Round-up: The best of CeBIT 2010
CeBIT has once again graced Germany, and there was all sorts of technology on display. Granted, most of it was tedious or irrelevant, but there were plenty of diamonds shining in the teutonic rough.
Very kindly, we’ve sifted through the chaff and have found you five pieces of tasty, tasty wheat. Oh, now, stop your thanks. We not heroes, but it’s nice of you to call us that anyway.
- Asus RT-N56U router
It’s always great if you can look at a new piece of technology and think “Yeah, I can imagine that on the starship Enterprise”. So the fact that Asus’ super-thin router actually looks like something the Enterprise’s crew would find on some abandoned ultra-advanced alien vessel makes it doubly cool.
It does nice things like USB hard drive and printer sharing and 3G USB dongle support and blah blah – who cares? Loads of routers do all that. But just look at it! I’m no stranger to gadget lust, but this is my first time with a router. Be gentle, sweet RT-N56U…
- Mio Moov V780
I’m not too sure about these mid-size tablet PMP things. 7“ is a little ‘in the middle’ to be obviously useful. A fair bit larger than the usual phone/touchscreen media player, but lacking the space you get at the magic 10” mark. That said, Mio have packed this little device with a slick 3D interface, maps and navigation, 720p HD video output, a digital TV receiver, WiFi, 3G mobile broadband and even a WiMax option. Interestingly, among its (copious) accessories is a carry case that adds a keyboard in case you’ve got some serious emailing to do.
- 3D all-in-one desktops
3D’s coming. Whether you like it or not, it’s looming over the horizon. In fact, it’s particularly daunting and dramatic because it’s in 3D.
The next difficulty we’ll face when buying a new computer, then, is whether we get a 3D monitor or not. Asus and MSI both see the obvious solution to this dilemma, by incorporating 3D tech into some of their forthcoming all-in-ones. The prototypes shown off at CeBIT seem to be powered by Nvidia’s proprietary 3D Vision tech. Hopefully, future development of ATI’s 3D drivers and some clarity on Blu-ray 3D standards will come to take us out of Nvidia’s iron grip.
- Motorola HS1001 Android landline phone
This one’s pretty simple. This is a home, wireless DECT phone, with a big ol’ screen and it runs Android, so you can play media and surf the web on it. Now, an awful lot of people will have a laptop and/or iPod touch and things they can use in the house for this anyway, so why would you want all that in your non-mobile phone? Well, there’s no major reason, but look at it this way: Next time you’re getting new home phone, why wouldn’t you get this? It can play media and surf the web!
- Archos 7 Home Tablet
Okay, I said I’m not sure about 7“ tablets, but as I’ve included two, maybe I should shut up. Actually, what I’m rooting for here is the concept rather than the application. Archos make really nice PMPs. Android makes for a snappy, comprehensive touchscreen experience with apps available. The price is said to be as low as $200.
This is year is going to be all about tablets. There are hundreds predicted to come out this year. They’ll need specialist touchscreen software. Apple wants every family to have an iPad, but it really isn’t for everyone. Maybe all the rest can be tempted by a $200 Google-backed experience from a great hardware maker.
