Despite only attracting “only” 110,000 attendees, there was still a lot to see and a lot of fun had at 2009′s Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. First impressions were downbeat, but we found things to look positive about and ended up having a great time with some of the tech toys we’ll be seeing on the streets this year.
Top of the stack was the Pre, a good-looking smartphone that turned Palm’s press from tragedy to triumph in a matter of hours. There are seven features that make it better than the iPhone. Don’t miss Joel and John’s hands-on coverage.
We also took a look at Sony’s amazing Vaio P notebook. Though the company hates it when people call it a netbook, it’s hard not to notice the resemblance: an Intel Atom-powered lightweight 1.4lb laptop with a 9″ display, full keyboard and up to 6 hours battery life. Here’s the announcement and the hands-on review. We fawned over it, we did.
LG came up with the first not-awful cellphone wristwatch; Casio announced a point-and-shoot digicam with the same features as the fancy EX-F1; Sharp announced televisions, and Netgear had a TV streaming box almost as small as a deck of cards.
There were hands-on playtime with the OQO model 02+ and other new pocket PCs and MYVU’s latest video glasses. John had a strange encounter with Disney zombies and pirate play at the Toshiba press event.
We also covered new gear from Dell, Samsung, Toshiba, Monster Cable, HP (more), Netgear and Logitech.
Not enough? There was also another show called MacWorld, should you be interested in $3,000 laptops.
I lost my faith in Palm when they sent me a letter changing my rates on the i700 from unlimited to $$$$ per kilobyte then offered me not so good a deal on the upgrade in the same letter. i did not upgrade and had to get rid of my palm or face a 300% increase in my bill. And that happened just after I bought the damn thing.
I’m not one for the bleeding edge anymore. I hope they make it just to compete with Apple. But get real…Palm kinda sucks.
“Not enough? There was also another show called MacWorld, should you be interested in $3,000 laptops.”
Don’t forget about the $5000 Axiotron Modbook Pro tablets…
http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=home
@NONPROPHETONE;
*Palm* changed your rates on the i700?? This is interesting. I wasn’t aware that Palm was a carrier. Also – this “i700″. That sounds more like a Samsung model number.
So – I’m going to guess that your complaint is with *Sprint*, not with Palm?
This is in fact the reason why customers are growing more annoyed at the North American cell carriers. They want to mix their choice of device with their choice of plans. The device manufacturers are stuck going along with the carriers in this regard. Even Apple – it managed to get some nice concessions from AT&T, but only by agreeing to exclusivity.
This is the biggest risk to Palm – they cannot just sell the Pre to customers. They need a carrier to do it for them, and the carriers want deep control over all aspects of the device and its use, and can choose to over service packages with negate much of the value of the device itself.
Hey Chris S… Believe it or not the the early Palm wireless plans were with Palm, not Sprint
and you had to deal with their awful tech support. Since I worked a few blocks from their
offices I should have just dropped by and said hello. As you said, it sounds like a Samsung.
I worked in the valley and not many people knew they even existed.
Palm, not Sprint tried to force me to upgrade by jacking my bill???????? WTF?
Again Palm , not Sprint tried to force me to upgrade by jacking my bill to unreasonable prices.
Then offered me a not so good deal on the next step phone that they could not deliver yet.
Yes…It was not out yet when they jacked my bill. They screwed their most loyal customers.
But they did not have that many anyway.
The options they gave were probably not even legal. But look at the company and the dot
collapse at the time. I’m surprised they made it. And the only way they are making it now is
they stole allot of Apple guys that did the Ipod and Imac. I bet Steve is fuming mad.
I will not work with AT and T and buy an Iphone so this may be my phone. But I usually
wait for several months to see the reviews. so that means when It comes out in July I may
get it in December. But then again I waited for the Osborn II. This phone probably won’t hit
the streets till august and I bet it’s killing the centro sales.
Way to pull the Adam Osborn move guys. And does anyone remember the Newton.