CES 2014 Thread

[s44]

Anyone else psyched? I am, only because the current selection of hybrid/convertible devices and Chromebooks is terrible. I blame Google.

Also new phones, of course. Samsung isn't announcing until MWC or thereabouts, but other companies may not be able to wait that long.

First early reports: Lenovo.
Yoga 2 all Windows 8.1 = 11" 13*7 Bay Trail $530 (Jan), 13" i5 1080p $1000 (Feb)
Miix 2 transformer-style Windows 8.1, 1080p = 10" Bay Trail $500 (March), 11" i5 $700 (April)
Plus another 8" W8.1 tablet, and laptops no one cares about except the X1 Carbon, finally with Haswell and under 3lbs.

Next, Nvidia.
"Tegra K1" announced, with a full Kepler SMX (192 cores) as the GPU. Two versions, 4+1 A15 soon, 2 custom 64-bit ARMv8 later.

Asus. Cool stuff.
Zenfone 4/5/6 $100/150/200, with ascending sizes and specs. The 5 really looks like a Moto G killer: 720p screen, 8mp rear shooter, 2ghz dual Atom (Cloverfield+), and a glove mode no one cares about.
Transformer Book Duet, 13" Haswell i3 convertible running both Android and Windows in either config. $600 with crap 13*7, $700 for 1080p. The key to this is really the size: if it can't get under 3lbs (or really close), no one will want to carry it around for the tablet use.
oops, 4+lbs. No sale. But, just for you guys, they *are* releasing a 8" 12*8 Win8 tablet with pen. $300+

 

[Ravynmagi]

Ugh, Lenovo's 8 inch Thinkpad tablet does not have an active digitizer at all!? What a surprise and disappointment. I almost passed up the $200 Dell Venue 8 Pro to wait on that, thank god I didn't.

The Miix 2 10 and 11 inches look pretty cool. Though I'm not sure about the keyboard dock. Would be nice to have a hinge to adjust viewing angles. But I guess this keeps the price down.

It's a shame the Yoga 2 11 inch is still stuck with a 1366x768 screen.

 

[bearxor]

Yeah, 13x7 is fine for a 8", but once it hits 10"+ it really needs to be 19x10/12.

Nothing exciting there, so far. Would have been awesome to have a 11" core i3 or Pentium option to get a better GPU.

 

[paperwastage]

The Miix 2 10 and 11 inches look pretty cool. Though I'm not sure about the keyboard dock. Would be nice to have a hinge to adjust viewing angles. But I guess this keeps the price down.

I guess Miix 2 10/11" is competing with Dell Venue 11 Pro (w/ keyboard dock)

kinda pricey though for MSRP (compared to other sub $600 laptops/tablets/hybrids)... maybe someone would discount the price (microsoft, retailer, manufacturer), like how the Dell Venue 8 Pro / asus T100 has been on sale for 25% off msrp

 

[s44]

Miix 2 hands-on -- IMO the main problem with this is late availability. Won't we have 64-bit Bay Trail by March? And other stuff.

Next, Nvidia. "Tegra K1" announced, with a full Kepler SMX (192 cores) as the GPU. Two versions, 4+1 A15 soon, 2 custom 64-bit ARMv8 later.

I guess Miix 2 10/11" is competing with Dell Venue 11 Pro (w/ keyboard dock)

So is the HP Pro x2 410, apparently. i3/i5, 11" 13*7, $900. Are they kidding?

 

[bearxor]

Miix 2 hands-on -- IMO the main problem with this is late availability. Won't we have 64-bit Bay Trail by March?

Supposedly, but that's really dependent on Microsoft. Connected Standby needs to be supported on x64 and, for all I know, getting the 64-bit version of Windows could eliminate the discounts given by Microsoft and maybe even make the machine not qualify for the (usually) free copy of Office 2013.

I'm not sure about licensing details now, but MS has had weird qualifications about these discounts and freebies in the past.

 

[s44]

capacative multitask button on the Tab Pro(s), woot

Actually, it appears on all the new devices. Not sure about those spec leaks (everything has a 25*16 panel!?), though I guess with the Nexus 7 at 19*12 Samsung needs to up the ante for any "Pro". We'll see at today's press conference.

Most interesting: what looks like a new tablet launcher, seen here on the 12" Tab Pro:

 

[s44]

Thanks, mods, for fixing the subject line....

 

[bearxor]

Most interesting: what looks like a new tablet launcher, seen here on the 12" Tab Pro:

That's very "Windows-y".

 

[foghorn67]

That's very "Windows-y".

I'll take that over what Samsung calls Touchwiz today.
TW needed a makeover 3 years ago.

 

[foghorn67]

All these Windows tablets with no digitizer pisses me off. Such a missed opportunity.

 

[bearxor]

I'll take that over what Samsung calls Touchwiz today.
TW needed a makeover 3 years ago.

No argument there. I happen to like the Win8 and WP8 interface anyways.

 

[s44]

That's very "Windows-y".

Yeah, but there are actually apps...

 

[Ravynmagi]

So they are releasing a Galaxy Pro tablet with an S-Pen. What then is distinguishing a Galaxy Pro with S-Pen from a Galaxy Note? Seems like that 12 inch tablet with S-Pen should have gotten the Note branding.

 

[s44]

So they are releasing a Galaxy Pro tablet with an S-Pen. What then is distinguishing a Galaxy Pro with S-Pen from a Galaxy Note? Seems like that 12 inch tablet with S-Pen should have gotten the Note branding.

?

The 12" with a pen is the Note Pro.

The 12" without a pen is the Tab Pro.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Ah, okay. I apparently misread it then.

 

[podspi]

All these Windows tablets with no digitizer pisses me off. Such a missed opportunity.

Yeah, I can't believe it. Digitizer will be the killer app for making tablets productivity devices. They should be shipping active digitizer pads + Onenote with as many tablets as they can.

They already missed the boat on consumption tablets, but they keep trying...

 

[s44]

Remember the Toshiba Chromebook leaked a few weeks back? Officially revealed. Take the Acer C720, blow it up to 13.3" and $280, and you're done. Still no high-res, and still only the HP 11" is IPS.

Launches Feb 14.

 

[s44]

Some very odd speculation by Brian/Anand on Nvidia's Denver cores. Charlie was right!?

 

[Ravynmagi]

Remember the Toshiba Chromebook leaked a few weeks back? Officially revealed. Take the Acer C720, blow it up to 13.3" and $280, and you're done. Still no high-res, and still only the HP 11" is IPS.

Launches Feb 14.

Yeah, I don't think a Chromebook will really interest me until someone makes one has a touch IPS display and yet still very affordable. And I admit that is a challenge. Hopefully someone can pull it off eventually.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Well hopefully Nvidia can find some success with the Tegra K1, because apparently almost nobody is making anything with a Tegra 4 in it.

The Tegra 4 didn't seem like a bad SoC. Does Nvidia just have bad timing or something? Seems like the first Tegra 4 devices were showing up this Summer, not much else was being released. Many of the Snapdragon 600 devices had already been released earlier in the Spring and the Snapdragon 800s came in the Fall.

 

[s44]

The Tegra 4 didn't seem like a bad SoC. Does Nvidia just have bad timing or something?

Basically. I think it took them too damn long to get it into production. You do see Android convertibles using it, but with Google basically abandoning the 10+" tablet space, that form factor has stagnated.

The lack of integrated LTE modem takes Nvidia out of the running on the phone/phablet side entirely. Still won't be fixed for K1, but that sort of horsepower makes more sense for a tablet/miniconsole anyway.

 

[s44]

Did you really want a G Flex? You're in luck, unless of course you're on VZ.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Did you really want a G Flex? You're in luck, unless of course you're on VZ.

No.

 

[s44]

No.

What about the PadFone X? LTE-A and VoLTE, AT&T exclusive... which I guess means the Death Star will be activating those sometime this year.