Apple iPad: My thoughts

Well, it's finally over. After months and months of hype, Apple finally announced it's new iPad tablet. Here's why I found it hard to defend the iPad during this week's podcast and why I will probably tell most people to stay away from it.

1)Netbook vs iPad
Jobs took a huge swipe at the netbook industry during his keynote saying that "netbooks aren't better than anything." What I find funny is that the iPad is essentially Apple's version of a netbook. (Just like Sony's VAIO P is Sony's version of a netbook.) And the surprising part is that a netbook can run circles around the iPad. For instance, I can take a Lenovo S10 to CES (as I did earlier this month) and blog, read my Twitter feed, stream music from Slacker, and charge my iPod touch — all at the same time. Can you do that on the iPad? No. Unfortunately, you can't multitask. And even if you could, would the 1GHz Apple CPU prove any better than Intel's latest Atom? Or even Qualcomm's Snapdragon? Sure, the iPad might provide a better UI — the iPad's OS looks gorgeous — but I need to do multiple things at once. I need to be productive. The iPad prevents me from being productive. It's a MID (Mobile Internet Device) minus the multitasking.

2)Why do I need it?
On paper, the iPad's specs do not disappoint. It's 0.5" thin, it weighs 1.5 pounds, and it has a 9.7" 1024x768 LED-backlit LCD. My question is, what does it replace? If I want to make calls, it won't replace my smartphone. If I want to create or consume content, it won't replace my laptop (you can't multitask, remember). So why do I need one? Apple has simply created one more gadget for people to carry, and personally, the last thing I want is one more device in my backpack.

You could argue this is a "coffee table" computer and I can totally see myself keeping this in front of the TV so I can Tweet or Facebook while I watch Iron Chef, but will I ever turn my 42" HDTV off so I can watch a program on my 9.7" screen?

Likewise, I don't see myself leaving my pocket-friendly iPod touch at home so I can play games on the iPad's larger screen while waiting at the dentist's office.

3)iPad as e-Book Reader
I love books. But after CES, my interest in e-Book readers has skyrocketed. Jobs touted the iPad as an e-Book reader that can do more than just read e-Books. But if you look closely at this picture (taken by the folks at Engadget) you can see some of the pricing for those iBooks. I checked them against Amazon's Kindle Store. They were all overpriced.

*True Compass: A Memoir (Apple: $14.99 / Amazon: $9.99)
*Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace w/ Marriage (Apple: $12.99 / Amazon: $9.99)
*The Piano Teacher (Apple: $9.99 / Amazon: $9.47)
*I, Alex Cross (Apple: $12.99 / Amazon: $9.99)
*I, Sniper (Apple: $10.99 / Amazon: $9.99)
*Three Cups of Tea (Apple $7.99 / Amazon: $7.50)

Granted, those may or may not be final prices for those iBooks, but as it stands now — Apple's iBook Store will be painfully expensive. I'm no fan of the Kindle, but if I read a lot of books, why would I want to line Apple's pockets with my money?

4)"Unbelievable Price"
This is the part that bugs me the most. Apple is patting itself on the back for its "affordable" iPad price. While it is "cheap" (for an Apple product), it's still more expensive than your typical netbook. Even the entry-level iPad is significantly pricier than the Barnes & Noble Nook. You could argue that those are dedicated e-Book readers while the iPad is more. Fair argument. So let's compare it to Spring Design's $399 Alex reader, which can also play movies (on it's smaller screen), stream music, browse the Web, and download apps (from the Android App Store.) The iPad is still $100 over.

And from the preliminary looks of the iBook Store, chances are you're not going to save money on eBooks iBooks. So where is this unbelievable price?

I mentioned on this week's podcast that I will probably buy an iPad. However, the more I think of it, the less I can justify spending $499 on the iPad. I don't need it, and as someone who reviews tech/gadgets and keeps an eye out for the best gadget deals, it's almost impossible to justify this purchase for the average consumer.

On the flip side, it will be interesting to see what developers can do with the iPad. And it will be even more interesting to see iPad version 2.0. But until then, this is just a smart device designed to make Apple richer than it already is. It's a smokescreen to get users buying on Apple's iTunes/App/iBook Store.

Robot Operation

I absolutely love my Roomba 540. It's easily one of the top 3 gadgets I own. (If you want to call it a gadget.) I got it for Xmas and I've used it multiple times now. It cleans my bedroom, living room, kitchen, essentially my whole apartment. And it does a damn good job at it too. (Much better than my old Dirt Devil, which barely sucked up dirt.)

I've read about people growing attached to their Roomba and I can see why. It's so damn cool. It's a robot for crying out loud! And lately I've even caught myself anthropomorphisizing my Roomba. Not to the extent where I'm dressing it up in French maid outfits, but to extent where I find myself worrying about it like I would worry about, oh, I don't know, my two dogs. I make sure it's well fed (connected to its dock), clean, and that it gets exercise at least once every other day ("exercise" means cleaning my apt). Like I said, it's just so awesome. And then it happened. The biggest scare ever. Roomba started showing signs of sickness.

It all started this afternoon while I was having lunch. I set my Roomba loose and within minutes I noticed Roomba was making "uh-oh" noises. (It only makes those noises when something is wrong.) So I'd restart it hoping it was nothing, but seconds later, same thing. I gave it a quick clean thinking that would solve things, but it didn't. That's when panic start to set in. Could something serious be wrong with Roomba? It hasn't even been a year!!

I quickly looked up the symptoms on the iRobot website and lo and behold I found the solution. I did exactly as the video instructed and after a 5-minute robot operation Roomba was up and running. (How's that for customer service!) Now Roomba is happily cleaning my apartment.

I'm debating getting my Roomba a partner. The floor-mopping Roomba. My apartment isn't that big, so it'd feel a little silly, but I'm sure Roomba wouldn't mind the extra company.

A word of advice

Guard your credit cards. Seriously. Guard them as if your life depended on them. I recently had my debit card number stolen (how, I have no clue) and the schmuck who stole it went on a $1,300 shopping spree at their local Walgreens. Luckily my bank (Chase) managed to flag it, but the damage was already done and now I have to set up a new account, fill out paperwork describing the fraudulent charges, and transfer all of my bills to my new account.

In the grand scheme of things, it's not a big deal. But it is a major inconvenience. And for what it's worth, I thought I was doing a pretty good job guarding my card. I would never use it at shady stores (both online and on the street). I would steer clear of street-side ATM machines. I would always enter a random sequence of numbers upon finishing a withdrawal from an ATM. I was very careful with it. But not careful enough. So guard your cards, folks. You can never be too paranoid/careful.

It's a trap! (Sorta)

Starting Monday, Verizon Wireless will offer a new set of Unlimited Calling and Texting plans. (You can check out the details here.) While the new plans lower the price of unlimited calling and texting, you should check your current plan closely before making the jump. Here's why.

I've been a Verizon customer for a long time now (probably over 10 years). I'm currently on a family plan and we pay $150 (including taxes & surcharges) for 700 combined minutes and unlimited texting with 5MB of data. In the past few years, I cannot remember a single time we went over our minutes. We don't even come close to it. I text more than I call, but I'd still say I give my phone light to moderate use. (I don't have a landline.)

Now let's look at the new family plan. $149.99 for unlimited text and calling. That doesn't include the surcharges and taxes. And there's the catch.

If you've never gone over your minutes, this new plan will cost you more per month. Remember, Verizon offers free nights, free weekends, and free Verizon-to-Verizon calls. So depending on when and how often you make calls, you might not need the "unlimited" part. It's really just a play on words — who doesn't like "unlimited."

However, if you're just barely making it under your allowance, then obviously this plan is great and it will save you money.

Personally, I wish it were truly "unlimited" and included data as well.

5 reasons 3D will bomb

We railed on 3D TVs during today's podcast, and you know what, the manufacturers deserve it. They deserve it for trying to force consumers into buying new, expensive 3D sets. Personally, I will not recommend a 3D TV to anyone. (Unless we see some incredibly low prices, which I highly doubt). Here's why I'm anti-3D:

1)Price: Right now you can buy a brand-name 120Hz LCD HDTV for roughly $600. (Don't believe me, take a look for yourself.) Even 52" models have finally hit the sub-$999 mark. If you just bought a new TV this holiday, why on earth would you want to drop two- or three-thousand dollars on a new 3D set.

2)Quality: Most of the 3D TVs I saw at CES last week looked good, I won't take that away from them. But how will my eyes feel after watching 3+ hours of consecutive 3D? Especially since I'll be wearing 3D glasses on top of my prescription glasses. And what about movies with subtitles. Text looked a little fuzzy in 3D. How will it look after staring at it for 2+ hours?

3)3D Glasses: Apparently, few 3D TVs will include 3D glasses out of the box. So what happens when you invite friends over to watch a 3D movie and they don't have glasses — or worst — they don't have 3D glasses that work with your TV (since they're all using different technologies.) Chances are, these glasses will be expensive, so I don't see people buying multiple glasses just to have lying around the house. Not to mention, many of the glasses require that you charge their batteries. Imagine watching a movie and having your glasses die out mid-movie. Not cool.

4)It's failed before: 3D TV is not new. Mitsubishi and Samsung released 3D DLP HDTVs years ago and guess what, they never caught on.

5)Content: Ok, so ESPN will broadcast some World Cup games in 3D and Discovery and Sony are planning a 24/7 3D network, but aside from that, what else is there to watch in 3D? Do you want to watch the 11 o'clock news in 3D? Food Network in 3D? You could get Samsung's upconverting 3D TV, which upconverts your current content to 3D, but I'm sure that will be absurdly expensive. 3D Blu-ray players are another option, but again, chances are your wallet will pay dearly for it.

The way I see it, manufacturers are jumping onto the 3D bandwagon because of Avatar. It's made millions of dollars, people have loved the 3D effects, and well, if you're going to hawk 3D products, now is the time. I'm thinking of getting a new LED-based LCD HDTV this summer, but this much I'll tell you — it won't be 3D.

Post-CES

It's nice to be back home after the madness that was CES. Looking through my bag I realize I have a ton of press kits/flash drives. That means I have lots more news/posts to dish out. I'll roll them out throughout the week. Also, check out our podcast this week as we talk about what we saw at CES. In the meantime, here's are a few of my personal winners and losers of CES.

Winners

Vizio: Absolutely loved their new lineup of TVs. Their pricing is extremely aggressive. Of all the Internet-enabled TVs out there, it looks like Vizio has the best offering and the most intuitive interface. (I'm basing this on the demo we saw.) Vudu, Amazon VOD, Netflix, the list goes on and on. I also liked their Internet Tablet Alarm Clock. It has a built-in iPod dock, which is kinda cool.


Spring Designs: They claim Barnes & Noble stole their design/idea for the Nook, and by the looks of their Alex e-Book reader, it's not a far-fetched idea. Whether or not it actually happened is up to the courts to decide. Either way, the Alex reader was one of my personal favorite products at CES. Dare I say, the best e-Book reader I saw. Why? Well, it has the looks of the Nook (except smaller and lighter), yet it's faster and the bottom LCD screen can actually be used to surf the Web.




Samsung: I'm a big fan of Samsung's LCD HDTVs. Their design is flawless and the picture quality (for the most part) is solid. Their new line of CCFL-based LCD HDTVs and LED-based LCD HDTVs is gorgeous. The 9000 series features a touch-sensitive remote with a built-in LCD (think iPod touch). Pioneer used to be my "premium" line of HDTV. Sadly, they stopped manufacturing their plasmas. I think Samsung is my new Pioneer.



Sony Dash Internet Viewer: Yes, it's another alarm clock/Web tablet, but for whatever reason, I really like Sony's Dash, which runs the Chumby OS and will have access to Chumby's free apps and apps from Sony.




Losers
Asus: I've said it before and I'll say it again, I like a lot of Asus' products. But I feel like they had nothing new to show at CES. More netbooks, more net tops, etc. They invented the netbook. It's time they take it to the next step. And a tablet netbook, in my opinion, is not the next step.

Barnes & Noble Nook: My biggest personal disappointment at CES was the Nook. Amazing design. Nice display. But this e-Book reader is not intuitive at all. Not to mention it lags horribly.

Boxee: Too little too late. Also too pricey. Boxee is up against Roku and their Roku Player. They need to have better (lower) pricing. If I can get a $79 Roku box, why would I spend $200 on a Boxee Box?

CES: Heading home

Feels like we just got here, yet already it's time to head home. We'll be flying back to a cold, cold NY on Saturday and shaking off jet lag on Sunday, but there's still a lot more to post and talk about, so stay tuned for more CES-related news and roundups.

CES: Vizio's 2010 line up (Part 1)

I'm dividing my Vizio post into two because Vizio has a ton of new products slated for 2010. Here's a quick rundown of some:

E-Series
This is their "everyday" (budget) series of HDTVs. Many of them will feature a 120Hz refresh rate although none of them are Internet-enabled. They'll be sold at Target and Walmart.

M-Series
Their mid-tier offerings. This is where things get interesting. These models are available in 55", 47", and 42" sizes. The 47" and 55" models will come with VIA (Vizio Internet Apps), meaning they'll give you access to tons of Web apps. **All** TVs with VIA will feature both 802.11n and an Ethernet port. To my knowledge, they're the only company offering this. (Most companies require you to buy a dongle for wireless support). All of the M-Series TVs will also have a 120Hz refresh rate and edge-lit LED backlighting. (Edge-lit lighting allows for a thinner profile — in this case 2"). The 55" and 47" models will also come with a Bluetooth universal remote with a built-in sliding QWERTY keyboard.

Of all the Internet-enabled TVs, Vizio's VIA apps have impressed me the most. In addition to the usual apps like weather and Twitter, VIA also offers Vudu, Netflix, and Amazon VOD. You have absolutely no need to ever leave the house again. The interface looks very clean and intuitive. You press the VIA button on the remote and a dock pops up on the bottom of the display. You simply select the app you want, launch it, and depending on the app, it'll show up as a column (that's how Twitter shows up) or take up the entire display (in the case of Vudu, Netflix, etc).

Headphones
Yup, you're reading that correctly. Vizio is branching out into the headphone biz. (As you can see from the adjacent pic.) They'll connect to any Bluetooth audio source and some of them will include a built-in LCD on each earpiece. The LCD will display album cover art or any other image you want it to show. They're expected to debut in the next 3-4 months.

Mobile TVs
Vizio is also coming out with its own line of portable/mobile TVs. They'll range in size from 7", 9", and 10". All of then are LED backlit. There's also a 24" Wi-Fi Portable TV.

Premium HDTVs
On the premium side, Vizio will debut a 56" quad HDTV. It'll have a 3840x2160 resolution. Obviously, there's no quad HD content out there, so Vizio will be aiming this model at photographers looking to view their high-res digital images on a TV. No details on pricing or an exact release date.

There will also be a 58" LED-based Cinema TV with a 21:9 display. This aspect ratio eliminates the black borders you currently see when you're watching a DVD, so the entire screen displays your movie. It also has a slightly higher resolution of 2560x1080.

CES: Plastic Logic Que -- how much would you pay for an eBook reader?

There are probably more eBook readers than there are journalists here at CES. (Jeff has a great rundown of everything we've seen so far on his blog.) I agree that the biggest disappointment is the Barnes & Noble Nook. Nice design, but it's slow and not intuitive at all. Same goes for RCA's Lexi, which although only a mock-up, it was the worst mock-up I've seen in my 10+ years covering tech.

I'm a little shocked that the Amazon Kindle is nowhere to be found. (Granted, we haven't covered all of CES yet, but so far it's a no-show.)

So of all the eBook readers we've seen so far, I think Plastic Logic's Que is the one that has intrigued me the most. It's not my favorite (I don't have a favorite), but it's got my attention. They described it to us as a "portable briefcase," so I got the sense they're aiming for a slightly more "sophisticated" consumer. (As opposed to the Kindle who wants the Dan Brown-Harry Potter-Stephen King fan.)

The Que is about the size of a standard piece of paper (8.5x11") and it features a 10.7" display with a 960x1280 resolution and 8 levels of gray scale. That's the largest screen we've seen, although not the best resolution. (Check out our eBook comparo here.) The $649 version will come with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 4GB of on-board memory. The $799 version adds access to AT&T's 3G network (so you can make wireless purchases from anywhere) and bumps the storage capacity to 8GB. Both of them are powered by Barnes & Noble's book store.

The e-newspaper they demoed it with looked very nice. You can write notes on the screen, highlight text, etc. Most importantly, it was snappy. It responded relatively quickly to my gestures/touches. The big slap in the face is the Que's price. Even if it were perfect, $649 is absurd.

It's on pre-order now and slated to come out mid-April. If you're heart is set on an eBook reader, you could wait it out and see if the Kindle or the Nook come down in price as the other eBook readers infiltrate the market. Fat chance that'll happen, but, you never know. However, Apple is announcing some tablet-super-device later this month and if it has any eBook-reading capabilities, you can be sure Amazon and Barnes & Noble will react. But that totally depends on what Apple's rumored "tablet" can do.

Which bring us back to square one. What's the best eBook reader out there? My honest opinion is none. Stick with paper. But we still have one more day at CES and tons of eBook readers to discover, so who knows what we'll see tomorrow.

CES: Sony's Dash -- let the deals roll in

I have a weak spot for these new souped up Web-capable digital photo frames. I know they're overly glamorized and expensive, but in some cases, they're pretty cool. Back in September HP announced its 10" DreamScreen for $299. Since its Sept release date, we've seen it drop to $150 on Black Friday and $180 back on Dec. 7th. In other words, the deals on this frame came in pretty quick considering how new it is.

I'm hoping the same will happen with Sony's new Dash Internet Viewer. It's a souped up frame that runs the Chumby OS so you have access to over 1,000 free Chumby apps. Add to that Sony's own Sony Music and Sony Pictures apps and you got yourself an app-happy picture frame. It's got a 7" screen, built-in Wi-Fi, supports multiple user profiles, stereo speakers, a headphone jack, and can also support multiple "channels." So you can create a "bedroom" channel that might have access to the 5-day weather forecast and Slacker on the homepage. Then you can have a "kitchen" channel that maybe has YouTube access or Netflix access on its homepage. So essentially, it is what you make of it.

It's shipping in April for $199. If the HP DreamScreen is any indication, we might see deals on this little wedge come June to early summer.

CES: MSI does dual touch-screen laptops

You're looking at MSI's 10" dual touchscreen laptop prototype. The bottom half works as a touch-sensitive keyboard while the top half works as a touch-sensitive display. On paper, I think this is awesome. Who wouldn't want a dual touchscreen laptop? But seeing it locked up in it's glass chamber there I started thinking — what the hell would I use this for? Isn't a tactile keyboard so much better? For reading digital magazines or online newspapers, yeah, it's cool. But aside from that, I couldn't think of any other real-world uses for it.

That said, I did like it's smaller sibling here which has two 7" touch-screens. Don't ask me why, but I could see myself working with this one. Maybe the smaller form factor sold me.

Both of them would be built around Intel's Atom processor, so don't get any fancy streaming ideas 'cause we all know how that would turn out. Both also feature SSD drives instead of hard disk drives. Like I said, they're concept products, so no word on when or if these will ever see the light of day. But the fact that these are based around the Atom processor makes them pretty useless in my opinion.

CES: Quirky tech

We've yet to travel to the hall of misfit toys (the part of the showroom floor with weird gadgets and peripherals), but this here remote-controlled fighter definitely falls into that category.

It's Digit Tronics' RCX4 Star Wars Star Stryker. A $399 remote-controlled plane. Yup, $399. Is it cool. Hell's yeah. That thing flew all over the place without so much as a hiccup. Smooth, controlled flying action. But $399. You gotta be one rich kid to afford that.

CES: Sony's XBR-LX900 HDTV -- half robot, half TV

There are a ton of 3D HDTVs at CES, but I have to hand it to Sony for managing to jump ahead of the crowd. Their top-of-the-line XBR-LX900 series TV comes with a built-in proximity sensor that automatically dims the TV's backlight when you're not in the room. This in turn helps you save money/not waste electricity. Gimmicky, yes, but pretty cool nonetheless.

Sony calls it the Intelligent Presence Sensor. It's essentially a tiny camera/lens built into the TV's bezel. It use face detection to track your mug and another cool feature is that if you (or a child) is sitting too close to the TV, the backlight will turn off. (Sony's playing the "mom" role and making sure you don't ruin your eye sight by sitting too close to the TV.)

Another interesting feature is that the TV will adjust its speakers based on where you're sitting so that you'll always get a full "surround sound" effect regardless of whether you're sitting directly in front of it or off to the side. That I thought was really cool and impressed me a little more than the proximity sensor.

We saw a demo of all of this and it worked pretty well. The face detection wasn't always as smooth, but considering there were a lot of us standing in front of the TV, it did a good job at tracking most of us. When the Sony rep covered the lens, the TV slowly dimmed itself off.

The edge-lit LED TV also features 240Hz motion technology, built-in Wi-Fi, Netflix, Amazon VOD, and YouTube streaming, and it comes with two 3D glasses. (Word on the street has it that most TVs don't come with the glasses!) It's due out in June. When we asked how much, the Sony rep smiled and said, naturally it'll cost more than our regular TVs. In other words, start saving now.

CES: Sharp's 4-pixel TVs

I like Sharp's Aquos line of TVs. Hell, I own one. But I'm not sold on their new QuadPixel technology. Basically, they're adding a 4th pixel (a yellow one) to the color scheme. The result is supposed to be a better overall image. Honestly, I couldn't tell the difference when we saw it. Looks great, no doubt, but so did every other 1080p HDTV out there. For now, this one's a pass.

CES: PowerMat redeems itself

I like the concept of "wireless" charing pads, but after reviewing the current PowerMat Power Pad and Duracell MyGrid, I just couldn't recommend either. They're expensive, they require the use of various tips/adapters, and they're anything but wireless. We met with PowerMat at CES today and their new updates are pretty impressive.

Rather than continue making sleeves and cases for your gadgets (before your gadget can charge on a Power Mat, you need to fit it into a $30 sleeve), PowerMat is now making batteries. These new batteries will come with the PowerMat sensor built-in, so you no longer need to buy the sleeves/cases. Just pop the battery into your phone and you're done. You can now charge your handheld directly on the PowerMat pad without any sleeve/case. The battery shown here is for an HTC phone (I forget which one) and each battery will cost $39. Not exactly cheap, but I feel this is a better approach than what PowerMat had before.

As an alternative, you can buy the PowerPak for $69, which includes a battery and a mini PowerMat that will let you charge one device. They work with most popular smartphones, even the Droid. iPhone users will have to buy the sleeve for the iPhone, which they've now made thinner and it now doubles as a case w/ a built-in battery.

The other PowerMat product I liked is the PowerMat with the built-in battery. Again, it's like the current mat, except it has a built-in battery, so when you're on the go, you can just take the pad and that's it. No wires needed. (Of course, you'll need the wires to recharge the mat's built-in battery). But for quick getaways, it's pretty neat. This pad is $99.

Overall, the PowerMat is an expensive way to charge your gadgets. But with the $69 PowerPak, it's a little easier on the wallet and it's closer to being a truly wireless alternative than it was before. Stay tuned for reviews when we get the products.

Energizer's wireless charging pad -- still overpriced

Guess who's joining the PowerMats and MyGrid's of the world? Energizer! They were demoing a prototype of their new wireless charging pad at last night's Digital Experience pre-CES show.

The main questions. Will your gadgets still require separate sleeves for charging? Yes. Will those sleeves support all of your gadgets? No, initially they'll just support the more popular ones. Will the sleeves cost extra money? Of course. How much will the pad retail for? About $100.

In other words, there's really nothing to distinguish this from Duracell's MyGrid or PowerMat's own power pad.

This I'll say, Energizer's pad looks nicer than Duracell's. Maybe even nicer than PowerMat's. But $100?! C'mon. It's due out this summer.

Hands-on w/ the Nexus One

I cheated on my Droid last night. And you know what. It was worth it. Don't get me wrong. I love the Droid. But after a few minutes with the Nexus, I just don't think the Droid and I were meant for each other.

The Nexus is physically gorgeous. It's so much lighter than the Droid, but yet it doesn't feel cheap or flimsy. I'm not saying the Droid is fat or cheap, but after holding a Nexus in your hands you realize no phone should weigh over 5 ounces.

The Nexus kinda resembles the Hero/Eris to be honest. It has a tiny trackball below the touch-sensitive buttons and that's really it. Think of the Nexus as the Droid's sexier, skinnier cousin.

The Nexus is also noticeably faster. The Droid isn't slow, but thumb around the Nexus' interface and you'll notice the speed bump. And you should. There's a 1GHz Snapdragon processor in there. That's the fastest smartphone processor out there period. It's faster than my first computer! (An Apple Performa 637CD fyi.)

The screen is the same size on the Nexus as it is on the Droid, but colors seemed to pop out more on the Nexus than on the Droid. (The Nexus' screen is AMOLED, not so for the Droid.)

I guess what I'm saying is — the Nexus has won me over. If not for the Droid's useless QWERTY keyboard, I probably wouldn't have looked at the Nexus. But HTC has done an amazing job and by bringing it to Verizon, Google has found my weak spot.


Nexus One
Weight: 4.5 oz
Display: 3.7" WVGA AMOLED 800x480
Camera: 5MP, 2x digital zoom w/ LED flash
Keyboard: Virtual

Motorola Droid
Weight: 6 oz
Display: 3.7" WVGA 480x854
Camera: 5PM, 4x digital zoom w/ dual LED flash
Keyboard: Virtual & slide-out QWERTY

Coolest OLED screen you'll never use

Chances are you'll never use this in the real world, (other than to wow your friends), but hats off to Samsung 'cause this is one of the coolest prototype technologies I've seen in a long time. It's Samsung's transparent OLED display. As you can see from the pic, it's 40% transparent so you can see right through the screen. Samsung claims we'll see these screens out in the real world as early as next year, but considering that large-screen OLEDs have yet to catch on, I'm a little hesitant to believe them.

Not to mention, why would you really want this? I can't imagine using a screen like this all day at work. On an MP3 player, maybe. On a laptop, I'd go crazy. Still, seeing this technology in action totally blew my mind. Expect to pay through the teeth when this comes out.

Pre-CES

Less than 48 hours before Jeff and I head to CES to cover the latest and greatest in the tech world. 3D TVs were the "it" product at last year's show, so I'm curious to see what the new "it" device will be this year. (It is 2010 afterall.) E-book readers? 3D TVs again? Netbooks? Tablets? To be honest, I'm expecting it to be "all of the above."

We'll be twittering and posting away live from the show. All I need to do now is find a bag that's small, yet light enough to fit all my stuff. Not looking fwd to airport security checks.