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Loading ...If the past twelve months have been about breaking reasonably new ground, the next year will be about refinements within segments.
Netbooks, Android smartphones and Palm’s webOS platform have all had their significant first-gen outings, and are now looking to more mature products as consumers move from familiarity into selectiveness. CES 2010 should bring plenty of new netbooks and ultra-thins based on Intel’s upcoming Pine Trail platform, but enhanced graphics performance is also going to be on the menu with HD video playback the minimum bar. We’re also expecting a rash of Android-based non-smartphone devices, particularly 4-to 10-inch MIDs, UMPCs and PMPs, prioritizing media playback and internet access.
Whether Apple’s persistent tablet rumors pan out or not, the “companion device” model looks set to reach a tipping point as low-cost, HD capable SoCs such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, NVIDIA’s Tegra and ST- Ericsson’s U8500 get picked up in the sub-$400 market.
Mobile personal hotspots–as typified by Novatel Wireless’ MiFi–are also likely to proliferate in 2010, as increasing numbers of people carry more than one WiFi-enabled device and look to share a single 3G/ 4G connection. We’re also expecting such hotspots to develop their own mini server-style intelligence, automatically gathering email, GPS data, resizing and uploading images and video, and formatting content for each wirelessly connected client.
Meanwhile, UI technology looks likely to undergo its next significant evolution, as devices attempt to cater for larger-scale content creation and consumption together with better integrating social networking technologies such as Twitter, Facebook and others.
