With the 2015 CES show having got underway in Las Vegas, many of the world’s biggest technology companies have been unveiling their plans for the next twelve months. Apple doesn’t deem it necessary to put in an appearance at the event, but many other huge names in consumer electronics have been demonstrating their latest innovations in Nevada.
There has been a particular emphasis during the early stages of the CES show on 4K resolution television sets. There is already considerable speculation that this format will become a part of mobile technology in the next twelve months, and the prominence of this new ultra-high definition technology in Las Vegas indicates that companies are really looking to push this over the next twelve months.
Here is a rundown of some of the highlights from day one of the trade show.
LG reveals CES 2015 products
LG has caught the 4K bug, and was keen to showcase a range of 4K televisions during the first day of the Las Vegas tradeshow. LG’s 2015 4K OLED TVs utilize the company’s proprietary WRGB technology, which LG promotes as producing particularly lifelike color parameters. The contrast ratio in this range has been proclaimed to be infinite, and the 4K resolution display has impressed attendees at CES 2015.
Not happy with releasing merely one new 4K set, LG on veiled seven new OLED sets for sale in its refreshed line-up, with the most eye-catching being an enormous 77-inch device which provided one notable innovation. By simply pressing a button on the television set’s controller, this particular LG device can switch between flat and curved modes.
Curved display screens certainly seem to be here to stay, after Samsung made a big impression with its range of curved televisions over the last couple of years. And this was further reflected in the design of another product which LG unveiled that was expected by very few analysts and observers. LG’s new curved smartphone with a 5.5-inch display was not anticipated ahead of the CES show, and it is interesting that LG has adopted for an entirely curved design with this device, not merely a curved display.
Samsung reveals CES 2015 products
There were murmurings before the CES show began that Samsung might unveil the Galaxy S6 at this Las Vegas event. In truth, this was unlikely to come to fruition, as huge corporations such as Samsung tend to stick to very rigid schedules for their major product releases. Additionally, the Galaxy S6 will be on an extremely tight schedule, and Samsung has always previously revealed this device at the Mobile world Congress, which this year takes place in Barcelona.
Samsung instead served up an offering of fridges and ovens, but it certainly wasn’t allowing LG to rest on its laurels in the 4K television set department. As mentioned previously, Samsung has already made a huge impression in the 4K TV marketplace, and in fact he’s already responsible for selling more than 50 percent of all 4K televisions worldwide.
With this in mind, Samsung unveiled its latest television set which takes advantage of a technology that Samsung dubs Quantum Dot. The tiny crystals involved in this process help Samsung’s device produce picture quality which the corporation describes as “superior”, with the new Samsung set providing “stunning contrast, striking brightness and spectacular colour”.
Whether Samsung’s range of mobiles can benefit from this remains to be seen, but Samsung did have a further announcement of relevance to its smaller product ranges. Samsung Milk VR is coming to the Galaxy Gear and Note range, as the battle for virtual reality supremacy hots up over the next twelve months.
Google reveals CES 2015 products
Google is not so readily associated with physical devices as some of the other big companies that were peddling their wares at the CES show, but the company is usually at the centre of pretty much any major tech trend. With this in mind, it was interesting to note what Google unveiled at the Las Vegas tradeshow.
Central to its display was new streaming functionality. Google’s Casting options currently enable you to fling videos from your smartphone to your television set, but Google has announced an extension of this service for 2015. In the coming months, Google will enable users to send content from a range of music streaming services to network speakers around the home.
This seemed a clear effort on the part of Google to compete with Apple and its ubiquitous and immensely successful iTunes service. In accordance with these plans to make a major splash in the music marketplace, Google also announced plans to create a “Google Cast ecosystem” which will include “Android TVs, games consoles and set-top boxes”.
Many more new products are expected to emerge in the coming days at CES 2015, and ValueWalk will certainly be following this event closely.
