Amongst all the dazzling new televisions and parade of tablet devices, there were two products and services that clearly stood out during my abbreviated CES journey.
FiOS TV… As An App
While we saw at least three methods of bypassing the cable box at CES, none excited me more than the Verizon FiOS TV approach. Verizon’s collaborated with both Samsung and Panasonic to load up their IMG 1.9 TV/DVR experience as an app on various connected devices. Such as the Samsung BD-C6900 as photographed above. Additionally, Verizon has ported their new IP-based television experience to some game consoles they’re not quite ready to disclose. All told, they’ve currently got FiOS TV running on over 3 dozen devices… that are not cable boxes. What if your PS3 was also your DVR? Or your Blu-ray player was your extender? And your live “cable” TV was built into your connected television? I’m confident Verizon will succeed where the lethargic cable industry’s tru2way initiative has failed. And this is only 2/3rd of the news that excites me. The other third has me even more giddy (as a new FiOS TV customer) and is something we’ll hopefully be able to cover in the near future.
Motorola Atrix Smartphone/Netbook Combo
Dozens and dozens on Android-powered devices were on display at CES. But none were more powerful, attractive, or clever than the Motorola Atrix. By itself, the Atrix is a top flight smartphone boasting superior specs. But Moto has sweetened the deal by mating it with an optional companion laptop module. Pop the Atrix into the accessory and the 11″ netbook, with 6-8hr battery life, springs to life via a custom “webtop” app that resides on the phone. You’re not just tethering your data services, you’re tethering the processor, storage, and operating system as well. Unfortunately the critical question of “How much?” remains unanswered.
