ces2012 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

[Update: It's The Largest!] CES 2012 Is Officially The Largest CES Ever - Here Are Some Interesting Stats

Posted by Ron Amadeo in News

Update: Previously the CEA sent out a press release saying CES 2012 was the 2nd largest ever, now they've sent a new one, with new numbers, making CES 2012 was the largest ever. The new stats put it at 1.861 million net square feet, 3,100 exhibitors, and 153,000 attendees. Did we mention CES was big? It's big.

CES 2012 is big. Like, really big. In fact, it's the second largest ever. The CEA is very proud of their gigantic trade show, and they've sent us some statistics to celebrate.

CES exhibitors sucked up 1.851 million net square feet this year, 2nd only to 2008's CES, which clocked in at 1.857 million net square feet.

Jan

[CES 2012] The Most Impressive Non-Android Product Of The Week: Samsung's Transparent Smart Window

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Off-Topic

Last Updated: January 17th, 2012

As CES comes to a close, we look back at the new devices we've seen - some were expected, some came from out-of-nowhere, and others were just downright impressive. Among all of the things that we've seen this week, however, there is one non-Android piece of tech that stands above the rest: Samsung's Transparent Smart Window. Here, check it out:

Update: Here's Samsung's official video that breaks down some of Smart Window's features further:

And with that, dear reader, we conclude our coverage of CES 2012. We hope you enjoyed the experience as much as we did!

Jan

[Update: Release Date] CES 2012: Verizon Wireless And Motorola Announce The Beefier Droid RAZR MAXX And The Original Droid RAZR In Purple

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Motorola, News, RAZR / RAZR MAXX, Verizon Wireless

Droid RAZR MAXX

Verizon Wireless and Motorola just took the wraps off the new Droid RAZR - the Droid RAZR MAXX, a familiar name we saw leaked a few weeks ago. The RAZR MAXX contains the following changes compared to the original:

A beefier battery with an unknown at the moment capacity. What we do know is that it allows for more than 21 hours of talk time on a single charge. Update: It's 3,300 mAh.
The MAXX is 8.99mm thin compared to the original RAZR's 7.1mm.
The press release specifies 32GB total storage, but it's not obvious whether that means 32GB on-board or 16+16, like on the original RAZR.

Jan

[CES 2012] Video Hands-On With The Motorola DROID 4

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, Droid 4, Motorola, News, Videos

Late yesterday, we got a chance to spend some time with the Motorola DROID 4 over at the Verizon booth here at CES, and we have to say - It sure seems like Motorola has done it again. The DROID 4 will likely once again set the bar for QWERTY slider phones, and thanks to the addition of 4G LTE and a snappy TI OMAP 4430 dual-core processor (the same one found in the DROID RAZR), it's also going to be the fastest DROID yet.

Of course, the biggest feature on any DROID is the keyboard, and you can rest assured, the DROID 4's does not disappoint.

Jan

[CES 2012] HzO Lets You Fully Submerge Your Device In Water With No Ill Effects

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News

How many times have you dropped a phone in water? A puddle, bucket, bathtub, lake, toilet (don't act like it doesn't happen)... whatever. Phone attracting bodies of water are seemingly everywhere, and unless you're willing to put your phone in a ginormous waterproof case, once that beautiful piece of tech meets the life-affirming liquid substance, it's usually hosed (but sometimes rice can help).

Enter HzO, a company who looks to make our devices fully submergible. This is possible by a special coating on all of the electronic components inside the device, a process which takes place during manufacturing. The best part (aside from the fact that you can play with your phone in the bathtub) is that it shouldn't add any retail cost to the device.

Jan

Archos: All G9 Tablets To Be Upgraded To Ice Cream Sandwich By First Week Of February '12

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in 101 G9, 80 G9, ARCHOS, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

ASUS isn't the only one upgrading their tablets to Ice Cream Sandwich in the beginning of February - we were running around the South Hall at CES 2012 and ran into Archos, which, among other things, manufactures a whole series of G9 tablets (various combinations of 101 and 80).

Guess what - all of the G9 tablets are scheduled to receive ICS starting the first week of February (they did let everyone know it would happen "in the near future" a few days ago, but we were able to get the most up-to-date timeline today). If you happen to buy a unit before the end of February, chances are it'll still have Honeycomb on it (which you can then update immediately), but pre-updated G9s should trickle into the retail channels within a few weeks after the ICS release goes live.

Jan

[CES 2012] Motorola To Stop Flooding The Market With Thousands Of Phones

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Motorola, News

"More wood behind fewer arrows."

That's the phrase Larry Page used to describe Google's recent shut down of underperforming products. Stop flooding the market with crap, and focus on fewer, higher quality products. Now it seems Motorola has somehow gotten the exact same idea.

AllThingsD reports that Motorola "plans to release fewer new models this year, in an effort to concentrate its marketing dollars." I hope they are concentrating their design, polish, and update efforts too.

Motorola's release schedule since they jumped on the Android train has been absolutely insane. Their 2011 US product lineup looked something like this:

Droid 3
Droid Bionic
Droid RAZR
Atrix
Atrix 2
Admiral
Electrify
Droid X2
Photon
XPRT
Titanium
Triumph
DEFY+
CLIQ 2
Xoom
Xoom Family Edition
Droid XYBOARD 10.1
Droid XYBOARD 8.2

Now this list is in no way definitive, but it should give you an idea of the crazy incremental one upmanship Motorola has been betting on.

Jan

[CES 2012] Philips Announces GoGear Connect 3.5 Media Player And New Line Of 'Made For Android' Headsets

Posted by Brandon Lancaster in News

Last Updated: January 17th, 2012

First off, let's talk about the GoGear Connect 3.5 media player. We don't have much information on this device yet, but we do know that it's the latest Wi-Fi-enabled touch screen MP4 player from Philips. It runs on Gingerbread and will likely see a custom interface overlay from Philips. The device will offer access to hundreds of thousands of apps from the Android Market, as well as Skype communication with a front-facing camera, 720p HD video playback on a 3.5" screen, and sound enhancing technology.

It'll be available in April of this year, and go for $169.99 for an 8GB model or $199.99 for a 16GB model.

Jan

[CES 2012] Video Hands-On With The Sony Xperia Ion And Xperia S, Including Their Speedy 12MP Rear Cameras

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Sony, Videos, Xperia Ion (Aoba), Xperia S (Nozomi)

We stopped by the Sony booth earlier this morning at CES, and got some hands-on time with the very first Sony smartphones (Sony-Ericsson is no more, subject to regulatory approval) - the Xperia Ion and the Xperia S. While these devices were designed before the Sony Ericsson breakup, they'll be marketed as Sony devices when they hit retail channels.

First up is the Xperia Ion, announced a couple of days ago by AT&T. As you may already know, Sony's upcoming flagship device (headed to AT&T in Q2) will be powered by a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 4G LTE, and features a 720p display with a truly impressive 12MP rear shooter.

Jan

[CES 2012] Lenovo Shows Off First Intel Medfield Tablet, The IdeaPad K2110

Posted by Cameron Summerson in IdeaPad K2110, News

Lenovo has been on fire at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, announcing not one, but two Android tablets, an Ice Cream Sandwich-powered TV, an Android-Windows hybrid laptop, and an Intel Medfield-powered smartphone... but wait, there's more!

The Chinese manufacturer also debuted the first Medfield tablet. While we don't know everything about this tablet, we do have most of the important details:

1.6GHz Atom processor with hyperthreading
10.1-inch display
8.9mm thick
USB and HDMI ports (assume both are micro)
Android 4.0.x

Artem went (mostly) eyes-on with the device earlier today, have a look:

Since this device is still very pre-production, no release date or pricing information is available, but this is definitely one that we'll be keeping an eye on.