the Sega Genesis Handheld. I was a little turned off by its size, but its game play more than makes up for it. The controller seems like a gaming device all on its own but it comes coupled with the new Wii console, which looks oddly enough like an external disk drive. What we do know is that it packs a 6.2-inch touch display that handles input very well, I might add. The controller supports up to 1080p video and has built-in gyroscopes to deliver that same game style you have grown accustom to these past few years. The new addition to the Nintendo Controller Design family was a surprise to no one but the lack of any real weight and its flawless (from what I demoed) User Interface, I must say that this has instantly become a console I need in my household. By adding a secondary controller type to the Wii creates a whole new world of possibilities for group game play. How game designers will utilize these new features in newer games is yet to be seen but I am excited for Nintendo’s future none-the-less.
SmartDock For Xperia Ion
We talked very briefly about Sony’s Xperia Ion phone on Monday. Aside from its connection to the Playstation marketplace, it has pretty much the same specs of almost every other Android phone being shown off this year, as impressive as they are. Where Sony stands out is their SmartDock for the Ion. With everyone striving for home connectivity this year, the SmartDock gives us a very interesting alternative. The dock not only charges your phone like all the other docks, but it serves as a port dock as well, offering an HDMI plug to connect to a TV and also the capability to plug in a keyboard and mouse. It effectively transforms your phone into an adorable desktop-like computing experience.
Fujifilm X-Pro1
We have not spent much time talking about cameras this year because there are far too many gadgets distracting me. The Fujifilm booth caught my eye with this little gem. The Fujifilm X-Pro1 looks a lot like any DSLR on the market but offers an experience unlike any. Focusing primarily on simplicity, the camera takes you away from the endless settings menus that you’re used to and brings your focus on taking a good picture. While it doesn’t seem to offer an auto-focus feature, it does put the aperture dial in the most obvious place, on the lens itself with the shutter speed dial on the top. It even combines the two settings when putting it in “A” mode. With such simplicity and ease of use in mind, this is my top pick for camera at the show this year. Although, the $2400 price tag made me faint.
Lytro Light Field Camera
At the Last Gadget Standing event at CES, I was blown away at the site of such truly incredible and innovative technologies coming out of the technical industry this year. One that definitely caught my attention was the Lytro Light Field Camera. The company genuinely had me amazed at the new technology they were offering. A camera that has the ability to use 100% of the light in the room to deliver stunning photos, unlimited focus points, and look incredibly sexy all at the same time. The design threw me for a loop because it simply looks nothing like a camera. It looked more like a monocular to me but its capabilities far surpass that of a simple spyglass.
The very first light fields were captured at Stanford University over 15 years ago. The most advanced light field research required a roomful of cameras tethered to a supercomputer. Today, Lytro completes the job of taking light fields out of the research lab and making them available for everyone, in the form of the world’s first Lytro Light Field Camera. –Lytro
Essentially, this means you can focus and re-focus and re-focus all you want AFTER you take the picture, choose the best focal point for the picture you have taken, and you can even let your friends focus the pictures themselves. On top of all that, you can choose different perspectives for the photo to be seen from. Using the entire light field means your photos are taken in a sort of 3D. So changing its perspective is possible. Also, if images are viewed on a 3D capable device (i.e. phones, computers, TVs), it will deliver that photo to your retinas in glorious 3D. Are you not impressed?
FXI Cotton Candy
What I went to the Last Gadget Standing event to see was this device right here. I have been excited to see this demoed for over a year now. I have been following FXI’s every move in order to know exactly when I can own one of my very own. This is, at its tiny little core, a computer in the shape of a thumb drive. It has an ARM Cortex A9 Dual-Core Processor, which means it can run its own Operating System. In this case, Android Ice Cream Sandwich, but the representative even showed me one running Ubuntu Linux. If you’re any where close to the level of nerd I am, you would then ask yourself “Well, with all that inside, how could it possibly have room for any kind of storage or memory?” It offers a micro SD card reader on the top supporting up to 64gb; problem solved. On one side, a USB plug, on the other, an HDMI plug, giving you the capability of delivering 1080p HD video to what ever you plug it in to. Not to mention the capability to connect it to absolutely any type of monitor to enjoy beautiful Android 4.0. No word on how much it will cost or a release date so I’ll just keep patiently waiting.
And that’s all I’ve got for day three. I’ll be up bright and early tomorrow to head back into the belly of the beast. Check back frequently for more #NerdsAtCES at the only place for your inner nerd, Nerdlocker.
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