Androids Invade CES 2012 - jinksthourning

Google's Android operating system played a big role in the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show, appearing in smartphones, tablets, televisions, MP3 players, cameras, and gaming headsets. Device manufacturers are using Humanoid for a large variety of devices as part of a larger strategy to create a network of conterminous gadgets backed leading aside online memory board and synchronize.

Acer and Lenovo used CES to announce their new cloud services, with both companies relying along Android devices for at least part of their vision. Lenovo went as far as to allege it is reimagining itself A a "personal cloud result supplier" where hardware, package, and online services bond together wholly your data.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt was also on give at CES discussing Android, and shared a trifle of Google's sight how Android devices may help you in the future. "As you go far at your house with your Android device," Schmidt said, "all the things that have computers in [them], classify of adjust as necessary . . . a text comes to you and information technology goes to the television, because that's your orientation." Schmidt also remarked that some internal appliances are also using Mechanical man including refrigerators, such as the $3500 Samsung RF4289HARS.

No internal appliances make this list, merely here are some highlights from the Android encroachment at CES 2012.

Smartphones

Numerous Android smartphones can be ground at CES, such as Motorola's Droid 4, the Lenovo S2, the Pantech Burst, the ultrathin Huawei P1 S, and Sony Ericsson's Xperia Ion. But ii of the most interesting Android phones are the LG Spectrum and the massive Samsung Galaxy Note. Both run Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), merely an kick upstairs to Android 4.0 (Chalk Cream Sandwich) is expected for both devices future this year.

The LG Spectrum features a 4.5-inch IPS display with 1280-by-720 resolution and 329 pixels per inch. Under the hood, the Spectrum includes a dual-core 1.5Ghz processor, 1GB RAM, 2GB onboard storage, microSD card one-armed bandit with 16GB card preinstalled, 8-megapixel rear-cladding camera, and 2-megapixel front-veneer camera. The LG Spectrum lands on Verizon's LTE network on January 19 for $199 with a new biennial contract.

Samsung's Galaxy Note is eventually headed to the U.S. on AT&adenosine monophosphate;T in the approach months featuring an eye-popping 5.3-edge in Super AMOLED showing with 1280-past-800 resolution, 1.4GHz duple-burden processor, 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with 1080p television capture at 24 to 30 frames per second, 2-megapixel face-facing camera, 16GB onboard storage, and a microSD time slot supporting up to 32GB. The Galaxy Note also comes with a stylus for note taking on the lard-sized screen.

Tablets

One-panel touch slates running Android comprise another big category at CES, with devices from Genus Acer, Asus, Samsung, and Toshiba.

An interesting contender from Pantech is a Honeycomb tablet that you can risk pickings to the bath or a swimming pool.

The water-resistant Pantech Constituent features an 8-inch display with 1024-by-768 result, dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon C.P.U., 1GB RAM, 16GB onboard storage, 5-megapixel keister-lining camera, 2-megapixel front-facing photographic camera, HDMI down, and LTE connectivity; it runs Android 3.2. You can submerse the Element in up to 3.28 feet of water for 30 minutes without worrying about destroying the gimmick, as eight-day A you have the gimmick's ports covered up. The Element wish be accessible via AT&T on January 22 priced at $300 with a new biennial press. Pantech says the Constituent can run Ice Cream Sandwich merely has not released a timeline for some upgrades.

Lenovo unveiled the quad-core IdeaTab Dapsang tablet at CES featuring a Tegra 3 C.P.U., Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), 10-edge in display with 1280-by-800 resolution, HDMI taboo, upwards to 2GB RAM, busy 64GB aboard storage, and LTE connectivity. The device can be paired with a keyboard dock for a laptop computer-like experience. No U.S. launch date was announced.

SmartGoggles

Chief-adorned display Divine Sensics is showing off its 3D SmartGoggles headset at CES. The Android device offers 360-arcdegree gaming views and can pair with a console, tablet, smartphone, or PC.

PCWorld was present to try out the headset, and came away unimpressed. Mise en scene aside the $23,000 price tag, writer Sarah Jacobsson-Purewal same the 3D graphics were terrible and the headset was real heavy.

Televisions

A number of manufacturers proclaimed HDTVs spouting Google TV, the search giant's recently revamped package that merges air television and web-based picture.

But Lenovo astounded umpteen with its K91 Smart Television set running Icecream Sandwich. The K91 will come in 42- and 55-inch sizes with a 3D LED display, dual-core 1.5GHz processor, 1 GB Jam, and 8GB onboard storage. Lenovo's new set give the axe also access Lenovo's dapple services for access to your own data. The company has yet to announce a U.S. set in motion day of the month.

Polaroid

Every gimmick Godhead is putting cameras in smartphones and tablets, so Polaroid is taking an alternate approach by putting a smartphone wrong a camera. The Polaroid SC1630 Smart Photographic camera is a 16-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom, 18 scenery modes, 3.2-inch display with 800-aside-400 resolution, 512MB RAM, 512MB onboard storage, microSD card slot supporting adequate 32GB, and a small SIM slot. The camera is running Mechanical man and has get at to the Android market.

There's no word on which version of Android the twist runs, but Polaroid hopes it will be sporting Ice Cream Sandwich at launch. Polaroid's smart camera is a trifle on the chunky incline at 0.73-inch thick. The iPhone 4S, by comparison, is 0.37-inch thick. The SC1630 is set to launch some April for $300. Polaroid hasn't revealed entropy on a carrier for the twist's telephone capabilities or whether an unlocked version will be available; technical spectacles for the camera are also matter to change.

That's a excitable look at many of the Android devices headed your way in 2012.

PCWorld subscriber Albert Filice contributed to this report.

Connect with Ian Paul (@ianpaul) along Twitter and Google+, and with Nowadays@PCWorld on Twitter for the latest technical school news and analysis.

For more blogs, stories, photos, and video from the nation's largest consumer electronics show, check out PCWorld's complete coverage of CES 2012.