Reacting to Apple at CES 2012, part three: Sony, Motorola, RIM, Nokia

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in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
As noted in the previous two segments, Apple's success with the MacBook Air and iPad have changed the course of Intel and its Ultrabook PC makers and Samsung and its mobility products. Here's a look at how the rest of the industry has chased (or flirted with) Apple at this year's CES.



Reacting to Apple at CES 2012, part one: Intel's Ultrabooks

Reacting to Apple at CES 2012, part two: Samsung's Galaxy Note

Reacting to Apple at CES 2012, part three: Sony, Motorola, RIM, Nokia



Sony: AirPlay, Reader, Personal 3D



Near Samsung's sprawling booth, Sony had erected its own temple of technologies. One that jumped out was "Simple Wireless Connection," a new feature that would enable wireless content sharing for Sony devices just like Apple's AirPlay from 2010, as well as wireless screen mirroring for Sony devices, an apparent doppelgänger of the AirPlay Mirroring feature Steve Jobs demonstrated a year ago on iPad 2 (and which also works on iPhone 4S).



When asked how these differ from Apple's projects, the presenter acknowledged that Sony's versions are only technology demonstrations and won't be immediately shipping.







Remember when Sony was leading the ebook reader category? Apparently the company still makes Reader products. Without going to CES, one might not have known that.







At a trade show sea of 3D products, ranging from the vertigo inducing "glasses free" type to various passive and active HDTV systems requiring glasses, Sony was presenting a novel approach to delivering immersive TV and gameplay: glasses sporting dual 720p OLED displays and "virtual 5.1" surround sound. The novel part was that they were actually usable and desirable.



While the $800 Personal 3D glasses only look a tiny bit sillier than regular 3D glasses, they deliver a distraction free image that moves with your head, allowing you to enter a 3D world without having to buy and hang a huge display in a suitable room. The system also presents regular 2D images. Weighing less than a pound, the system is also quite portable.







The glasses hook up to a small box that accepts any standard HDMI input (the presenter was kind enough to unlock the cabinet to show the unit, below), and present an image roughly equivalent to "a 750 inch screen that's 65 feet away" according to the company, or alternatively, a 150 inch screen 12 feet away. That's larger than the 92 inch 3D screen Mitsubishi had on display around the corner.







Thanks to OLED technology, the unit presents high contrast images with less motion blur than typical LCD screens, along with true black reproduction (as OLED doesn't use backlighting).



The unit can pass through its HDMI signal to an external display, allowing a user to enjoy the glasses when alone, watch HDTV without recabling anything, or display the game one is immersed in on a secondary display while playing it inside the Personal 3D glasses. Interestingly, Sony specifically includes Apple TV among the devices that can drive its standard HDMI Personal 3D system. Of course, you could also hook up your MacBook.







An alternative to Sony's wearable immersive video was on display by Steel Space and its partner Modern Work Environment Labs, although the "scorpion-like" Emperor Chair they demonstrated was really just a fancy way to sit at a PC with multiple monitors hung overhead.



The system was also demonstrated in white for Mac users. The art project was actually a demonstration of the company's transforming shipping container, which the "computer office in a chair" systems were placed on, so Sony doesn't have a lot to worry about.







On page 2 of 4: CES motorcade of distraction: Motorola, NVIDIA



CES motorcade of distraction: Motorola, NVIDIA



A number of CES exhibitors apparently didn't have too much to show this year, so they resorted to building fancy booths and showing off hot cars within them instead.



Motorola built its booth boundaries out of translucent white tubes it then projected video images on, creating a walk-through curtain that was more impressive than anything actually within the Motorola booth.



The company appeared to be most excited about promoting MOTO ACTV, its Android-based iPod nano/Nike+ clone that looks like it was designed by the Soviets in the 1970s, after seeing a iPod nano thrust back in time.











Outside of Motorola's wall of tubes, a series of exhibitors had hot cars on display. Beyond companies actually showing off their new automotive technology at CES, there were a variety of exhibitors who just dropped a hot car in their booth to garner some attention.



Here's a yellow Lamborghini that might have been brought in by Clarion, and a red Tesla on the floor of NVIDIA's booth. NVIDIA is no doubt hoping that Windows 8 drives adoption of its Tegra 3 (demonstrated onstage during Steve Ballmer's Microsoft Keynote) better than Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets drove shipments of Tegra 2 or the Zune HD drove demand for its original Tegra.











Two more cars: Monster had a polished aluminum Audi on hand, apparently to make its HDMI cables look affordable in comparison, and RIM subsidiary QNX had a nice Porsche on hand, apparently to direct attention away from the fact that RIM doesn't actually have a QNX-based vehicle for accelerating its BlackBerry smartphones yet.











On page 3 of 4: Dinosaur exhibits: RIM, Polaroid



Dinosaur exhibits: RIM, Polaroid



At RIM's BlackBerry booth, the company was showing off the products it failed to sell in 2011, including the 7 inch PlayBook, which co-CEO Mike Lazaridis described before it went on sale as being "the perfect size" before also noting that RIM planned to make other sizes as well.



Just months before that, Steve Jobs had predicted that 7 inch tablets would fail, saying, "we think the 7 inch tablets will be dead on arrival, and manufacturers will realize they're too small and abandon them next year. They'll then increase the size, abandoning the customers and developers who bought into the smaller format."







RIM did have its biggest innovation on display however: a BlackBerry version of the App Store capable of charging $4.99 for "Cut The Rope," a fun but simple game that is $0.99 for iOS devices. This is the same game Microsoft oddly chose to demonstrate as being playable on a no-compromise, full power Windows 8 machine.







And then there was Polaroid, a company with a booth primarily devoted to creating paper only, non-digital photographs that look like they were taken in the 1970s. Sadly, there's now an app for that, and Polaroid doesn't even make it; the company just licenses its name for it.







On page 4 of 4: The hall of Apple litigants: Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia, Kodak



The hall of Apple litigants: Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia, Kodak



The last corner of Apple-related exhibitors all fell under the (admittedly long) list of companies that are or have sued the company, starting with Alcatel-Lucent.



The company had on display what appeared to be a war-on-drugs-mobile. Visible behind it were Nokia and Kodak, a veritable dark alley for Apple's lawyers.











Nokia's CES booth was nearly all devoted to Windows Phone 7, touting the new line of recently released Lumia smartphones. The company depicted the Carl Zeiss lens of the Lumia 800 and 900 models next to an actual Carl Zeiss movie camera.







It also demonstrated some "harsh interrogation" devices Nokia uses to torture prototypes until they reveal their weaknesses, including a body flex test and an automated button poking machine.







Nokia also had on hand a clever wireless speaker accessory that receives smartphone audio via Bluetooth after first configuring with the phone via an NFC tap of the device on the top of the speaker. Unfortunately, the device was apparently developed before the company realized that Windows Phone wouldn't support NFC, so it doesn't work with any of the devices Nokia was showing off.







Successive versions of Windows Phone plan to add support for NFC hardware (along with features such as front facing cameras), and Nokia is hoping to add increasing amounts of its own differentiating feature to its Windows Phone models. So far, Nokia has largely been limited to replacing Microsoft's weaker implementation of Bing Maps with its own mapping technology, as well as adding a City Lens app for local search via augmented reality, and a Transport app for walking and transit directions.



After nearly falling asleep in the Kodak booth, it made sense to head over to Occupy CES.







One More Thing



There was one more thing that was pretty cool at CES: a process for laying down a nano coating of liquid resistant polymer by P2i. The process, branded Aridion, pulses an ionized gas plasma into a vacuum chamber containing the products to be treated, resulting in an ultra-thin coating deposited on all surfaces inside and outside of the product.



The coating is so thin that it is both invisible and impossible to feel, but reduces the surface energy to the point where water or oil beads up and runs off like a Teflon pan. The company demonstrated the coating using paper facial tissues; treated paper would bead up water dropped on it just like mercury, and when submerged into water, the tissue remained dry (as shown below, after both received a thorough dunking).







By treating electronics, such as a smartphone, the devices can be protected from liquid or humidity damage, preventing corrosion from developing circuit failures. Moisture damage has been a very significant problem for Apple from the iPod to the iPhone, and the company has reacted by installing liquid sensors that signal when users have exposed their devices to excessive moisture or humidity, something that can invalidate their warranty.



Interestingly, P2i states that Motorola has already begun coating the Droid RAZR phone and XYBOARD tablet with its technology, something that Motorola refers to as "splash guard."



iOS users will have to wait for Apple to adopt the technology, because P2i doesn't offer the process to consumers. Be sure to check out our Weekend Tech Review for footage of Aridion's magic in action, as well as recap of the rest of the week's top news stories.



Reacting to Apple at CES 2012, part one: Intel's Ultrabooks

Reacting to Apple at CES 2012, part two: Samsung's Galaxy Note

Reacting to Apple at CES 2012, part three: Sony, Motorola, RIM, Nokia
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 46
    postulantpostulant Posts: 1,272member
    You guys SHOULD be reporting on Intel's new Medfield chip... That's one of the biggest stories if you ask me. That and the new wifi standard 802.11ac.



    1.3 Gbps download speeds ?!?! Freaking insane...
  • Reply 2 of 46
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,090member
    Trying not to nitpick AI, but really... who checks facts over there?



    The Audi R8 from Monster that AI has somehow determined to be "polished aluminum", is far... ridiculously far, from being accurate.



    That Audi was featured as a project build by West Coast Customs. It was a theme-based car that was their own personal interpretation concept for the movie TRON. The polished aluminum is in fact a special paint using silver particles. Has nothing to do with polishing bare metal. Come-on AI.



    The info about that car can be found here:

    http://www.westcoastcustoms.com/blog/?p=2713
  • Reply 3 of 46
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    The Aridion process looks very cool. It would be nice to have clothes that behave like that in the rain.
  • Reply 4 of 46
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    You guys SHOULD be reporting on Intel's new Medfield chip... That's one of the biggest stories if you ask me. That and the new wifi standard 802.11ac.



    1.3 Gbps download speeds ?!?! Freaking insane...



    Medfield has nothing to do with Apple. It's a x86 Atom paired with a weak GPU, and still eats up more power than today's A5. Apple will blow it out of the water with its next generation ARM SoC.



    02.11ac, while interesting in its potential, is several months from being finished. But remember when DED detailed 802.11n as the enabling technology behind Apple TV in late 2006, and everyone pissed themselves because they demanded to know why a "non ratified" standard was being cited as news and that it wouldn't be finished until years into the future? And then Apple delivered it within a couple months.



    Gigibit AirPort?
  • Reply 5 of 46
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Postulant View Post


    You guys SHOULD be reporting on Intel's new Medfield chip... That's one of the biggest stories if you ask me. That and the new wifi standard 802.11ac.



    1.3 Gbps download speeds ?!?! Freaking insane...



    The booths with solutions for CE companies are very interesting.



    Here's some info on 802.11ac:
  • Reply 6 of 46
    Looks like one big snoozefest.
  • Reply 7 of 46
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    The booths with solutions for CE companies are very interesting.



    Here's some info on 802.11ac:



    Thanks for the links - very interesting.
  • Reply 8 of 46
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    I can't read DE
  • Reply 9 of 46
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dillger


    Successive versions of Windows Phone plan to add support for NFC hardware (along with features such as front facing cameras), and Nokia is hoping to add increasing amounts of its own differentiating feature to its Windows Phone models.



    I know it doesn't matter as no one is reading these articles for accurate information at this point, but FFC was in 7.5, which is a few months old now.



    Pay attention Dillger, or you'll continue to get this stuff wrong.
  • Reply 10 of 46
    mauszmausz Posts: 243member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Firefly7475 View Post


    I know it doesn't matter as no one is reading these articles for accurate information at this point, but FFC was in 7.5, which is a few months old now.



    Pay attention Dillger, or you'll continue to get this stuff wrong.



    You are correct, and might I add NFC has been added in Mango update as well (although currently not used by any hardware vendor, but as the statement suggest Mango is lacking support, this is 100% false)
  • Reply 11 of 46
    steven n.steven n. Posts: 1,229member
    http://www.liquipel.com/



    Liquipel also had a booth and has a consumer front end as well. They will treat about anything but you will have to be away from your phone for a week. Tech looks cool.
  • Reply 12 of 46
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,712member


    If a new Airport Extreme had this what are the chances of a plug in dongle for existing .11n MacBookPros and if so what port could support such a dongle?
  • Reply 13 of 46
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,712member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by maccherry View Post


    Looks like one big snoozefest.



    It is amazing how exhibitions have become so irrelevant thanks to the internet. To think I used to fly the Atlantic several times a year for Mac World shows and the like.
  • Reply 14 of 46
    Cool cars!



    Wait.....
  • Reply 15 of 46
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    If a new Airport Extreme had this what are the chances of a plug in dongle for existing .11n MacBookPros and if so what port could support such a dongle?



    As of right now those are the only products I could find for 802.11ac. I'm sure there will be USB dongles sometime this year.



    Apple is more systematic so I would expect some updated Macs supporting this the day they release new or updated AirPort products. They have also been ahead of the curve when adding new wireless standards to their wireless products. They aren't the first, but historically they are the first to go all in with support, and good news for consumers 802.11ac is moving much more swiftly than 802.11n ever did.
  • Reply 16 of 46
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    Cool cars!



    Wait.....



    The NAIAS did just take place in Detroit. That would have been more interesting.
  • Reply 17 of 46
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    If a new Airport Extreme had this what are the chances of a plug in dongle for existing .11n MacBookPros and if so what port could support such a dongle?



    Aside from copying files around the local area the added speed would be of little use unless your Internet connection was also smoking fast. At my house, I'm supposed to be on 10 Mbs but in reality in the evenings when there is a lot of network traffic in the neighborhood, I get around 5 or less. Therefore in my situation .11ac would not add any benefit. Sure it would be nice to have but I might as well wait until my next MBP upgrade when it will be standard.
  • Reply 18 of 46
    Quote:

    The company depicted the Carl Zeiss lens of the Lumia 800 and 900 models next to an actual Carl Zeiss movie camera.



    It looks like a vintage Red One (11.5 mp, ~$25,000) electronic cinema camera with a Zeiss cinema lens (~$5000). Considering that the Red One camera runs proprietary firmware and requires a (separate) proprietary offline application to de-Bayer the camera's output, it makes a strange combination to show the capabilities of a Nokia cell phone.
  • Reply 19 of 46
    Cut The Rope HD on iPad is $1.99.

    Cut The Rope HD on PlayBook is $2.99.



  • Reply 20 of 46
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    At RIM's BlackBerry booth, the company was showing off the products it failed to sell in 2011, including the 7 inch PlayBook [ ... ]



    Amateur hour just keeps dragging on and on...
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