CES 2013: Day 3 Round-up

After two days of tech extravaganza, the third day at the Consumer Electronics Show 2013 showed a similar zing. The CES has been abuzz with tech-imbued gadgets, apps and smarter devices. In addition to these, the third day gave us a peek into some out-of-the box innovations. Here’s giving you a glimpse of Day 3 with our daily roundup.

We saw Panasonic launch new Toughpad tablets. As the name suggests, these tablets are rugged and tough. It is interesting to see how Panasonic has dished out these devices for Android fans and Windows 8 users. The 10-inch Toughpad FZ-G1 runs on Windows 8 Pro and the 7-inch Toughpad JT-B1 is Android Ice Cream Sandwich enabled. The FZ-G1 is fuelled by a 1.9GHz Ivy Bridge Intel Core i5-3437U vPro CPU, a 128GB SSD (upgradeable to 256GB) processor, up to 8GB RAM and a 10-inch 1920 x 1200 display. On the other hand, the JT-B1 features a TI OMAP4460 1.5GHz Dual core processor, 1GB RAM and 16GB storage capacity along with an inbuilt Micro SD slot. Click here to know more about the Panasonic Toughpads. The company also put on display a 20-inch Windows 8 tablet prototype.

Panasonic adds some Android and Windows 8 Pro toughness

Talking about prototypes, Valve showcased the 'Steam Box' console prototype at the event. This prototype, dubbed Piston, is made by Xi3 and has been designed specifically to support Steam and its Big Picture Mode on TVs.

Another highlight of the CES is Samsung’s new prototype phone that uses a flexible display screen. Samsung calls the screen ‘Youm’. However, The Verge got a hands-on with the device and says that the prototype isn’t really a phone because it lacks most of the key features and is more like a touch photo-frame. Nevertheless, we can still expect future Samsung phones to come integrated with the Youm. Samsung says that Youm is a flat screen that won’t break even if dropped and the form factor will change depending upon how people will use the phone.

Dell's Windows 8 tablet gets a price at CES 2013

Lenovo entered the large screen smartphone market with the IdeaPhone K900. It is one of the first phones to be powered by Intel's new 2GHz dual-core Atom processor. The highlight of the smartphone is its 5.5-inch screen with a resolution of 1080p, which gives it a pixel density of more than 400ppi.Samsung brings eight-core Exynos chip for smartphones. At CES 2013, it shows off the Exynos Octa chip, based on the ARM big.LITTLE/Cortex A-15 architecture, which has been designed to be a low powered, high performance mobile processor.

At the CES, Dell showcased the Latitude 10 tablet based on the Enterprise version of Windows 8. Dell has announced the starting price of the Latitude 10 at $499, which is approximately Rs. 27,200. Dell also claims to have come up with the first ever full-featured, Enterprise-ready Windows 8 tablet at a price below $500 (approx Rs. 27,300). It is powered by a dual-core Intel Atom 1.8GHz Z2760 processor, sports a 10.1" IPS (1366 x 768) LCD with Corning Gorilla Glass, 2GB SDRA and 32GB SSD.

TransluSense’s Luminae keyboard, which was a conceptual Kickstarter project last year, has now made its way to CES after one year of development. How does it work? Well, It has a light pipe, infrared LEDs and visible LEDs that feed signal into the curvy glass. There are three cameras to keep an eye on your fingers. It recognises the input each time your finger breaks the light pattern.

Luminae Keyboard (Image Credit: Cnet)

3D Systems have been showcasing its 3D printers for the last two days and what caught our attention was the higher-end desktop 3D printer dubbed the CubeX, which appears to be a strong contender to the MakerBot’s Replicator 2. CubeX offers 10.8 x 10.45 x 9.5-inch build area and will be available in both 2 and 3-colour options.

Panansonic has also made its Viera 2013 range smarter and in-line with what most leading TV makers are focusing on. Its new range shows facial recognition, voice control and also Android and iOS compatibility. Using the facial recognition, each member of the family can customise a homescreen for him/her. Panansonic wants to give each user a distinct experience, allowing them to combine and personalise apps like time, weather and calendar.

Compact camera with a swivel screen (Image Credit: Wired)

Canon's cute looking PowerShot N camera is worth mentioning. The PowerShot N is compact and artistic looking, measuring only 3 (L) x 2.5 (H) x 1.2 (W) inches and sporting a 12.1-megapixel sensor. Apart from its attractive looks and compact size, the highlight of the camera is its LCD screen dominating the entire rear side of the camera. You can tilt and adjust the camera display as per your convenience. It also features on-screen touch menus and some cool instant filters. Following the latest Smart Camera trend, this camera is Wi-Fi enabled with a dedicated button that allows sharing images on Android and iOS devices.

You can also check our CES 2013 round-up for Day 1 and Day 2.

Stay tuned to tech2 for more CES news as we give you updates on the event. You can also check out our link here for all articles related to CES 2013.