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Jonathan Takiff: These 'differentiators' take devices up another notch [BC-NEWS2USE-PLUGIN:PD]
(Philadelphia Daily News (PA) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) THE GIZMO: New "differentiators" at CES.
Are you one of those gadget buyers who bases purchases on price and thinks all products in a category are pretty much alike?
If so, this column is not for you.
Today we're focusing on some "golly gee" features that makers unveiled at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show to (a) differentiate their products from the competition, and (b) persuade customers to replace a still functioning gadget. (Note: If a price isn't specified, it's yet to be announced.)
TV TECH: While 3-D television stole the show at this month's CES in Las Vegas, set makers had scads of other innovations to unveil.
LCD display originator Sharp upped the ante with the first Aquos TVs that use four filter colors instead of three to create pictures. By adding yellow to the usual paint box blending of red, green and blue, the Sharp sets are capable of producing a trillion colors instead of a mere million. Shots of flowery fields and brass-endowed orchestras showed the advantage.
Samsung's new flagship UNXXC9000 LED LCD TV is a sexy beaut _ literally pencil thin (0.28 inch) and encased in a brushed aluminum frame. It also boasts a unique remote control with a miniature TV display on board. So you can "carry" the game into the kitchen while getting a refill.
Lots of TV makers are touting Internet connectivity, useful to stream movie delivery services, Web-based TV channels and Pandora's custom music streaming.
But Philips TVs will jump out of the pack with full-blown Internet radio access, too, delivering about 16,000 (!) free stations from all parts of the world, easily called up by location and genre.
Philips Blu-ray players and home theater-in-a-box packages (starting at a mere $399) will likewise boast this wondrous entertainment smorgasbord, which worked like a charm in my test, summoning up the stellar TSF Jazz FM station in Paris.
TV ANYWHERE: Why should you subscribe to Dish Network instead of DirecTV or a cable alternative like Comcast? How about for "TV Everywhere," a suite of soon-coming, innovative products that make it possible to watch your favorite shows and movies any time and anywhere, using technology from Slingbox and a remotely located, broadband-connected computer or newfangled Wi-Fi TV.
And we're talking about viewing everything you subscribe to, live or recorded, not just the select, cached content that Comcast now delivers via broadband with the new Fancast Xfinity service.
LAPTOPS: Lighter is better in the coming-soon, 10-inch-screen Lenovo Skylight (under 2 pounds, around $500) and just-out, 4-pound, 13.2-inch-screen Toshiba Satellite T135-S1324 (about $600).
The former, designated a "smartbook," is "basically for social networking and Web surfing" and will rarely leave the living room couch, imagine its designers. So this Linux-based device connects via Wi-Fi or 3G (if a phone company decides to support it) and lacks any sort of moving drive, resulting in a healthy, 10-hour run time.
Toshiba's lightweight laptop has no internal CD/DVD drive (but does sport a 320 GB hard drive) to shrink its thickness to under an inch, while cutting cost with an AMD (not Intel) processor. All bloatware is stripped off, too, for a relatively fast, 60-second start-up to Windows 7.
MP3 PLAYERS GET UP AND GO: What could possibly persuade you to give up your portable music player? A new model that actively encourages exercise, perhaps?
Philips' Activa ($129.99) captures workout data and automatically serves up rhythmically appropriate music synced to the pace of your routine.
Samsung's wellness-promoting MyFit YP-W1 includes fit and stress sensors, offers customizable exercise management and also supervises water intake and a smoking cessation program.
Haier's Trainer 2 ($59.99) has a stopwatch, heart rate monitor and pedometer with the ability to distinguish between walking and running.
NAVIGATE THIS: Many travelers already have a portable navigation device (PND) to help steer them from here to there.
Yeah, but is it a Garmin model that turns into a car-diagnostics computer with the addition of the new, $150 EcoRoute HD Cable? The latter will plug into the car's computer port, then send data wirelessly via Bluetooth to the PND to track fuel flow, oil pressure, battery charging, emissions and more.
Nextar's next V4-TV PND will pack an onboard ATSC TV tuner for free television reception when a vehicle is parked. It also promises traffic updates via a new, superfast HD Radio service. Plus, this device will work with an optional, solar-charging pad that sits on the dash, eliminating dangling wires and freeing up the car's power port for other uses.
FEATURES IN FOCUS: JVC's new Everio GZ-HM550 camcorder ($799) has an auto record feature that kicks on when a subject enters the detection zone. The model also records audio wirelessly from Bluetooth microphones and can be remotely triggered and zoomed via a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone.
The latest Panasonic camcorders offer a nifty, pinpoint autofocus feature. Once you identify the subject of interest, that person remains the primary focus target wherever the spirit moves her/him within view.
Samsung's new HMX-S16 camcorder has built-in Wi-Fi to wirelessly play back its HD videos on compatible HDTVs and computers.
Sony's HDR-CX550V has GPS for "geo-tagging" the locations of video and still image shoots.
In the pocket camcorder realm, we'll soon be able to dive in with Kodak's PlaySport ($149) and the RCA Small Wonder EX40000, both waterproof to 10 feet. That Kodak model and Sony's new Bloggie camcorders ($170) likewise feature image stabilization, an important feature missing in prior pocket shooters.
E-mail Jonathan Takiff at takiffj@ phillynews.com.
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E-mail Jonathan Takiff at takiffj@phillynews.com.
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(c) 2010, Philadelphia Daily News.
Visit Philadelphia Online, the World Wide Web site of the Philadelphia Daily News, at http://www.philly.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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