CES 2014: HDTV & home theater roundup
Every year, CES is filled wall to wall with flat-screen televisions and the things that plug into them. 2014′s show brought its own variations to that theme. Curved TVs, OLED TVs, Ultra HD TVs or some combination popped up wherever we looked, and unlike last year, many of them will go on sale soon. Big manufacturers like Samsung, LG and Sony dominated news for high-end sets, but others like Vizio are promising an unprecedented slew of features at value prices.
Ultra HD/OLED
When even Polaroid has an Ultra HD television to announce for CES, it’s probably fair to say there’s a trend occurring. Of the ones we saw that are likely to ship this year, Vizio’s jump off the page first — both for their quality and extremely reasonable prices. Sony demonstrated black levels on its LCDs that must be seen to be believed, plus a unique new design that brings a new level of quality to integrated TV speakers. The battle to the death between LG and Samsung reached new levels of absurdity as both showed off flexible, bending displays, one LED and one OLED. Meanwhile, Samsung curved its new 9000 series UHD TVs and LG whipped up a sweet, new version of webOS for its line. Sharp’s answer? Something between 1080p and 4K, while Panasonic spiced up its TVs with voice and face recognition. This was CES 2014 for TVs… and it was bizarre.
Sony’s new UHD TVs are built to support Netflix in 4K when it arrives
We just got to watch Samsung’s big-ass 105-inch curved TV
Panasonic ups its smart TV game with the VIERA Life+ Screen, complete with voice and facial recognition
Sharp Aquos lineup for 2014 bears 1080p and 4K TVs, a revamped SmartCentral platform and the new Quattron+ Series
Vizio’s HDTV plans for 2014 focus on Ultra HD, in sizes going all the way up to 120 inches
LG’s latest 84-inch 4K TV breaks cover at CES
LG’s 105-inch UHD TV isn’t coming to CES alone: flat 65-, 79-, 84- and 98-inchers on the way
LG’s bringing Ultra HD OLED TVs in more sizes to CES, ramping up production
Samsung announces its curved 78-inch UHD TV: runs faster, works smarter
Samsung: cheap OLED TVs won’t be ready for three to four years
Samsung’s 105-inch curved UHD TV and 85-inch bendable screen hit retail this year
Samsung shows off its 85-inch curved TV that bends with the touch of a button (video)
Sony’s new Bravia HDTVs get a wedge-shaped redesign (update: hands-on photos)
Kogan’s ultra-budget 4K TV and 3G tablet arrive at CES
Toshiba enters 2014 with extra-bright 4K TVs, simpler streaming media hubs
Sceptre’s showing off 4K TVs, Roku Ready displays, earbuds and pretty much everything, ever at CES
Smart/Connected TV
Internet-connected and highly personalized services for our TVs and the devices connected to them have gone from a curiosity to the norm. Now, we may be finally entering the period where there’s enough reason to separate the wheat from the chaff and decide who has the best smart TV platform. LG is showing its hand with webOS and Roku integrating directly into TVs, but it may be another 12 months before we can pick a winner (or at least top three).
Hands-on with LG’s smart TV running webOS (video)
LG teases webOS for most of its smart TVs, Lifeband Touch with Android, iOS sync
Dish’s ‘Virtual Joey’ is a streaming app for smart TVs that takes the place of a set-top box (video)
Samsung’s new TV remote for 2014 has a new pebble shape, 80 percent smaller touchpad
Roku renews bid for the living room with streaming-ready Roku TVs
Android TV at CES 2014 highlighted by Chinese manufacturers Hisense and TCL
Netgear’s NeoMediacast is an Android-powered TV set-top on a stick
Streaming
Streaming could move from a secondary service to a top priority, with a bevy of new and smarter TVs and connected devices, plus the availability of 4K content before it hits broadcast. Is this the end for traditional pay-TV or does that market have some life left in it yet? That will be one of the many, many stories we’re following in 2014.
Netflix confirms it will stream House of Cards in 4K this year, posts full season two trailer
Samsung’s Ultra HD TVs will stream 4K video from Amazon, Comcast, DirecTV, Netflix and more
Hulu’s original TV shows for 2014 are a mix of new series, new seasons and foreign transplants
YouTube to show off lower-bandwidth 4K streaming at CES
Plex website relaunches as Plex.tv, one-stop home for all of its media streaming abilities
Panasonic will bring Firefox OS to your smart TV this year
GoPro to launch extreme sports channel on Xbox One and 360
Prototype
Flexible displays, network DVRs and ultrawide Ultra HD — this is the place to check it out.
TiVo prototype DVR recordings stay in the cloud, watch them anywhere on any screen
Toshiba cares not for 4K, has an ultra-wide 5K TV ready for CES
Take that Samsung: LG’s got a 77-inch OLED UHD TV that bends on command (video)
The projector section
We love projectors, but Sony and LG took them in an odd direction this year, courtesy of lasers.
LG sneaks a new version of its ‘Laser TV’ projector into CES 2014
Sony’s $30k+ Life Space UX projector all-in-one puts a 147-inch 4K screen on any wall
Sony’s Life Space UX demo envisions projectors, screens everywhere
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Samsung, Sony, LG
Toshiba’s high-res 3,840 x 2,160 laptop should arrive by back-to-school season
And just like that, 2K screens are old news. While other companies announce laptops with 2,560 x 1,440 screens, Toshiba is doing the competition one better: the outfit is showing off a notebook with a 15.6-inch, 3,840 x 2,160 display. Dubbed the Satellite P50t, the laptop has a screen density of 282 pixels per inch, which, as you can imagine, means some onscreen objects are going to be very, very small (check out that still photo of Windows Media Player in our gallery to see what we’re talking about). Other than that lack of optimized apps — a problem for every high-res notebook — the screen is quite nice, with good color reproduction and decent viewing angles. As for the rest of the specs, we don’t know much, expect that it will have a mix of Core i5/i7 processors (whether that means Haswell or Intel’s fifth-generation chips is a question for another day). We suppose all will be revealed when this finally goes on sale — sometime “mid-year,” says Toshiba. For now, enjoy the hands-on photos.
Filed under: Laptops
Toshiba’s 5-in-1 laptop concept debuts at CES with a detachable keyboard
Sure, notebook makers crow about their 2-in-1 hybrids, but Toshiba’s brought something to CES that’ll humble its competition: a 5-in-1 laptop. The transforming device comes with a slick magnesium alloy case reminiscent of a MacBook, and a 13.3-inch touch screen. So, just what can this laptop transform into? On the tamer side of things are a run-of-the-mill notebook configuration and tablet mode, the latter of which is achieved by pushing the display all the way back, much like with Lenovo’s Yoga line of devices. The next three forms are where things get interesting, and they’re made possible by a detachable keyboard and a bit of metal left attached to the screen’s hinge, which acts as a stand and houses stereo Harman Kardon speakers.
In “canvas” mode, the laptop is lifted from the table at an angle helpful for drawing, particularly handy since the hardware’s display packs a digitizer and its top half holds its own stylus. “Presentation/TV” mode is the fifth and final form, which props the display upright. When it comes to connectivity, the laptop sports two USB ports, a microSD slot and a spot to jack in a mini-HDMI cable. Since the hardware’s still a concept phase, there’s no word on detailed specs, price or if and when it’ll see the fluorescent lights of your local electronics store. For now, you can take a peek at three of its forms in the neighboring gallery.
Filed under: Laptops
Toshiba cares not for 4K, has an ultra-wide 5K TV ready for CES
4K? Pah, Toshiba’s already working on something, you know, one better. One of our eagle-eyed readers sent in this picture of a “5K” extra-wide UHD TV on the show floor. Of course, like LG’s 5K model, this is really just a 4K TV with a thousand extra pixels tacked on at the edges, but the plain technical facts shouldn’t detract from this spectacular work of corporate one-upmanship. Naturally, we’ll probably find out more about this hardware in a day or so, but until then, we’ll just have to gaze upon this slightly blurry shot and wonder.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Toshiba Chromebook is the company’s first Chrome OS device; arrives next month for $279 (hands-on)
We already knew Toshiba was coming out with a Chrome OS device, but in the four months since Intel teased it at IDF, we haven’t seen anything in the way of specs, much less product shots. That changes today: The company just announced the Toshiba Chromebook here at CES, making this the first time we’ve seen the device up close. (It’s also the only product Toshiba is announcing for the entire show, but that’s a different story.) Of note, this has a 13-inch display, which, for whatever reason, has never been used on a Chromebook before. At any rate, Toshiba is betting that consumers coming over from Windows and Mac machines will want the same in-between-sized screen they’re already used to — especially if they plan on spending a lot of time in Gmail and GDocs.
Due to that larger screen, this is naturally going to be a bit heavier than, say, the HP Chromebook 11 (three pounds vs. 2.3), but what you lose in portability, you’ll make up for in power. While HP’s offering makes do with an ARM processor, the Toshiba Chromebook offers a Haswell-series Celeron 2955U CPU for the same price, promising stronger performance and longer battery life (up to nine hours, say company reps).
Also, that larger footprint means a less-cramped keyboard. Indeed, after just a few minutes of hands-on time, we noticed the buttons were well-spaced, with a good deal of travel. Elsewhere on the gray plastic chassis, you’ll find two USB 3.0 connections, a full-sized HDMI socket, a headphone port, an SDXC card reader and a lock slot — a particularly handy feature for students and teachers. As for that 13.3-inch 1,366 x 768 display, the viewing angles are pretty limited, but then again, what else did you expect from a $279 machine?
For now, Toshiba is only planning on selling a WiFi-only model with 2GB of RAM and the standard 16GB of built-in storage, but a spokesperson told us the company could “potentially” come out with a 4G version, too. For now, that WiFi-only edition is shipping February 16th for $279 — slightly less than you’d pay for other Haswell Chromebooks.
Filed under: Laptops
Toshiba enters 2014 with extra-bright 4K TVs, simpler streaming media hubs
Toshiba knows how to shine in the 4K TV space when there’s a sea of competitors — by making brighter 4K TVs, of course. Its 2014 Ultra HD TV lineup (not yet pictured) centers on 58- and 65-inch Premier L9400U models that both have extra-bright “Radiance” LED panels. They similarly share a third-generation 4K video-scaling engine, a 240Hz refresh rate, DirecTV RVU support and voice control. If brightness isn’t what you’re looking for, there are more conventional alternatives. The 84-inch L9450U relies on more conventional local-dimming LEDs while preserving the rest of the L9400U’s features, and the 50- and 58-inch L8400U sets cut costs through both their smaller sizes and 120Hz panels. All three TV lines are poised to ship this summer, although Toshiba isn’t ready to commit to pricing.
The electronics giant is also launching a pair of next-generation Symbio set-top boxes, both of which combine Blu-ray with streaming media using a newly simplified, one-page interface that brings Smart TV Alliance app support. The BDX5500 leads the group with 4K upscaling and 3D playback, while the BDX3500 saves some cash by sticking to 2D. Toshiba doesn’t yet have pricing for the new Symbio line, but it should grace store shelves in the first quarter of the year.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Toshiba
Android 4.3 Update For Toshiba Excite Pro and Excite Write Tablets On The Way
Well it isn’t Android 4.4 Kit-Kat but hey, it is an upgrade from another OEM. Toshiba should be rolling out Android 4.3 to their Excite Pro and Excite Write very soon. Of course we already know the stuff Android 4.3 brings along, most notable is the multi accounts which is a nice feature to have especially on a tablet. Toshiba is updating a couple of their own apps as well, TruNote and TruCapture. The TruNote update brings the ability to convert notes to Office formats. And the TruCapture update allows signature and sketches to be digitized. So if you own one of these guys keep your eyes peeled for your software update. Perhaps we are finally seeing OEM’s take updates a little more seriously (maybe just maybe 4.4 won’t be far off from your Toshiba tablets).
Source: Softpedia
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Last minute stocking stuffers you can still have delivered before Christmas
Order these through Amazon before Sunday night and they’ll arrive in the (Saint) Nick of time
You’ve waited until nearly the last day possible to pick out some Christmas gifts, did you? Now you’re worried about what you’re going to get your friends and family members. Not to worry, we’ve got your back.
We have compiled a list of great products, from brands we trust, that will make the perfect last-minute gift for everyone. Just don’t tell them you waited, goofball. We can keep a secret.
First things first
The first thing you are going to need to do is sign up for an Amazon Prime account. This way, you get free two-day shipping that’s guaranteed to arrive in time for Christmas just so long as you order before December 22.
Two-Day Shipping (FREE with Amazon Prime)
Order as late as midnight EST / 9 p.m. PST (varies by item) Sunday, December 22
Note that Amazon Prime accounts can be canceled at any time you want but after your 30-day free trial it costs $79.99 per year. Actually, moms and students get a discounted plan so check that out if you haven’t yet!
Unless otherwise noted, these gifts are under $20 each.
Gift Card
Should you absolutely run out of ideas and have no clue as to what your friends want or need, this one works in a pinch. Actually, you can order these and have them emailed to you contacts within minutes. It doesn’t get any more last-minute than this, but it works!
For what it’s worth, it’s possible to have them delivered via Facebook or printed out at home.
In addition to selling Amazon gift cards, you can also scoop up brands like Starbucks, Regal Entertainment, Applebee’s, GameStop, Kohl’s and others.
Targus Stylus
Perfect gift for your friends or family members who own a tablet or Kindle Fire. Toss it in the pocket or purse or keep it at the office for those times when you need to mark up a document or draw mustaches on photos.
Galaxy S4 Wallet Case
Great protection and utility in one bundle, it’s exactly what the Samsung smartphone needs to stay safe and secure. Slim and low profile, it comes in at least eight color options.
Belkin SurgePlus Mini Travel Swivel Charger with Dual USB Ports
Whether your loved one is a jet-setter or a college student, this handy gadget will prove to be beneficial. Not only does it turn your standard outlet into three plugs, but it adds a pair of powered USB ports (1A, 2.1A) as well. Swivel in 360-degrees and lock into one of four position – very convenient!
SanDisk 8GB microSD Card
It ain’t the fastest memory card on the block but it might be more storage than they already have. Most phones have 8GB or more internal storage with the option to expand via microSD. And, with so many adapters and readers out there, this also helps with digital cameras, MP3 players, and other gadgets.
6’ MicroUSB Cable
Fact: you can never have enough MicroUSB cables. It’s like science or something, too. There’s nothing wrong with tossing a few of these around the house. Keep a couple on deck for when guests drop by and need some juice. The best part is that these are six feet long; no need to crawl behind the couch.
Samsung Handsfree Stereo Headphones with Mic
Chances are good that someone you know owns a Samsung smartphone. Why not hook them up with a pair of official headphones from Samsung? Features volume control, microphone, and answer/end key and soft earbud rings.
Car charger
As great as battery life has gotten over the last few generations, GPS can still be quite the drain. Put a charger in your car and top off on the way home from work.
Tablet Stand
This portable stand can fold up and travels with virtually zero footprint. A great companion accessory for 7-inch devices like the Kindle Fire HD or bigger tablets like the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1. Watching movies, reading books, or simply browsing emails – whatever the case, this makes it much easier.
Toshiba Canvio 500GB Portable Hard Drive $50
How about dropping half of a terabyte of storage into a stocking? Compatible with USB 2.0 or 3.0, it’s small and able to withstand the occasional drop. Just because you can put everything in the cloud doesn’t mean that you have to. A great way to backup pictures, videos, and other media.
AmazonBasics Accessory Bundle
A goodie bag of must-have accessories, this one includes a stylus, a 2.1A USB wall charger, a USB 1.0 AMP DC charger, and a Micro USB to USB charging cable. If for no other reason, buy this as a backup kit to take on trips or to keep in the car. It’s almost guaranteed that you’ll reach for one of these components at some point.
GreatShield Flex Grip Lightweight Universal Car Mount Holder
Whether you’ve got an Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone lover in your life, this one will do the trick. Attaches to the windshield or dashboard with a twisting lock/suction and swivels your phones in any direction, 360-degrees. Fits most smartphones save for those larger devices such as the Galaxy Note 3
5200mAh High Capacity Portable Power Backup
Toss in a bag or purse and you’ve got enough juice to take a phone from zero to to one hundred twice over. Small and sleek, it pulls double duty as a flashlight for up to 250 hours. Bonus points for the LED indicator to keep users in the know.
Cruzerlite TPU Case
Tons of color option and designs to choose from; one of our favorite ways to protect Android smartphones. Odds are good that you’ll find something you’ll enjoy for any number of key devices released in the last year or so.
You don’t really need us to explain why this guy is the best $35 you can spend, do you? With a fast-growing list of apps with support, this is one of our favorite gadgets of all time and it’s only getting started. Output your favorite movie apps, streaming services, and so much more. Better buy a few of these so you can put one in each room.
The post Last minute stocking stuffers you can still have delivered before Christmas appeared first on AndroidGuys.
How would you change Toshiba’s Satellite U845?
When you’re building a laptop to a price point, there’s a fine line between success and failure. Take the Toshiba Satellite U845, an Ultrabook priced at the reasonably slender $750. When we placed it in the hands of our resident laptop critic, she found that the tasteful, pleasing design and sturdy performance were more than enough to offset the meager specs or shallow keyboard. So, now that you’ve had more than enough time to go out and use this piece of kit, why not share with us what it’s been like for you?
Filed under: Laptops
Toshiba to buy OCZ’s assets for $35 million, eyes solid-state supremacy
OCZ’s memory technology won’t fade into obscurity after all — Toshiba has agreed to buy the ailing company’s assets for $35 million through a bankruptcy auction. As long as the bid wins, Toshiba expects to acquire OCZ’s solid-state drive business…
AIVAnet 