CES 2013 - Day -1

CES in Las Vegas isn't even officially open yet however companies such as Vizio and Lenovo have already started announcing new and updated products.

One of the biggest thing which has been announced so far is Vizio's first breed of smart phone. They have made 2 HD phones, one with a 5.5-inch screen and the other with a 4.7-inch screen. Both phones run the latest version of Android however at the moment they are only going on sale in China.

I was expecting something a little more exciting and futuristic from Vizio however both of these phones look like standard android phones; the only thing which is slightly interesting is the dual Sim Card capabilities on the 4.7-inch model.

Whilst I am on the subject of Vizio, I can confirm that they have updated all of their current laptops and ultra-books so they have a touch screen  They have also updated them so that they have a brand new track pad which comes from a completely new manufacture (probably because the old manufacturer did a rubbish job).

The new OS revealed when the 'Ideacentre Horizon' is laid flat

The coolest thing which has came out of CES so far has to be the 27-inch all-in-one, Lenovo, Windows 8 PC called the 'Ideacentre Horizon'. It is a normal Windows 8 PC whilst it is stood up and you can use it like how you would use a normal desktop computer however as soon as you lay it down flat it starts to run a completely new operating system. This unique operating system is exclusive to this 'coffee table tablet' and it uses fresh ideas and features which we have never seen before:

• You can sit around this huge tablet because the operating system works easily no matter what direction you are using it from; even if you are sat near a corner!
• It has a circle in the middle with options and apps around the circle which face outwards.
• When looking at something like a photo you use 2 fingers to move it around, make it bigger and rotate it.
• As you may expect it is excellent for playing board games such as Monopoly.

Overall this is a really cool tablet/all-in-one PC/coffee table and with a price of just over £1000, this is perfect for both the living room and the office.

Is it unusual that Nvidia who usally
makes computer chips is now making
Gaming devices?

Nvidia announced an unusual product called 'Project Shield' which is a handheld gaming device. It runs on Nvidia's Tegra 4 processor which means it is capable of powering 4K video and streaming PC games. The device looks extremely weird as it has a 5-inch HD screen which stands vertically on top of a huge XBOX like controller. For a hand held games device it actually had lots of ports; HDMI, micro-USB, microSD slot and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Inside, the device actually runs Android Jelly Bean which means that you might be able to play your favourite touch games with the controller such as Angry Birds however I'm not sure how that would work. 

The release date is around April 2013 and more information about this product will be released soon. During the presentation something called 'Project Thor' was mentioned however everyone is clueless regarding what that might be.

Anyway, that is all from the day before CES is officially open. Read tomorrow when CES will be officially open and we will see a lot more awesome technology!