ChatDD Blog

The year 2009 is still a not-so-distant memory, but we’re already   looking for the next big thing in 2010. Last year we bought iPhones and   Flip camcorders by the millions, but what will it be this year? The Apple Tablet–would surely be a hit, and a new,   more powerful iPhone would be greeted with open arms and open wallets.   But we’ve found other strong contenders, such as the Xbox “Project   Natal” gaming controller, the Sezmi TV broadcast and streaming system,   and the sharp-looking new IdeaPad U1 laptop from Lenovo.

Project Natal

Nintendo had better watch its back, because Microsoft has announced a   new controller for the Xbox 360–a controller that allows you to play without a controller. Dubbed “Project Natal,” the new Xbox 360 controller looks   similar to the Nintendo Wii’s sensor bar: a small bar that sits above   or below your television and tracks your movements. But Microsoft has   one-upped the Wii by adding 3D motion tracking, voice recognition, and   facial recognition to Project Natal. We don’t know how accurate and   effective Project Natal will be–that’s for the thousands of gamers who   buy it next Thanksgiving to find out. What seems sure is that even   though the product will hit the shelves far into 2010, it already has   enough hype among gamers to ensure big sales numbers. But Project Natal   won’t be the only must-have gaming controller next Christmas. This fall   in the PlayStation 3 world, Sony will release its wand-based “Arc”   motion controller, which has a solid chance of cranking up just as much   buzz. And it will certainly stoke up the forum firefights between the   PS3 and Xbox fanboys.

Sezmi

Ditching cable TV and moving to online TV is a great idea, but no matter   how you do it, you miss out on lots of broadcast TV (live news, sports,   local programming). Sezmi may be the first service to fix that. Sezmi   is a service based on a set-top box that not only streams video from the   Web and from your PC, but also catches over-the-air local broadcast TV   via a supplied in-home antenna. On the remote control, each family   member has their own button, which will take them to their personal   Sezmi channel–complete with on-demand shows tailored to their personal   tastes. There’s no need to worry about overloading the Sezmi, either, as   each box is packed with a whopping 1TB for recorded shows. The service   is in trials in the Los Angeles market now, but is expected to go   nationwide later this year

Alienware M11x

Up until now, serious gamers had to tote around huge 17- and 15-inch   monsters–or stay put. Dell’s Alienware, however, seeks to remedy this   problem with its forthcoming game-oriented laptop, the M11x. The   11.6-inch laptop (yep–11.6 inches!) is practically netbook size, with a   1336-by-768-pixel high-def screen, a built-in Webcam, and a SIM card   reader for mobile Web access. The M11x currently has no optical drive   (though an add-on will eventually be offered), but it can play games   like Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at a whopping 30 frames per second.   The ultraportable-size gaming notebook will cost just under $1000, fully   loaded. That’s right, a portable, power-packed gaming laptop–there’s no   question that the M11x will make waves.

Motorola Backflip
AT&T says that 30 percent of its handset sales last year were   messaging phones. Motorola’s latest Android-powered phone, the Backflip,   may be AT&T’s “it” messaging phone this year. Not that there’s a   big market it for it or anything–just the legions of American kids who   text-message and Facebook pretty much all day long. As such, the   Backflip features a full QWERTY keyboard that can be flipped out so that   both the keyboard and the touchscreen face the user. The phone also has   a “backtrack,” or mousepadlike touchpad on the back of the touchscreen   to control the cursor on the screen. The phone packs only a midsize   processor, but the messaging crowd doesn’t really need lots of power. We   expect the Backflip to reach a $100 (subsidized) price point by the end   of 2010. How will Moms and Dads say no?Google Nexus One
While the new Nexus One is no more a “Google phone” than the HTC G1, it   is probably the best Android phone on the market today. And Google has   done such a good job of associating itself with the Nexus One in the   minds of most consumers and much of the media that this “Google phone”   is bound to sell like hotcakes in 2010. And make no mistake: It is a very nice phone. Is it an iPhone killer? Well, It’s slimmer than the   iPhone, has a slightly bigger and more hi-res OLED screen, as well as a   noticeably faster, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, among other things (like   Google Voice support). At the very least, the Nexus One represents a   truly viable alternative for iPhone users, especially after the Verizon   Wireless network begins supporting the “Google phone” later this year.

Apple Tablet
The high-resolution, 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS display on iPad is   remarkably crisp and vivid. Which makes it perfect for web browsing,   watching movies, or viewing photos. With iPad, there is no up or down.   It’s designed to show off your content in portrait or landscape   orientation with every turn. And because it uses a display technology   called IPS (in-plane switching), it has a wide, 178° viewing angle. So   you can hold it almost any way you want and still get a brilliant   picture, with excellent color and contrast.

Lenovo IdeaPad U1
Forget tablets; Lenovo has introduced a new hybridnotebook:   the Lenovo IdeaPad U1. The IdeaPad U1 is a 3.8-pound laptop that runs   Windows 7 and has a 128GB solid-state drive–but wait: If you pull off   the 11.6-inch screen, you get a Linux-running multitouch tablet PC with   16GB of flash memory. That’s right–not only is it a laptop and a tablet,   but it runs both Windows and Linux. The 1.6-pound tablet powers up   within 3 seconds of being removed from the base, which can then act as a   3G wireless hub for the tablet. Many consumers will be trying to decide   between a laptop or a tablet this year, but the hybrid Lenovo IdeaPad   U1 might well settle the argument by providing both. The U1 is priced at   just under $1000.

iPhone 4G
it hasn’t even been a year since the iPhone 3GS, and people are   already looking toward the next iPhone, which some speculate may be   called the iPhone 4G. The iPhone 3GS offered only incremental changes to   the iPhone 3G’s hardware–and it looked exactly the same. Rumors suggest   that the iPhone 4G will be available as early as May or June 2010, and   may have a new design, a faster processor, a 5-megapixel camera, and an   OLED screen–features that would rival those on Google’s Nexus One. Other   rumors hint at a removable battery, video chat support, and a redone   app store. The rumors aren’t totally out of left field–an army of   Androids are marching into the smartphone market. We believe this will   force Apple to upgrade its iPhone more drastically, and sooner, in order   to stay competitive in a quickly-changing market. (Image credit: Isamu   Sanada)  * * *
Some of these devices used the CES show as their coming-out party.The   Consumer Electronics Association has some of its own predictions. The   group believes 3D TV and connected HDTV will be huge in 2010–that by   2013, 25 percent of sets will be 3D, for example. We’re not so sure.   After all, the 3D TV we saw at CES still needed some serious work to be   worth it. Hence, no 3D TVs on our list.
The CEA also predicts that cloud-based multimedia   distribution–multimedia on phones, tablets, and other devices–will spawn   big partnerships, and that TV consumption will become more   multimedia-diverse (online episode archives and interactive voting).   This we can get on board with, especially as the trend of multimedia   consumption across all platforms continues to grow. The CEA also   predicts that E-readers and netbooks will continue to gain popularity   for this very reason: mobile access to streaming content. We’ve no doubt   about that prediction for the E-reader market, but we’ve yet to see the   one E-reader that will fly off the shelves…not yet, anyway.