Friday, December 31

CES 2011 Preview: Phones and Tablets

Dual-core and 4G phones will muscle their way to the fore at CES this year.
CES is traditionally the beginning of a busy season for cell phone and tablet announcements, but it's not the end of the story. With Mobile World Congress coming in February and the CTIA trade show coming in March, phone manufacturers like to stagger their revelations so they have something to promote at each show.
We're not likely to see a single "big phone" at CES like we did with the Palm Pre in 2009 or the iPhone in 2007. Rather, we're going to see a big lineup: it looks like Verizon is introducing a whole bunch of big-name, 4G LTE-based smartphones. AT&T wants to show it'll have a strong lineup once it loses iPhone exclusivity, and new dual-core phones are ready for prime time. Don't worry, there will be flashy stuff to see.
CES was aiming to be a big coming-out show for Android-powered tablets until Google threw water on that campfire by suggesting tablet-makers use the Honeycomb software version, which isn't ready yet. As a result, we're likely to see one flagship Honeycomb tablet from Motorola, and a slew of lower-cost, potentially lower-quality devices from smaller manufacturers who just can't wait.

Here's what tablet analyst Tim Gideon and I are expecting to see at CES:
4G Everything: This is going to be a huge show for 4G. Verizon Wireless may introduce a half-dozen LTE phones and tablets during Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg's keynote on January 6, and the carrier has blocked out time for hands-ons afterwards. Online rumors have suggested handsets from Samsung, LG and HTC. Not to be outdone, T-Mobile is throwing a press conference the same day, so I expect HSPA+ phones and tablets. Sprint doesn't have a press conference, but they won't want to be left out, either. Sierra Wireless and Novatel Wireless may be bringing 4G MiFi-style hotspots.
Dual-Core Phones: The dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 platform is ready to go, and we're probably going to see some powerful, dual-core handheld devices based on nVidia's Tegra 2 chipset and possibly a next-generation Samsung chipset as well. Those devices will almost certainly include the new LG Optimus 2X phone, but I'm anticipating other powerful surprises as well.
Lots of Tablets of Questionable Quality: Flagship Android-based tablets such as Motorola's 10-inch device need to wait for Google's Android Honeycomb software, coming this spring. We'll see the first demo of Motorola's device, and maybe a few others. But we're going to see a lot more of the Island of Misfit Tablets—low-cost tablets of questionable quality based on Android Froyo software, which may end up on convenience store shelves or sold at a discount through computer retailers. Think CherryPad, not iPad. New tablets potentially coming from Dell, Asus and Samsung will fit uncomfortably in the middle with decent hardware quality, but not Google's special tablet software.
Who's Holding Out for MWC? Microsoft has made the biggest announcement at MWC for the past few years, so don't expect a major Windows Phone 7 update at CES—they want to hold their thunder for February. Nokia and Sony Ericsson also generally announce devices at MWC, not CES; Sony Ericsson has already sent out invites to their MWC event. We also probably won't hear much at this show from HP/Palm or BlackBerry, other than yet another demo of the well-known BlackBerry Playbook tablet. That isn't about MWC strategizing, just about product timing.
No Verizon iPhone: Verizon Wireless will be getting some form of the iPhone within the next few months; there seems to be a consensus in the tech world on this. Agreement seems to be swirling that the Verizon iPhone will be a 3G, CDMA version of the iPhone 4. But I don't think Apple will announce this during CES. When Apple announces something during CES—like the original iPhone—it overshadows all other mobile products at the show. Verizon is sinking a lot of time and effort into promoting LTE devices at CES. For Apple to step in and steal the stage would be getting that relationship off to a really bad start.

(source:pcmag.com)

No comments:

Post a Comment