This BBC clip isn’t just funny because a reporter breaks an unbreakable phone, it’s that the company’s CEO just starts laughing like, “You got us!” Meanwhile, the phone will probably be relabeled, “unbreakable by anything but edges of fish tanks.”
[BBC]
I’m a skeptic who’s seen every consumer-grade 3D TV in existence from manufacturers like Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony. I’ve seen OLED 3D, plasma 3D, LCD 3D and LED LCD 3D. And I’ve finally made up my mind on the matter.
Even though every technology coming to market this year requires glasses, even though 90% of 3D implementation is unwatchable, even though the tech will inevitably be dated within the next few years…
I would buy a 3D TV this year.
(Now realize there are about a thousand caveats to that statement, which is what this entire piece is really about.)
There is only one TV I’ve seen—out of very, very many—that captivated me like Avatar on IMAX. While most of the time I couldn’t wait to pull the glasses off my face, LG’s 60-inch plasma prototype, slated to be a real product later this year, sort of rocked my world with nearly flicker-free performance. Panasonic’s Viera V Series TVs, using similar methods on paper (plasma with shutter glasses), was a close second, as it strobed more. And I’m still curious as to why that was the case—whether it was shutter glasses, the lighting environment, the source material (the LG showed more animation, which looks great in 3D) or the display itself that made the difference.
Not trusting my own eyes, I sent two other members of Giz to look at each set as well. They didn’t see a difference. So I’m willing to call Panasonic and LG a tie.
As for OLED and LCDs—what you see from companies like Sony, Toshiba and Sharp—the image strobes AND the motion is choppy (imagine a low frame rate video game on top of flickering film). Those techs are a complete pass. (I know, OLED is supposed to be great. In 3D, it most certainly isn’t.)
Without fail, the bigger the 3D, the better the illusion. Anything under 50 inches is basically a joke, unless it’s your computer monitor or something. And I will say, even though Vizio’s XVT Pro television wasn’t my favorite experience (it’s an LCD and thereby less smooth), the fact that it was 72-inches meant that a plane’s wing almost hit me in the nose.
LG told me that the 3D-capable version of their plasma set will only be a $200 premium over the non-3D version. I’m willing to pay that extra cost as an idiotic early adopter, knowing that the television is a nice HDTV when it’s not showing 3D. Of course, to be completely fair, that $200 premium applies to a premium set to begin with, not a bargain bin TV that many of us settle for out of sanity.
Even in some content utopia where I could watch everything I ever wanted in 3D (right now, we’re limited to promises from Blu-ray, select broadcasters and some DirecTV), I wouldn’t choose to with the current glasses/TV setup. Even the best experience I had was tiring, and unless I’m really getting something special from meticulously produced media (like movies, or maybe even video games), I’m going to do what I do best when watching television: be lazy. For hours. Eye strain is a major concern.
Back to that content point for a moment, every movie that Pixar is making from here on out promises to be in 3D. Video games should be somewhat turn-key to make the 3D transition as they’d like. And Hollywood is definitely pushing 3D. But within 2010, it’s tough to envision a lot more than extremely limited broadcast and yet another viewing of the inevitable Avatar Extra Special Edition Blu-ray.
If I weren’t looking for a new TV already, 3D alone wouldn’t sway me to plop down a few grand—at least not today—a decision influenced by both the imperfect experience and the limited media. It’d be nice to have, sure. But most people can and will wait, I’d bet.
One manufacturer let me in on a secret—the LCDs on the CES show floor are mostly refreshing at 4ms. But by the time these TVs ship, they’ll be refreshing at 3ms, thanks to an industry-wide chemical-based update in LCD panels. Plasma is on top for the moment, but 3D LCDs shouldn’t be quite as bad by the time the TVs actually ship in Q3. (Though, they may still be noticeably inferior to plasma.)
So that’s my view. Go ahead, heckle me and my glasses that will look stupid and dated, well, they look stupid and dated today. But watching the best 3D TVs—namely, top tier plasma—is actually a pretty amazing experience…one that might be worth the sometimes literal headaches.
And these chicks in bikinis totally agree with me.
With $1.36 billion in worldwide receipts after last weekend, Avatar topped LOTR: Return of the King and is now the second highest grossing film of all time. Next up? Titanic. Its record is just $500 million away. [BusinessWeek]
The darker transgressions of our digital lives are sometimes left better unmeasured. [9Gag via TheNextWeb]
For those who can’t afford clear OLED laptops, this acrylic concept by designers at PEGA may be the next best thing…if you enjoy squinting at those sitting across from you through a tiny port between your keyboard and screen.
It’s pretty, but as soon as this machine leaves its studio photography session, it’ll be covered in a layer of irremovable human grease. [PEGA via designboom via Unplggd]
Usually, people know better than to actually use a display toilet, especially one that’s on a show floor for an event with tens of thousands of people in attendance. Usually.
I promised a weekly update on yellow iMacs. But at CES, I haven’t been able to comb submissions enough to offer a proper rant. Know that I’m still on the case. And, from a quick perusal, iMacs are still shipping with yellow freggin screens.
I told you what I thought of the Dell Mini 5, but let’s face it, you really don’t care. You just want to check it out in action. So enjoy this quick look at Dell’s Android interface, which we just updated our hands on post with.
Dell is bringing their Android cellphone to the US and calling it the Mini 3. I got to grope it for a few moments amongst other media-folk.
In the hand, it doesn’t feel nearly as solid as the Nexus One—it’s more like a hollow-feeling plastic than most of the smartphones on the market.
Dell, of course, has their own UI for Android. We didn’t get to see much of it, other than the main icon screen you’ll note in our lead shot. I just don’t know why anyone would want the Mini 3. Nothing about the hardware immediately grabbed me like the Nexus One did, and it’s stuck on AT&T.
You’re free to feel differently.
Yesterday, we saw Dell’s Slate concept for the first time. Today, we got to actually play with it. And it’s called the Mini 5.
(Btw, if you want to read yesterday’s stories on the slate, check here.)
Specs that we know: custom Android, SIM (it makes calls), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth. And the 5-inch screen supports full multitouch.
In your hand, it’s very light and comfortable to use. The screen is responsive, and Dell’s icon interface makes for intuitive presentation of Android.
It feels a bit more like plastic than, say, the iPod touch. But it was perfectly solid from what we could tell. Making a phone call turns the Mini 5 into a gigantic phone, almost like a handset out of a Carrot Top routine, but Dell expects most consumers will opt to use a headset.
The unexpectedly awesome feature? The 5MP camera. The Dell Mini 5 has a 5-inch screen, and your subject fills the entire frame. It’s an oddly satisfying implementation of a camera, in a super sizing kind of way.
My model wasn’t connected to the web, so I didn’t get to test the browser. And my hands-on time was more than limited (and frankly, a bit frantic), so I can’t really speak sincerely on much else.
But let me say this: I like the Mini 5. And I dare say that Dell’s software—their version of Android onboard—may be equally or more impressive than the hardware itself. I’m not sure I have a need for this or any 5-inch tablet, but you know what? I’m going to give em a shot all the same.
This 21×9, 2:35:1, 58-inch Vizio Cinema Display looks really, really, really wide in person. But don’t worry, when you bring it home, it’ll just have black bars on each side 95% of the time. More info here.
You wouldn’t think a third party could clone a Nintendo product and then make it better, but Nyko may have done that with the Wand+.
I mean, let’s face it. Nintendo has grown greedy and lazy, and it’s no more apparent than how they gave us Wii MotionPlus as an adapter on the Wiimote. The dongle is fine for backward compatibility, welcome even, but they’re double-dipping on all new Wiimote buyers, making them purchase controllers AND Wii MotionPlus to play games.
In a balance of karma, Nintendo has been one-upped by a knockoff.
Nyko’s Wand+ integrates 1:1 motion (like you see in WiiMotion Plus) into the normal Wiimote formfactor. In your hand, it feels every bit as comfortable as a Wiimote (actually, I prefer it because of its rubber grip.) And playing Wii Sports Resort (table tennis) with the Wand+ today, it felt every bit as responsive/accurate as what Nintendo is crapping into our laps as an awkwardly attached accessory.
Further testing will be needed to determine whether or not the Wand+ is just as good as the original, but Nyko’s reps were pretty confident in the tech. We’ll test one more rigorously when they arrive for $40 in March, but until then, I’m just happy to see some company put a little external pressure on Nintendo.
We know nothing about this “Slate Concept” by Dell, other than, you know, it looks like a 7-inch tablet and it’s running Android. One more shot:
Pretty, right?
Alienware no longer means “bulky gaming PC.” Dell’s new Alienware has an 11 inch display and looks like a netbook!
• 6 1/2 hours of battery life (battery mode)
• 2 hours of “intense gaming”
• 3D mark scores in 6-7k range
• 50FPS Crysis, 30FPS CoD on High Settings
• Under $1000 (later this year, we believe)
AT CES DELL UNVEILS FIRST “ALL POWERFUL” ULTRA MOBILE GAMING SYSTEM
· The Alienware M11x, the most powerful 11-inch gaming laptop in the universe — as easy to carry as it is powerful, making high-performance gaming accessible to all.
Alienware M11x
· The Alienware M11x demonstrates the graphics power of a 15-inch laptop in an 11-inch form factor
· Play all of your games and media, whether at home or away, at HD 720p resolution
· With the Alienware M11x, gamers can enjoy the feel of the gaming without compromise anywhere they go.
13, 15 and 17 inches, Dell’s Core i3 and Core i5 Inspiron laptops should go on sale later today.
It’s only a proof of concept, but this is laptop with a clear OLED screen—but a stone’s throw from those floating 3D displays of Avatar. Practical? Not necessarily. The future? OBVIOUSLY.
The resolution, I don’t know. It’s pixely, but let’s not quibble.
You see right through the thing, then something appears on the screen (like a white background), and you can’t see through it anymore.
Are you processing this? No, you can’t be. It’s only 2010. Man wasn’t prepared for this kind of technology yet. The brain hasn’t evolved enough. We’re primates. Squirrels. Slugs.
Maybe in 100 or 200 years, the great artists of the world will reflect on what’s happened today and make some sort of sense of it all. Until then, we’ll just keep on breathing, in, out. Until then, we’ll weep.
From my admittedly quick hands-on, I’ve pretty much decided that the Kodak Playsport is the most practical pocket camcorder to date.
Why?
It’s rugged and waterproof up to a modest (though useful) 10 feet. That’s nice. But what you can’t tell from a spec sheet is that it’s wonderfully shaped and very solid in your hand—probably more solid than any other pocket cam I’ve held. The rubber grip is perfectly positioned to add…grip, and the HDMI/USB ports are plugged with a latch-protected stopper.
Basically, I trust that it’s actually waterproof, especially as the demo unit was still working after being submerged for 8 hours.
And as for the internals, the sensor is identical to that in the larger but respected Zi8. So the Playsport’s 1080P video should compete with other camcorders in the sector.
Bottom line, if you’re taking a $150 camera on vacation, it makes sense for it to be more rugged and expendable than your cellphone. Good for Kodak for knocking out what looks to be a very decent cam. My only complaint would be that I certainly wouldn’t mind a larger screen—oh, and what’s with the purple back?
Available this April for $150, more details here.
I’ve seen 3D on every type of TV/glasses combo, but up until now, the video feed itself was always streamed from Blu-ray. So with DirecTV announcing three 3D HD channels arriving in 2010, I just had to try it out.
My verdict: After about 5 minutes of watching the feed on a 50-ish inch Panasonic plasma (using shutter glasses, of course), I think DirecTV’s broadcast is about as good as any 3D I’ve seen for the home theater market.
Really, while I despise the low quality of my HD DirecTV channels at home, the 3D stream gliding to the floor of CES is not nearly as compressed as the crap subscribers have been looking at. It’s actually quite sharp—as sharp as any 3D I’ve seen.
But that’s not to say the same issues I have with shutter glasses 3D aren’t there—I still feel an inherent distance from the screen, and frame rates tend to get choppy on sports—choppier, I suspect, than the sports footage I’ve seen on 3D Blu-ray. Skin tones, too, seemed to be lacking that extra bit of color data that makes them pop—and color information is the first thing to go in video compression (but without a side-by-side of the same TV with the same video clip, it’s tough to control for the testing).
Footage of Toy Story 2, meanwhile, was fairly brilliant (and colorful!), as were the crashing white caps of a waterfall from some nameless nature documentary. As sharp as Blu-ray (for all intents and purposes), I have to say, DirecTV sure can make a pretty picture when they’re trying.
It’s just too bad that DirecTV needs the pressure of 3D to do it, and 5 minutes of the experience gave me a headache that’s still bothering me even now.
Ice and LEDs combine in Harbin, China for the 26th annual Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. We would have headlined this post “City of Lice” all clever-like, but, well, obviously that was a horrible idea. [The Big Picture]
Earlier this year, Panasonic shared a dual-lensed 3D camcorder concept with the world. Today, they showed off a new iteration, which will be available…sometime, they promised.
Thee little guy looks so sad in this second shot.
