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What do you look forward to see at CES 2014?
In this edition of the Friday Debate, we anticipate the Consumer Electronics Show, one of the largest electronics shows on Earth, and the kick-off of a new year in technology of all kinds. From huge TVs to tiny wearables, everything that matters in tech – and a lot of stuff that doesn’t – will be in Las Vegas, and our team will be there to check it out. CES 2014 shapes up to be a little more interesting that last year, and with the huge variety of products on display, there’s really something for everyone.
With that said, what do you look forward to at this years’ CES? What are the companies and products that piqued your interest so far and what developments do you hope to see?
Join us in the discussion, vote in our poll, and sound off in the comments!
Joe Hindy
It’s hard to nail down any one thing that one looks forward to at CES. It’s one of the premiere technology conferences of the year which means we’re going to get to see some fantastic things from TVs to wearables and even down to smaller electronics.
That said there are two things I’m looking very forward to. The first is whatever Sony has cooked up their sleeve for this year. They announced their Xperia Z phone at CES last year and I would’ve owned that phone if it had made it onto T-Mobile before the HTCOne. I’m hoping that whatever they announce (likely the Z2) will make it onto US carriers at launch so I can finally get my hands on a Sony devices without forking out the full retail value (thank you T-Mobile JUMP program). Sony has a history of making beautiful devices that run well and work well. There are also some ridiculous rumors going around about it, so it’ll be nice to see how many of those rumors are true.
The other thing I’m looking forward to is LG’s HomeChat. It’s an app that lets you text your various appliances to make them do what you want. This is something I would love to have because I’m very forgetful and it would be nice to be able to turn on my oven or get a notification that the washing machine is done as it occurs without having to set reminders for myself. Also, home automation is one of those things I’d love to see move forward more quickly.
Of course, the whole conference is going to be fun to watch and I’m quite excited for just about all of it!
Andrew Grush
In one word: wearables.
The year 2013 saw the wearable market begin to take off in a more meaningful way, but I’ve yet to see anything that has truly wowed me into wanting to run out a buy a wearable device. Sure, Glass looks cool and smartwatches like the Pebble and Galaxy Gear are nice products, but none of these things are must-have for the average consumer just yet — at least in my humble opinion.
That said, I personally believe that 2014 will be the year that the wearable market really gets off the ground in a big way, and CES could be the launching pad for this change. We’re already hearing reports about Intel, Samsung, Sony, Pebble, Archos and even LG gearing up for wearable products in the early part of this year and we know for sure that at least Intel, Archos and Pebble will have something to show us next week.
Aside from the wearable revolution, I’m also quite curious about what Samsung and other companies have in store for us when it comes to further developments in the “Smart home technologies” market.
Finally, anything and everything Android related. Tablets, smartphones and Android PCs — I want more! Although most of the CES Android device announcements are generally from smaller manufacturers, sometimes the big boys through in some cool surprises, too. Sony comes to mind, among others.
I love CES (and MWC) because it really sets the tone for the year, and I have a feeling 2014 is a going to be an epic year for Android and Google in general.
Bogdan Petrovan
What I love about CES is that it’s the semi-official start of a new year in technology, and that it gives a nice look at the months ahead, which shape up to be very exciting. I know that many people are fed up with CES and the usual mix of vaporware, me-too’s, and pompous announcements of products that nobody really cares about, but for me it’s still exciting.
I look forward to seeing technology announcements that will shape up the year to come, like we had in 2013 from Samsung and Qualcomm. I hope that Qualcomm gets a worthy rival this year in the SoC business, just for the sake of variety – maybe Samsung with their rumored 64-bit Exynos? NVIDIA, I’d love to see something from you guys…
Intel is said to be preparing an initiative that would put Android apps on Windows devices, which is something that many have tried before, but nobody really managed to get off the ground. That will be something to watch for.
Sony is gearing up to show us something, probably the Xperia Z1 mini, the small flagship we’ve all been clamoring for for so long. I wouldn’t mind a sequel to the Xperia Z1, but I’m pretty sure we’ll only see it at MWC at the earliest.
Google and Audi want to put Android in cars, and I’m definitely interested in hearing about that, as I am about any initiative that involves Google. However, I fear that this Android on autos project could have the fate of Android @ home. We’ll see.
Besides the big things, there will be a flurry of announcements from smaller players, and among them, we might find a few gems. In fact, the madness already began, with announcements from Archos, ZTE, and Acer, among others.
And there’s the flood of accessories, wearables, and what not that is going to hit us hard in just a few days.
Keeping track of everything at CES will be exhausting, but our crack team will be there for hot info and some sweet videos. Can’t wait!
What do YOU think?
Join us in the comments and vote in our poll.
[poll id=”438″]