Is 2013 the Year for Samsung?

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Bill Clinton! TVs! Flexible phones! Bright lights! Touch screens! Pretty pictures!

There were a lot of standout booths and announcements at CES 2013, but Samsung truly stood out, not only with the booths that ruled them all, but with an array of interesting products and announcements that ran the tech gamut as well. Samsung promised a “goal of creating new experiences for all, through its deep understanding of consumers’ lives and its relentless pursuit of discovery,” and to basically create new “more human” ways for people and devices to interact.

Samsung’s new products have a focus in the television, smart appliance, connected cameras, and mobile arenas.

Samsung Electronics booth.

Samsung Electronics booth

Samsung previewed a prototype phone with a flexible display. The flexible phone is made with super-thin plastic, and now glass, making it bendable. Samsung also previewed a curved phone. The only possible drawback was that, at least in the prototype, the processor was contained in a separate unit…still working out the details perhaps. The prototypes also ran on Windows 8, and not Android.

In the TV realm, Samsung offers a full line up of larger screen Ultra High Definition TV (UHD TV) TVs. Samsung introduced the F8000 LED TV, featuring a quad-core processor. With an ultra-thin profile, a quarter inch thick bezel and a half moon shaped Arc stand, the F8000 comes in sizes up to 75 inches. Samsung is the first TV brand to offer support for the new high compression video codec, HEVC. HEVC delivers double the video quality over the same bandwidth.

UHD TV

UHD TV

Samsung is making smarter TVs as well. Using their S-Recommendation with Voice Interaction technology, you can get more control over your TV viewing, and discover the content you’re interested in watching, or new content you might like. S-Recommendation can analyze a viewing history and the program schedule and create a personalized menu of content, for each viewer in your home. Coupled with the Voice Interaction features, you’ll be able to speak to your TV and ask for program suggestions or intelligently search for dialed in content.

Of course all this TV interactivity can sync to your Samsung phones and tablets! You’ll be able to organize is all with Samsung’s Smart Hub.

Smart Hub

Smart Hub

Samsung wants to not only connect your TV, but make your home more convenient and efficient as well. Samsung previewed Android connected and customizable refrigerators, larger capacity washing machines, and ranges and ovens with more features than ever, with other common household appliances integrated.

The Samsung T9000 refrigerator

Samsung allshare

Samsung has the photo buffs covered as well, improving their Smart Camera offerings. The NX300 offers exceptional image quality, speed, and control, and works with Samsung’s 2D/3D lens, the first such offering for a consumer camera. A Hybrid Auto Focus (AF) system offers improved image focus, even with continued shooting. The NX300 also features a tilt display, allowing images to be easily taken from any angle.

Samsung previewed new PCs at CES as well. The Series 7 Chronos promises a thinner and lighter form factor, accelerated performance, and a Full HD touch-point display, all in a sleek cool design. The Samsung Series 7 Ultra Notebook is ultra slim and light, with a full aluminum body, eight hour battery life, Full HD and touch screen, and runs on Windows 8.

Samsung also wants to help improve your personal and work device integration. Samsung launched its Samsung For Enterprise (SaFE) program, which will establish standards to help IT departments decide which mobile devices are safe to integrate at work. Of course, Samsung devices will weigh heavily on the list, starting with the SAFE branded Galaxy S III.

Samsung showcased its AllShare technology as well, allowing you to share across all of your devices, offering seamless connectivity amongst your Samsung devices.

Allshare

Samsung’s been working on a lot of this technology for years. In size, scope, and offerings, Samsung truly stood out at CES 2013? The future looks interesting at least for Samsung, even if they are still working the bugs out on some of the upcoming products!

What do you think? Ready for smarter appliances? MORE integration? What’s next?

Images courtesy of Samsung.com.

TVs in 2013: Bigger, Pricier, Better?

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How’s your TV working out for you? Not big enough? Not high def enough? Well, just you wait. At CES 2013, there were more awesome TVs than you could point your remote at. Bigger, huger, more HD than HD. TVs will be smarter, thinner, and have more amazing pictures and color than ever before. Just you wait and…see.

Let’s complicate things. All kinds of TV buzzwords are zipping around in the TV world. “Ultra HD,” “4K,” and “8K” TVs will be all the rage. So, TV resolution had traditionally been measured by vertical pixel counts. A 1920x1080 TV would be “1080p.” Things are a little different with the new crop of TVs though. 4K resolution is 3840x2160. Technically NEARLY 4K, or Quad Full HD (QFHD). 8K resolution is 7680x4320, and referred to as Ultra HD or UHD. You’ll sometimes see UHD used in reference for both 4K and 8K TVs.

Don’t forget the organic light emitting diode (OLED) TVs! LG previewed some amazing OLED TVs that should be on the market as soon as March 2013. OLED TVs can be super thin, and feature unparalleled black levels, contrast, brightness and color. OLED TV colors will blow you away.

The Hisense 84" ultra HD LED TV debuted at CES 2013.

Yes, TVs can be UHD and OLED as well. Sony and Panasonic both had 56” 4K OLED TVs on display.

Panasonic had 56" 4K OLED TVs on display at CES.

What are some of the other features you can look for in your TV of the future?

How about a gigantor TV? CES had TVs as big as 80 and over 100 inches on display! Where are you going to hang THAT!?

Bugged by fading edges in your TV viewing? Samsung and LG unveiled curved TVs to cut down on the fade.

Samsung had an amazing array of giant “floating” TVs that could be tilted and rotated. Their booth featured rotating TVs, touch screen displays, and incredible images. One of the standout, if not the coolest TV booths at the show.

Featured rotating TVs, touch screen displays and incredible images!

LG debuted smart TVs with 3D options, over 1,000 apps, and Wi-Fi connectivity. That’s a nice tablet!

How about a paper thin 3D TV you can see through? LG even featured curved 3D TVs.

What about Sharp’s 85” 8K TV?

From what I saw with my own eyes, these TVs are amazing, there’s no doubt. Jaw dropping pictures. The pictures and colors are unbelievable. The best way to describe them could be “better than reality.” But is this worth the price tag? Sure the prices will come down, but for now the biggest stumbling block will be price. LGs first commercially available OLED TV will be about $12,000. It will have a lot of awesome features, but it will still be $12,000.

Amazing TVs with jaw dropping images... and prices.

There are 4K sets on the market. Sony and LG offer 84” 4K TVs in the $20,000-25,000 range. The rumor is that Vizio will have a 4K TV that won’t hurt your wallet as much. Got $300,000? How about Westinghouse’s 110” 4K TV? That’s more money than my HOUSE cost, dude.

In addition to price, there are other challenges. These TVs are difficult to mass produce. There’s currently not a lot of content that optimizes the experience. So, it might be a bit before you’re hanging one of these babies in your garage. These TVs look cool and the pictures are amazing, but will they catch on? Is there a demand for more than HD content? What do you think?

In the meantime, be sure to check out Geeks.com's HDTV selections!