CES 2011: Motorola Xoom demo (video)

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CES 2011: It's all about the tablets

Las Vegas - Scouring the gargantuan show floor this first day of CES in Las Vegas one realizes that this year's show skews heavily towards tablets. From the powerhouse devices like BlackBerry's PlayBook and Motorola's Xoom to a variety of UMPC-style devices that run on Windows or Linux, CES is tablet central. The main pagodas of product from the big players are completely swarmed with avid attendees trying to get a closer look or maybe cop a feel of these new devices.

The large booths are flanked by accessory and case manufacturers offering a staggering variety of knick-knacks, cases, keyboards and stands to go with various sized tablets. The designs range from stylish to garish but the interest is certainly there. 

How long is the battery life? Will it play HD video? Does it do Flash? How much is it? These are the persistent questions lobbed at the smiling boothkeepers who happily point out the features but are elusive on the one key factor that will determine how well these devices will be received. The price.

The good news this year, unlike in years past, is that the hardware and the software are now harmonized to deliver surprisingly good tablet computing experiences. With the advent of strong post-holiday interest in eBooks, streaming video via services like Netflix and Hulu plus truly workable cloud computing elements, Today's tablets do have a purpose and more importantly a supportive ecosystem. Unlike the hyper-specialized TabletPCs or the underpowered but costly UMPCs of year's past, these sleek new slates make a lot of sense.

Apps are another aspect that can bolster the interest and the use of tablet devices, we were impressed and glad to see some app developers showing off their products in booths here this year. With apps as the great leveler, talented but independent developers can play with the big boys and reap the benefits of their work one .99 cent download at a time.

Aside from the usual Android and Linux variety of tablets, we also saw devices in the same form factor that suit one particular use such as Wikipedia device or a tablet that only carries recipes. That and the cheap knockoffs running the earlier and probably non-upgradeable versions of Android fill the tablet-lust of techies on a budget but aren't really a worthwhile investment.

What is apparent is that manufacturers are taking different approaches to developing their tablet devices. RIM's PlayBook uses a completely new operating system and not a derivative of its venerable BlackBerry operating system. This is a departure from Apple's approach where even iPhone and iPod Touch apps run in small-scale on the iPad. Apple may have started the trend but now with higher specifications, dual-core processors and thriving developer and app support, these new tablets will finally make this segment more competetive.

Which of the newly announced tablets has caught your attention? Check out our new poll and be heard.

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CES 2011: Motorola Xoom Honeycomb tablet demo (video)

We weren't allowed to touch it but we got pretty close. Here is video from the Motorola reveal of the Xoom tablet.

CES 2011: Press Day Highlights

Las Vegas - The CES pre-show yesterday revealed a lot of surprises. From Samsung's new Galaxy S inspired media player and the announcement of a Wi-Fi only Galaxy Tab to Motorola Mobility stunning new dual processor-powered Android Atrix smartphone (coming to Bell in Canada "sometime soon") to the unveiling of the BlackBerry PlayBook, the dual-core and Honeycomb slathered Xoom Tablet, to Microsoft's Kinect and Windows 8 running on SoC (Systems on a Chip). 

Motorola Xoom: The first Honeycomb powered Android tablet is also te first generation of dual-processor challengers to the iPad

New Cliq- Motorola Mobility proves it is in it to win it with a host of new phones including the new and improved Cliq 2

Showstopper: Motorola's Atrix pushed the boundaries of smartphone specs and came with a cool dock that doubles as a notebook which is powered by the super smartphone

 Tablets in all shapes and forms: This folding tablet from Samsung runs desktop variety Windows 7Resurface: Microsoft's Surface 2 is made of millions of tiny cameras that can scan and interact with anything they come into contact with. Part of the demo was a cool RBC app for banking customersThe incredible shrinking motherboard: A tiny System on a Chip motherboard (extreme left) poses next to a full-sized mobo and offers similar performance but way less power consumption. Perfect for tablets and smartphones

Microsoft obsoletes the remote control: Kinect now controls movies, music, Netflix and Hulu with voice and gestures.Going strong: Windows Phone 7 has 5,500 apps, not bad for a two month old OS. Copy and paste plus multitasking said to be coming soon