On CE - For Dealers, Distributors and OEMs of Consumer Electronics throughout EMEA

Sony shows off its TV future at CES 2012 with the Crystal LED prototype-- a 55" HDTV self-emitting display using LEDs as a light source.

The company says it mounts ultrafine LEDs in each of the RGB colours, equivalent to the number of pixels (6M LEDs in total) directly to the front of the display. The prototype apparently has 3.5X higher contrast (in light settings), 1.4X wider colour gamut and around 10X faster video image response times in comparison to current Sony models, if one is to believe Sony's press materials.

Sony also says it is working on OLED displays-- the "new" display category for CES, as already seen in offerings from LG and Samsung.

Also on show is Bravia series refresh, with the entry-level BX, mid-level EX and "flagship" HX lines. On top of the list is the HX850, in 46" and 55" models, with Gorilla Glass and OptiContrast Panel, X-Reality PRO optical engine, Motionflow XR 960 processor and wifi connectivity.

"Monolithic" styling provide a thin bezel twist Sony describes as "virtually frameless."

Go Sony Crystal LED Display

Go Sony's New Bravia TVs

Razer unveils another potentially interesting concept design  at CES 2012-- "Project Fiona," a 10.1" multitouch tablet with a pair of gamepad-style handles attached to the sides, aiming directly at the gaming market.

The prototype carries an Intel Core i7 processor, together with a 3-axis gyroscope, magnetometer, accelerometer and built-in force feedback. Connectivity comes through wifi and Bluetooth (Razer gives no mention of USB or HDMI ports), while Dolby Theatre v4 enchances audio.

No details are available on battery life, either.

Being a Windows machine it will feature a hybrid UI allowing for immediate access to games, accessible via Windows 8 app. The company says most games should be playable on the device without additional modification, but developers will be able to add Fiona-specific control schemes to take advantage of the touch screen and accelerometer.

Some of you might be reminded of other fascinating Razer concepts that never got to see life beyond prototype stage (so far), the Switchblade and Blade gaming laptops. Will Project Fiona break the pattern? Razer hopes the device will be available sometime around Q3 or Q4 2012, once Windows 8 is out on the market.

Go Project Fiona

Intel announces two mobile device partnerships at CES 2012-- one with Lenovo, the other with Motorola Mobility. The company has been long wanting to make progress in the mobile device processors, a field currently dominated by rival ARM.

Better known as a PC maker, Lenovo is branching into mobile devices. Not only tablets (of which Lenovo has a couple) but also smartphones-- the company reveals the first smartphone running on the Intel Z2460 processor (aka "Medfield"), the K800 smartphone.

Running on Android 4.0, the Lenovo K800 is a 4.5" device with a 720p TFT display, a WCDMA HSPA+ 21Mbps radio, wifi, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS and onboard WiDi allowing the device to sync to TVs. It should be start shipping in China in Q2 2012 before (presumably) heading towards the West.

The Intel CES booth also has a prototype Lenovo tablet running on a Medfield processor-- the IdeaTab K2110, a 10.1" Android 4.0 device.

Motorola Mobility is also joining Intel in a "multi-year, multi-device strategic relationship," and announces it will start shipping Medfield-powered smartphones from H2 2012. No actual devices are actually announced yet, but we should hear about them soon enough.

Go Intel Raises Bar on Smartphones, Tablets

The early days of 2012 mean one thing for our industry-- CES, which will kick off on Monday night US time (early Tuesday morning for the rest of us in Europe). What are we to expect from the world's biggest CE-related trade show this time around?

A final Microsoft keynote: Microsoft will be making a final big and expensive CES appearance this year. The Microsoft keynote (something of a CES tradition) will be the 14th and last, as the company prefers to make announcements following its own timeline. It also probably prefers to pay less for CES space, too. What should we see from Microsoft this year? No doubt a mixture of news Windows phones, Windows 8 tablets and XBox-related announcements.

Tablets, Tablets, Tablets: While the current king of tablets won't make an appearance-- Apple doesn't show up at CES-- expect a show floor packed with Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich) devices from vendors including Samsung, Sony, Asus, Motorola and Lenovo. We should also see Windows 8-powered tablets, as well devices carrying Intel processors.