As the Internet talks about it, here are my predictions for the best stuff that we'll see there.
More 3D
There will be more 3D everywhere. Also, glassless 3D. There will be several companies with their glasses-free 3D technologies, which they have hopefully improved to the point of practicality. Currently, glasses-free 3D is not perfect. Viewing angles are poor. Everyone has different spacing of the eyes and thus everyone does not get the best experience.
New consoles
The current generation game consoles, namely the PlayStation 3 and the XBOX 360 are getting quite old now. People have been predicting for a long time that both Sony and Microsoft will come out with newer versions of their consoles very soon. I think 2012 is the year when this happens. If not at CES, at least one of them will announce one at E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo.
On that note, this is also Microsoft's last visit to CES. They say that CES's timing does not match their product release cycle and that they will not be present at CES in 2013.
Near-Field Communication
With the announcement of Google Wallet, I think that more and more manufacturers will bring NFC technology into the phones they are selling in the United States. Of course NFC is already in use ubiquitously in many cities of the world, a substantial platform for it to succeed in the US was missing.
There will be several NFC-enabled phones at CES this year.
Ultrathin laptops
In 2011, we saw an upward trend with ultrathin, super-light laptops. I think that "ultrabooks" (term coined by Intel) running Microsoft's new Windows 8 will be the craze at CES 2012. That and tablets.
Windows 8 tablets
Windows 8 is supposed to have an interface that is geared towards touchscreens and tablets. With the new sleek and colorful Metro UI from Windows Phone 7, it will cause tons of tablet-makers to jump to using it. However, I am not sure how this will work exactly. Will Android-tablet manufacturers ditch Android, or will they make both kinds of tablets? Or dual-booting tablets? Tablets that can run both the OSes?
Anyways, there will be a bunch of tablets with Windows 8 at CES. However, I also predict that Windows 8 will release in 2012 and will be moderately accepted.
Ice-Cream Sandwich phones
Well, Google has released the newest version of Android, called Ice Cream Sandwich. Just the standard companies-showing-off-phones-with-Ice-Cream-Sandwich-at-CES. Nothing much else here. There will be loads of booths with models holding ICS phones.
No Apple
Just like every year, CES will be devoid of Apple. Apple never wastes its time showing off products at CES. They remain secretive and unveil their new products at their own events and they also don't need a lot of exposure other than that.
ConclusionWell, those are just my humble predictions. What about you, the readers? Do you have any predictions for CES, or the year 2012 itself? Post them down there and I'll read every single one of them!
