Every year at CES technophiles are shown numerous new products, from nearly every technology company in the world (except Apple) and this year was no exception. This year, however, certain products took nearly all of the limelight, with Razer’s new tablet, the Edge, winning both the Best of Show and the People’s Voice awards. Other products, though harder to dig out, have great promise, with many potentially able to effect change on the entire technology sector.
One product which may change the gaming industry is Nvidia’s Project Shield. Project Shield is effectively a 5 inch tablet connected to an Xbox controller, but creates a combination which is much more than just those two parts. Able to run PC operating systems or Android, this device aims to target both PC gamers, portable gamers and primarily console gamers who are on the go. By using a PC operating system, one can play games downloaded to the Shield or stream from a nearby computer using a Wi-Fi connection, creating an OnLive-esque style of play. Though this could potentially create a problem, as you would not be able to play games on the go, this is something that could be easily fixed by a community made program – one of the benefits of using the Android OS. The Shield also comes with a great set of speakers, making it easily usable for listening to music as a group, again applying the Android operating system. One potential issue with the Shield is the battery life. Though Nvidia has not mentioned anything regarding the amount of time it could be used, the battery life may be quite short if using Wi-Fi to stream a game from a PC, with the high bandwidth needed to play quickly becoming a large drain on the battery. On the go, however, the battery life should not be too much of a problem, as one does not need internet, but then another problem arises – the need for a significant amount of storage space. With games totaling over ten gigabytes in storage, the need for a large drive in such a small space will be even more important than in smartphones. With all this together, a price significantly higher than a traditional portable device should be expected – but will it manage to succeed with such a high price, or will developers lower the quality to attract more sales?
Another great invention that did not receive enough coverage at CES was Tactus’s tactile keyboard. This keyboard is made of gel, and is incorporated into tablets when they are being made. When a keyboard is called up on the tablet, a signal is sent to the gel, making the gel appear on the screen in the form of buttons. These buttons feel more similar to actual keyboard pieces, making it easier to type than on a touch screen keyboard, especially for those used to using traditional keyboards. The current model of this keyboard only allows for a portrait version of the keyboard to be displayed, though many users have discussed eventuality of a landscape keyboard being added and the possibility of having buttons appear in any location using signals sent by downloaded apps, allowing for games to apply this technology as well. The only problem with this technology, however, is the slow fade away of the buttons. After the keyboard is no longer in use, the buttons are reported to stay for at least a minute, with just the outlines still visible even then, potentially changing the feel from a smooth glass texture to a slightly rough texture. This product is still in development, however, and if the technology is improved upon, could see a great amount of change in where it is applied and how it is used.
This year, in CES, though an established hardware company still took the spotlight, there was a change in many of the other new products. In previous years, many of these products have been made by other hardware companies, with the companies simply using CES as a set release date for new products. Other products have also been sponsored by these large companies, with almost no new companies managing to enter the industry. This year, however, there was a paradigm shift in the new products. New companies managed to present new products, without much interference from established organizations, with software companies trying out new ideas, and entrepreneurs presenting new creations. This shift, though not fully complete, as many of these new ideas are dependent on large companies’ innovations, show the increasing amount of competition in the technology industry, something that will change the way we live our lives.