Two gadgets caught my eye at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Firstly, gaming company Razer has a bold and stunning gaming tablet concept.
Code-named Fiona, it is a tablet souped up to play PC games such as Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Tom Clancy's HAWX 2, and Assassin's Creed: Revelations out of the box.
Razer's gaming tablet concept Fiona -- PHOTO: GRACE CHNG
Not for the faint-hearted and definitely not for the casual gamer who wants to play Cut The Cable or Angry Birds, the specifications will set gamers’ hearts beating fast. It is powered by Intel's Core i7 Ive Bridge processor and Microsoft's latest Windows 8 operating system. It is also a multi-touch device and is equipped with an accelerometer.
Razer's Singaporean chief executive Tan Min Liang said that tablets were not made for heavy-duty PC games. As a gamer, he wanted a device which has an intuitive control and provides a great gaming experience. Hence he built one.
Project Fiona sports a 10.1-inch tablet with high resolution of 1280 x 800 and has controls which sit on either side of it. Each control has four face buttons, a start button, and two triggers. This set-up lets a gamer hold the tablet firmly while playing the game.
Said Mr Tan: 'It will have force feedback and incredible graphics. Gamers can play games in real-time and against their friends. They can start playing on their PCs at home and when they go out, they can continue playing with Fiona.'
Mr Tan hopes to gather feedback from gamers before coming out with a commercial product at the end of 2012. But be prepared to shell out US$1,000 ($1,287) for it.
Innovative
Fiona is now a finalist in the 2012 CES list of innovative products. It comes close at the heels of Razer’s latest 17-inch gaming notebook called Blade which costs a whopping US$2,700.
According to Mr Tan, supply cannot meet demand from now till March. The first units will be delivered to customers in the next two weeks.
The other product that drew much attention was Samsung’s 55-inch OLED TV, which is breathtaking in its beauty, slenderness and brilliance. OLED (organic light-emitting diode)technology is energy saving and able to project sparkling colours.
Tim Baxter (right), president of Samsung Electronics America looks on as Joe Stinziano (left), senior vice president of Samsung Electronics America speaks at the unveiling of Samsung's 55-inch Super OLED HDTV (centre) at the annual Consumer Electronics Show on Jan 9, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. -- PHOTO: AFP
-- PHOTO: GRACE CHNG
-- PHOTO: GRACE CHNG
Samsung did not provide a lot of information for it, except that it will feature a quad-core processor and full 3D support. It is expected to hit stores sometime in 2012.
This razor-thin beautiful TV greeted visitors to the Korean company’s booth at CES and attracted huge crowds.
But this Samsung TV and the Fiona are concept products only and will hit stores later in 2012.