So let’s review… T-Mobile’s rendition of the HTC Excalibur, branded “Dash”, hits the streets next week and kicks butt if you can put up with Windows Mobile and EDGE. Neither TiVo nor Sling put Apple fanboys first, but both will be offering support in the “near future” — if I were a gambling man, and sometimes I am, Sling’s will hit first. Both the Neuros OSD and ITVN devices caught my eye and I’m working on getting review boxes. Sony got my attention with their new LocationFree line (including receiver!) and electronic book Reader. Several of the savviest people I spoke to at the show had very positive things to say about Infrant‘s network-attached servers for media hosting. I’d like to get my hands on one, though Seagate’s rep offered me any product in their catalog. Hm! Pepper Pad still doesn’t do it for me, and neither do voice-powered remote controls.
No show is complete without tons of schwag! Most of it is junk, but I did see (and collect) some notable items. Palm and TiVo had the best stuff. At their 680 press event, Palm gave away gift bags including a 1GB SD card, nice notebook and pen, and a non-slip dashboard pad — Treo not included. TiVo had goodies too, and I don’t think they were limited to VIPs (bonus!): TiVo bubbles, mints, stuffed dolls, KidZone lanyards, and sturdy nylon sackpacks. The Alienware bag had a throwaway t-shirt and mouse pad, but they kindly included a nice leather luggage tag which I will use. Over at ShowStoppers I ended up with a 256MB Kensington USB stick, Linksys/Cisco mini screwdriver thingy, and a glowing pen from TeleNav. I thought Movielink’s boxes of popcorn were clever (and a fine source of blogging sustenance).
After the jump, check out a few more pics from the show…
Additional coverage:
I’ll bet with you on Sling before TiVo. You’re going to have to lay odds to get some action on the TiVo side.