Samsung Galaxy Camera. A Pointless Product
So Samsung have introduced a slew of new products at their Unpacked conference at IFA 2012. My main focus lies upon one specific product: the Galaxy Camera. I said this when the initial Galaxy Note was released, and it seems that the lesson wasn't learned. So putting it bluntly: converge products too much and they become pointless, like trying to put a phone into a camera, rather than a camera into a phone.
Sony launches 'Dot Switch' promo
Doing a classic Apple: bringing technologies together, yet keeping vague on details. Sony have just released a short promotional trailer about what they're called the "Dot Switch."
In the demo, the user uses his Sony Xperia phone to activate various Sony technologies as he/she walks by them, including a gramophone (we're just as confused as you on that one), a Bravia TV set, a set of confetti cannons (again, confused), and finally a device that's revealed by a robot arm removing the tray cover.
Editorial: Smart TV is not a smart move
So a great deal of the buzz at CES this year has surrounded the idea of 'Smart TV,' as every company fell over themselves to try and create the competition to a product that we don't even know for sure of it's existence, the real Apple TV.
The vision behind this year's movement is that of convergence. Some have gone the Google TV route, whereas others have gone for a proprietary interface (LG's gone for a Wii-style control system), all options implementing instances of the internet, the participatory nature of web 2.0, and technologies more computer-esque. Of course, if Vizio's CTO Matt McRae is to be taken at his word, the prediction is that we'll see an internet TV service provide 50-100 channels in 18 months time (interviewed by The Verge), making the 'web connected' part of my argument completely pointless.
But the idea of a TV is not due for a further 'smart' revolution, because as consumers, we (well...I) don't want it to be.