MEGATech Videos – CES 2014 Episode #4 – Bigger Screens with Samsung, Huawei and ASUS Michael Kwan January 17, 2014 MEGATech Videos We live in an age where we are surrounded by digital displays. We’re being introduced to a “second screen” experience on our smartphones and tablets to accompany what we see on the bigger screen with television and video games. And so, with our fourth and final video episode of coverage from CES 2014 in Las Vegas, we turn to all sorts of screens in all sorts of sizes to provide us with all sorts of digital enjoyment. Here we go! Samsung (0:18) – Samsung is a company that we now know for having devices in every screen size imaginable and that tradition continued at CES 2014. In addition to the usual tablet sizes, Samsung also announced the new Galaxy NotePro tablet in a 12.2-inch form factor. It comes with a functional magazine-style user interface, as well as the ability to go split-screen with four concurrent applications. Unsurprisingly, Samsung also had a myriad of televisions at the show, most of which were rocking the 4K UHD dance. Aside from the 110-inch UHD behemoth, the real star of the show just may have been the 105-inch curved UHD TV with its 21:9 wide aspect ratio. The idea is that you get better viewing angles, even when you’re on the edges, all without letterboxing for a true cinema experience. This isn’t just some prototype or concept either, as it’s going to be shipping later this year. The price is anyone’s guess. Huawei (5:18) – Remember when we first saw the original Huawei Ascend Mate last year at CES? It may have been a comically large phablet at the time, but with devices like the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, extra large smartphones have somehow become the norm. And so, at CES 2014, we got to see the new Huawei Ascend Mate 2. The 6.1-inch display is only 720p and it gets some incremental improvements, but they’ve really worked on the software side with a “simple mode” for smartphone newbies. It also comes with the added ability to act as a power bank for your other mobile devices, which is a strangely reversed role for a smartphone. ASUS (6:28) – Many of us know ASUS as a great brand for products like motherboards and notebooks, but they’ve also been producing mobile devices for a number of years. They expanded the line at CES with the announcement of the new ZenFone family of affordable Android smartphones. Optimized with their new ZenUI, the ZenFone 4, ZenFone 5 and ZenFone 6 come with 4-inch, 5-inch, and 6-inch displays accordingly with prices starting as low as $99 off-contract. At the show, Asus was also showing off some new additions to their PadFone lineup, which allows you to slot a smartphone into a tablet shell for a unified experience. Going even bigger, we saw the 13-inch dual-boot Transformer Book Duet TD300 tablet hybrid with Windows and Android that builds upon the Transformer Pad history in so many ways. That pretty well wraps up another year at CES 2014. We’ve seen some great mobile devices, terrific accessories, cool gaming innovations, and even a new popcorn maker. Be sure to check out the rest of our CES 2014 coverage, including the three other video episodes. Our friends at Futurelooks have CES coverage for PC DIY enthusiasts too, so head on over there to have a look at that. It looks like 2014 will be yet another exciting year for tech! Share This With The World!
