The Consumer Electronics Show kicks off in Las Vegas next Tuesday, and gadget makers are getting ready to show off their latest tech products for the coming year.
Every year, a few big product trends emerge. In 2011, it was all about Android tablets; in 2010, 3D televisions and e-readers dominated the show; and in 2009, netbooks were a big topic. So what does 2012 promise? Here's a look at five CES trends that people are already talking about.
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OLED
Organic Light Emitting Diode displays promise more vivid colors, faster response times, and smaller device footprints compared to LCD/LED TVs, but the technology has yet to break into the television market. That may be about to change at CES 2012, as LG announced Monday it plans to show what it calls the world's largest OLED HDTV.
LG's new TV has a 55-inch display and 0.16-inch depth; weighs 16.5 pounds; and promises a response time that is less than 0.0001 millisecond (the average LCD has a response time between 5 and 2 milliseconds). OLEDs were also a hot topic for CES 2009.
Ultrabooks
Intel introduced the concept of Ultrabooks -- laptops with slim designs, solid-state drives, and longer battery life -- in May. Since then we've seen a number of these laptops come out, including the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, Acer Aspire S3, and Toshiba Portege Z835.
But the real onslaught of these MacBook Air competitors is expected at CES, with as many as 30 to 50 Ultrabooks making their debut in Las Vegas. Intel's president and CEO Paul Otellini is delivering a keynote address at CES next Tuesday when he may discuss the forthcoming Ivy Bridge Core processors, the miniaturized successor to 2011's Sandy Bridge chips that are at the heart of current Ultrabooks.
Quad-core phones
Get ready for blazing fast smartphones loaded with quad-core processors, such as Nvidia's Tegra 3 and Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4.
