Hello everybody.
Welcome to our house.
Hello.
Look at all of you.
I am Brian Cooley, and I wanna welcome you all to the 2012 Best of CES Awards presented by cnet.com.
And I am Molly Wood.
These as you know are the official awards of the Consumer Electronic Show.
They are voted on by the editors and the users of cnet.com.
Now, we have 10 categories this year as you have probably (are aware?) with if you attended this show before, at around that number usually.
We're gonna name each of those what we feel are the best products in the show.
And of course, we will name just one of those products the best in show.
We have the award right here.
As well as reveal the people's voice winner.
That's the product that CNET users voted their favorite, the absolute best.
Now, before we get started, if you are here representing one of the companies whose product wins in any of our categories coming up, make sure you make your way to the Riser which is directly across from where we are here on the CNET stage and that's where you're going to go to get your honor and your glowing love.
That's right.
Over there is CNET's Bridget Carey standing by to present your award and that is where photographers and video crews can get their beauty shots of you and your moments of glory.
And if your product is named Best of Show, if you're that lucky one company, make sure you come here to our stage, join myself and Molly to accept your award and give us a couple of comments on what is the really esteemed thing for your company.
With that, let's get started with the best of CES Awards for 2012.
The first category we'll award this year is Car Tech.
And the nominees in the Car Tech category are: We're taking a look at the QNX Car 2 Mobile Technology.
We've also got TeleNav Scout Technology, just one that works across mobile platforms, mobiles, cars and on the web.
And we're also gonna give a nod this year to the Pioneer AppRadio 2 in the nominee list of Android Support, a bigger screen and more audio connections.
And the winner in the Car Tech Category is QNX Car 2 Mobile.
Yes.
Congratulations.
Really an operating system platform for cars.
Make your way to the rear, pick up your award and let the media see you, get your photos and video shots.
That's right.
Congratulations QNX.
Nice work.
Nice work.
All right.
The second category we'll award this year is Cellphones.
All right.
Our nominees in the Cellphone Category look like this.
We got the Sony XPeria S, known for its sleek design, first of a new breed of Sony phones, media options as well.
Next is the Motorola Droid 4 moving with Droid and the 4G as we retain the physical keyboard.
And we'll also look at the Nokia Lumia 900 4G and the latest edition of Windows Phone on a Nokia handset.
As well as the HTC Titan 2. Check out the 16-megapixel camera in that guy.
A lot to choose from and the winner of the Cellphone Category is the Nokia Lumia 900.
Nokia, congratulations.
Our editors tell this is the Windows Phone to beat.
Very nice design.
Of course, blending the latest in Windows phone with a very new hardware design from Nokia as well and of course, the 4G and Windows Phone combination is kind of the highlight on that one.
All right.
The next category that we're going to award this year is Digital Imaging.
And the nominees in the Digital Imaging Category are Nikon's D4, big advances here and still performance, video performance and auto focus technology, also a new streamline design for this high DSLR.
We got the Fujifilm X-Pro 1 in the nomination list, 16 megapixel, a mirrorless, professional camera, great lens system here, our editors thought.
And the Canon G1 X. This one is known for the largest sensor in any enthusiast camera.
All right.
The winner in the digital imaging category is the Fujifilm X-Pro 1. Congratulations Fujifilm.
Nice camera.
Elbow your way.
And what do we call it?
The wedding photographer's new darling.
Yes.
We called it the next wedding photography camera.
It's professional but it's in a compact package and that mirrorless technology is very impressing.
Absolutely.
Congratulations.
And the next category, moving this show right along, that we'll award this year is Emerging Tech.
Nominees in the Emerging Tech Category.
Very interesting, it looked like this.
First of all, we have the MakerBot Replicator.
This is in that category of 3D printing, printing objects and not images.
We've also gotten to the same area, 3D Systems Cube.
Another 3D Printer.
This one under $1300.
More consumer-aimed at the Cubify site to go with it.
And the I'm Watch all the way from Italy.
This one kinda takes and makes your wrist space meaningful again as a place for a watch that does more than just telling time.
The winner and the always exciting Emerging Tech Category is...
Take a look.
MakerBot Replicator.
MakerBot.
Look at that.
Congratulations.
Good work, guys.
3D Printing was a sleeper hit trend this year at CES, I thought.
I see you go to the 3D home, 3D at home aisle where you'll see those nominees while they're printing like coffee cups and shoes and all kinds of stuff you never did on an (??).
It's so amazing.
Congratulations MakerBot.
All right.
And the next category we will award this year is Home Theater and Audio.
All right.
Nominees in the Home Theater and Audio category, one of the main stage at CES every year, of course.
It includes from Dish, the Hopper DVR with multi-tuners, 2 terabyte of capacity, media apps and the "Joey" which Molly thought was a real kangaroo for a couple of days.
We've also got the simple TV box which is taking a pure spinning approach to a DDR, no video output jacks.
Everything goes out streamed to apps on different platforms.
Samsung's DA-E750, a high quality, very elegant, IOS and Android Audio Dock with a tube preamp to go a little bit retro.
And finally the Roku streaming stick, putting everything of a Roku box on a simple USB size device that goes in to a jack right on the television.
All right.
The winner of the Home Theater and Audio Category is Simple TV.
Simple TV.
Good work, guys.
Congratulations Simple TV.
Good work.
Go see Bridget.
Get your award.
Get your notice.
Get your love.
As we described, I think, is the next way to cut the cords, the possible ultimate cord cutting station.
Yeah, the cable gutters dream box.
You got coming in as interactive and you got it going out on a modern platform as well, apps instead of cables.
And everywhere you go.
All right the next Category in our Best of CES for this, Personal Computers.
The PC, one of the oldest categories in personal technology, of course, but looking really fresh this year.
Our nominees include HP's Envy Spectre.
This one, of course, the only product on the list today that has a name of a James Bond villain organization in it.
We've got the Acer Aspire S5.
You know I was gonna go there.
I was just waiting actually, yes.
Very cleverly hiding a lot of great expansion ports and a flip down door on the back.
No comprises there.
The Dell XPS 13.
13-inch screen but it feels like a 12-inch ultra compact when you got it in your hands.
And also the Samsung Series 9. This is a desktop all in one but writing a whole different page not taking from the Playbook of Apple and iMac.
Very impressive products there.
The winner in the Personal Computer Category is the HP Envy Spectre.
HP, the Spectre.
Congratulations.
I thought you...
I think it may have been the James Bond Association that put it over but the glass lid is also a pretty big selling point.
I expect you to win.
Congratulations.
All right.
Good start.
Moving right along to the next category that we'll award this year is software.
That's right folks.
It's Software.
We think this thing is for a hardware show but software is more important than ever than what the hardware does.
It becomes the core focus in many ways.
The nominees in our Software Category looks like this.
We've got Vlingo's Virtual Assistant for Television.
It lets you browse, discover and control contents on your TV through their software app.
BlueStacks App Player for running Android Apps on the Windows computer and we saw it running here, those apps on Windows 8 and doing a nice job of it.
Aurasma for Android and IOS, virtual reality, now with 3D Technology on those mobile devices.
And we also like BitTorrent on television.
The next stage of moving BitTorrent into a whole different space than its historical roots.
That's right.
And the winner in the Software category is the BlueStacks App Player.
BlueStacks App Player.
Android Apps on Windows.
Congrats.
Now, you have to stop filming and go pick up your award.
Right.
Yeah, this...
I mean this was fascinating.
It's bringing Android App to Windows 8 so you could potentially...
you'll have those Android app icons right there in your metro interface.
And it's another part of the complication and/or the answer to whether your decide to go with a Ultrabook or a tablet.
It's one more way to bridge the behavior, if not the devices and maybe just carry one.
Definitely.
All right.
The next category we'll award this year is Storage and Networking.
A lot of interesting infrastructural equipment going on here.
They're starting to build some very cool usage cases.
Yes.
We got the nominees looking like this.
From DLink, their HD Media Router DIR-957, USB3 for fast access to external media, HD streaming priorities so things don't break up when you're streaming off of it as well.
We're also liking the NetGear Media Storage unit, the WNDR4700.
It's got dual core 40 radios in it, 2 terabyte of built in storage and support for Apple's Time machine.
We also see the the SeaGate Personal Server as worthy, supporting the LTE personal hot spot that also has big storage built in to it.
All right.
The winner of the Storage and Networking category is the DLink HD Media Router DIR 957.
Yeah.
Good work guys.
Storage and networking gets very sexy when it starts to integrate with your home theater, your stream media.
Yeah, it's about media and that's storing, your back up or something.
It's about media, exactly which is also important.
Also is important.
Watch your TV as well.
Congratulations really.
All right.
The next category we'll award this year is Tablets.
Okay.
Here we go with the tablets.
Our nominees for the Tablet Category include from the Lenovo, the IdeaPad Yoga, a laptop-tablet hybrid that can fold any possible direction you can imagine.
It's articulated like no other products out there.
We have the ASUS Memo 370T for 250 bucks, you get all those specs, quad core, 8 megapixel camera, and Android 4 running that guy.
We're also impressed by Toshiba Excite X10, the thinnest (??) class tablet in production and doing a very nice job on the way it runs as well.
Great connectivity also.
And the Razor Project Fiona.
How many of does haASUS Memo 370T(??).ve a Razor in the house?
I can't tell they're here here or not.
The Razor Project Fiona is taking a tablet motif for a gaming portable in a large (comeback?).
The winner in the Tablet's Category is the ASUS Memo 370T.
ASUS Memo 370T.
A valued story here.
Congratulations.
And a lot of companies found out that going after the iPad at a similar price point doesn't always print off.
Also, you got to include a value argument.
And they did a good job on that.
Yeah, absolutely.
Good step for a good rise.
Look at them back there, all happy.
All right.
The next category we will award this year is the big one for CES, Televisions.
Televisions and the nominees here, I hope you've seen all of these 'cause they are stunning in person.
I suspect you have been on the floor.
Let's take a look at them.
From Panasonic, we've got the TC-PVT50 Series, plasma technology.
One of our absolute favorites from last year, moved ahead to better specs this year and a very sleek touch pad remote.
We also love Samsung's Super OLED TV bringing a full-sized OLED into production or near production to get this in to the next waive of what people will have in their homes and be stunned by.
Right up against it, head to head, LG's 55EM9600 OLED which apparently will be the first 55 OLED to go in to actual sale on the marketplace.
And finally Samsung's PNE800 plasma television, another outstanding television now adding Skype audio and video hardware for video calls and gesture and voice control.
This is a tough one.
The winner in the television category is LG's 55-inch OLED TV.
Look at that.
Congratulations LG.
It was a battle of 55-inch OLED TV's all throughout the show on the floor.
Yeah.
Head to head.
A real tough head to head and LG pulled out hardly because they're coming into production.
Yeah, the production looks very solid for third quarter is the word they're giving us on those.
And pricing, last we've heard would be determined on those but it's the technology that's gonna take its place right along the side, plasma.
Now, we crank up the heat as we turn to our special awards beginning with The People's Voice.
That's right.
People's Voice Award is the one we opened up to all of you here on the show or watching online if you weren't able to attend CES.
It's for CNET users who were able to vote online at ces.cnet.com for any of the nominees that had been on the pool so far.
So there's our master set and now is a chance for you to say that this is the one that we like the best.
But before we get to the one, would you kinda count this.
Well, that's right.
We have three.
Essentially we're gonna count the nominees down.
So let's take a look at the results.
In third place, SeaGates personal server and LG LTE WiFi.
Nice space.
That one has a storage and a portable hotspot all built together.
That's right.
People care about storage and networking.
Coming in to second according to CNET users, Sony XPeria S, the Smartphone category nominee that we saw just a few moments ago, part of their new generation of pure Sony Smartphones.
But our number one...
That's right, the winner of the 2012 Best of CES People's Voice Award is the Razor Project Fiona.
Razor Project Fiona.
The gaming tablet.
That is the second year in a row that Razor won the People's Voice Award here at the BEest of CES.
That's right.
That's right.
The Switchplay.
That's right.
They won with the SwitchPlay of last year.
People really love those super high concept gaming accessories.
Yeah.
They're taking gaming to a new level and on the road.
Right.
Lightweight on the go but still not sacrificing power or interface to get immersed in the game.
That's right.
Congratulations Razor.
Okay.
All right, folks.
That leaves a single award now remaining for the Best of CES 2012.
The Best of Show, signifying the most impressive product from any of our nominees.
This one is according to the editors of CNET.
That's right.
In fact, with no delay, that most sought after honor at CES goes to...
Ready for it?
Ready for it?
The LG 55EM9600 OLED TV.
Yes.
Congratulations LG.
In fact, let's have them join us on stage.
Come up, LG.
We wanna have a word with you about this.
We all thought we are past being wowed by television on CES until we got our eyes on those OLED TV's.
It's just stunning.
Yeah, you got it.
Tim (??) of LG, tell us the big challenge that your company had to face to bring this technology in.
The cortex was around for a while but now we're seeing reality.
Right.
Cortex has been around for some quite time.
But getting it in to a relevant screen size for the home theater market 55-inch, that was the big challenge.
To be able to do it so that we could get it out there so everybody can enjoy.
You're pretty solid on the Q3 release state?
Yeah, absolutely.
Okay.
When are we gonna have pricing on this guy?
Probably a couple of months before release.
Can you give us an insight on the kind of consumer who is gonna most embraced this technology first?
It's a new technology, you're looking for high scale but where do you think it runs best immediately?
Well, for the home theater enthusiasts obviously, they're really gonna appreciate the spectacular color reproduction, the deep black levels and all of the great picture quality attributes.
And this is one of the first types of TV's that people buy as much looking at the sight of it instead of the front of it.
Absolutely.
Only about 3 credit cards think, 4 millimeters.
It's amazing they can get that much technology in that small of a package.
I don't how you're gonna find a way to ship it to be honest without it getting broken in the box.
Thanks a lot, Tim.
And here's your award for Best in Show.
Congratulations.
That's wonderful.
Thanks very much.
Thanks very much.
Now, let's have all the Best of CES...
All the winners, come join us.
Join us in the front of the media, of our live stream audience watching at home and of course our studio audience can get a good look at you.
And while we do that, get all of our winners here on stage, that's it.
It's a wrap for the 2012 CES Best of CES Award from CNET.
Remember the shortest route to all the news from CES this year is a straight off ramp at ces.cnet.com.
I am Brian Cooley and I am with Molly Wood.
Thanks for joining us.
Thanks everyone.
Congratulations.
