So, last week I went along to Gadget Show Live, in a hope to try out some stuff I’ve never had the chance to play with before (such as 3D TV and ebook readers) and see what’s on the horizon when it comes to new technology.
In the whole, the sheer scale was overwhelming. There were thousands of people and it was hard to get near some stands. But I also have to say that I was pretty disappointed with the quality of what was supposed to be new technology. Not even new technology, but stuff that was being launched this summer or even things that was supposed to be making a big entrance to UK homes this year.
With the new iPad launching in the UK in the next week or so and doing amazingly well in America, eBooks are certainly the next big thing. They’ve been around for a few years now, and I’ve tried out the Sony reader but I’ve never been that impressed. Don’t get me wrong, the quality of the text is as good as ink on paper, but they’re just slow and very hard to use.
The eBook reader I tried out at the exhibition was just as bad. A confusing interface, slow response, and not something I’d pay money for. They had what looked like colour touchscreen models, but I soon found out to my dismay that they were just prototypes (plastic boxes showing either a rather confusing video, or a plastic box with a screenshot stuck to where the screen would go).
I asked a demonstrator how it would compare to the iPad — a reasonable question I feel, as it’s pretty certain that Apple are shaking up this market just as they did with mobile phones — but didn’t get a very clear reply. I think I somehow offended them by even asking the question.
I also stopped at two 3D stands early on. The first stand used the active technique and were mostly selling 3D projectors which I have to say I quite liked. They were cheaper than a 3D TV (even with a couple of pairs of the glasses), and could be attached to anything. Brilliant. It was also of reasonable quality. This was demo’d to me because I noted to the demonstrator that their TVs were flickering. To be fair my eyes are never very good at 3D, and as the demonstrator pointed out the lighting was harsh and was nothing you would get in a normal home.
I moved onto my second 3D TV stand, which used passive 3D (the type you get in a cinema). I had seen this at the cinema but never on a small screen, so to my surprise this looked very impressive. It was much better than the active 3D systems, and you didn’t have to be directly facing the screen. I’ve always questioned 3D TV, but I can now see why people are raving about it. I wouldn’t buy one myself just yet (being short sighted I would find having to wear a second pair of glasses whenever I wanted to watch TV or play a game annoying, and at the moment they are far too expensive for me), but for sports, gaming, or even films, 3D has a future in the next few years.
So onto watches. Or rather, cool digital watches with touchscreen and phone capabilities. I’ve always wanted one of them. It’d be so cool to be able to have a proper LCD (or better) screen on your wrist that shows you the time and date, your calendar, your phone numbers and anything else you want. I was pretty excited when they started to come out a couple of years ago. I was excited to see one on exhibition. There! Ready to buy!
But… no. I couldn’t get over how bad it was. I really do hate being negative over technology because I love it when new and innovative stuff happens. But this was very 1980s (even a fellow visitor mentioned this). The screens were large and bulky (80s), you had to use a stylus to use the touchscreen… assuming that even works properly (80s), and the strap was cheap plastic which would be very easy for the most amateur of pickpockets to steal under 5 seconds. Dreams completely shattered.
But not everything was bad. Some tech — mostly related to sound — really impressed me when I honestly didn’t think it would. There’s also some future developments that won’t be in the homes just yet, but to see it was encouraging. And there were a lot of future developments that I’m pleased to say is with us already. All of this I’ll speak about in my next post.
