CES 2009 – The battle of thin & light

Pre-guessing a major consumer electronics event can be akin to shooting in the dark but I’m going to take a brief stab at it.

I’ll be jetting off on Tuesday to Las Vegas to begin my coverage of CES for TrustedReviews and I’m beginning to spot a few trends I expect to see built upon in those huge halls at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). Most notably LED panels in both monitors and TVs, further refinement in the netbook sector and finally the emergence of affordable solid state hard drives (SSDs) for laptops.

The indicators are already out. Last week LG announced the world’s thinnest LED High Definition TV only to see Samsung a few days later claim it will produce a model more than 3x thinner.

In the meantime PQI has joined this we-can’t-keep-our-lips-shut club to proclaim a range of wallet friendly SSDs with capacities up to 128GB. This is more than enough for the average user, especially when combined with the technology’s significant benefits (faster performance, greater durability, silent running, zero heat build up and lower energy requirements).

Then comes the cert: yet another flourish in the sardine-crammed netbook sector. With most manufacturers onto generation three we should find slimmer, more portable and more powerful machines than ever before. Many likely to carry onboard HSDPA along with the ability to playback HD content, making them mini-media centres for one and all.

The common theme in this diverse trio? Thin and light. Essentially CES 2009 looks set to build on technologies we’ve long had (LED backlighting, solid state drives, HSDPA, HDMI, portable laptops) but push them into ever more convenient forms.

TVs will be wall mounted in the future more often than not, our primary PCs will go everywhere with us and our components will be faster, stronger and more efficient than ever before. Heck, even the neck and neck hot tips for the overlapping MacWorld are between an even smaller Mac Mini or a Mac netbook and you know what they say about where Apple goes?!

It’s the battle of thin and light people, get ready to enjoy it…

BlackBerry Curve 8900

Here’s something new…

Let’s face it, in your average review what most readers aren’t looking for is praise or description. We know the majority of products these days do the basics just fine and if we want a specification list we can get that off the manufacturer’s site – it doesn’t require 1,000 words.

In short, we’re all on the look out for the Bad Points, the deal breakers, that single missing or poorly implemented feature that can on occasion be like finding a needle in a haystack. It is the issue which says for you individually this product requires no further investigation and can be dismissed.

Here’s an easy example. Considering its midrange positioning, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 is the best smartphone I’ve seen from RIM to date. Build quality, screen, keyboard, software, pricing, it’s all superb and therefore omitted.

Instead the deal breaker is its lack of 3G – something many cannot do without yet will get 700/800 words into a review just to discover. Let’s cut through this – a blog isn’t paid by the word and we’re all busy people.

So without further ado here is GordonKelly.com’s first ‘Just the Bad Points’ review:

BlackBerry Curve 8900 – Just the Bad Points

• No 3G Connectivity

Got it?

Yep, it’s dead easy. Now the issue won’t always be this simple to spot, often it can be something you’d only notice from physically using the device. So this should also allow me to bring you word on the latest and hottest products FAST, after all it’s Only the Bad Points – the points that matter. Enjoy!

Feedback most welcome.

David Pogue isn’t the jerk you suspected…

I won’t be using this blog to post many links to quirky videos, cute animals and retarded celebrities (you know, the bad kind) it’s more about what I can bring to the table for you ladies and gents, but I will make the occasional exception for the odd gem.

Here’s one such example from David Pogue, the usually thoroughly irritating knowledge ‘lite’ New York Times & CBS tech correspondent. With no vindictiveness and no little self parody Pogue shows us that maybe, just maybe, he isn’t the jerk you suspected…

(Like so many things in life, the good stuff is in the first 3 minutes)