Internationale Funkausstellung

Each years, Berlin is the host of the Internationale Funkausstellung which most people call IFA. The funny thing about it is that no one really knows or cares what the A stands for. It started in the 20s and showcased inventors like Albert Einstein and multinational corporations like Philips which introduced the audio cassette in the 1962 edition. This year's event will be held from August 31st to September 5th but really started yesterday for a reason I am not aware of. The two main presentations were made by Sony and Samsung it was more than awesome ! They both exhibited their new line of products and this is precisely why I am so excited.

Sony

Sony Xperia T

The day started with Sony showing off their new line of Xperia smartphones, the Xperia X or Hayabusa, the Xperia V and the Xperia J. The Hayabusa will be their new flagship device and will be James Bond's phone in his new movie. It will sport a 4.6 Bravia HD display, a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, a 13 megapixel full hd camera in the back and a 720p camera in the front. It is also a PlayStation certified phone and it will come with Ice Cream Sandwich but will be updated to the latest version of Android, JellyBean, shortly after launch. The Hayabusa will have NFC connectivity and will be able to be hooked up to an HD TV by an MHL port. The Xperia V will have mostly the same specs, except its display will be 4.3 inches and it will have an LTE radio for faster download speeds. They also said it will be the most water and dust resistant smartphone. The Xperia J is more like a low end device so I am not so interested in it. The other product Sony unveiled is the new Xperia Tablet S, a 9.4" HD display tablet with a Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor. From what I understood, the Xperia Tablet S has nothing to stand out of the constant widening range of Android tablets.

Samsung

Samsung Galaxy Cam

The fun really began when it was Samsung's turn to take the speech. I knew they were going to present the Galaxy Note 2 which is what they call a 'phablet', a mix between a smartphone and a tablet. It comes with the new S-Pen, a kind of smart stylus that you can use to draw, write and interact with the device. It is very cool but it is only an improvement of what the previous version of the Galaxy Note already had. The real innovation was the new Galaxy Camera, an Android powered 16.3 megapixel digital camera. It will come with a 3g or 4g data connection, a 4.8" HD Super Clear display, a 21x optical zoom, a GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0. There is also an HDMI out port so you can plug it to your tv to look at your pictures or videos. I am really eager to try it for myself and have it in my hands to see how great it is to take pictures with this bad boy. The third part of Samsung's presentation was focused on a totally different topic, their new ATIV lineup. It is actually the equivalent of their Galaxy product line but instead of running Android, these devices run Windows 8. The first baby of this new family is the ATIV S, a 4.8 inches smartphone powered by a 1.5 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM packed inside a gorgeous brushed aluminium chassis. It comes with a more than welcomed Micro SD card support, a 2300 mAh battery, a 8 MP camera, a 1.9 MP front facing camera and either 16 or 32 GB of storage space. So basically, it is like a great Android phone that runs Windows 8. The next product Samsung announced is the ATIV Tab, a tablet that will run on a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and an impressive 2 GB of RAM. It also comes with the standard features you would want or a tablet : GPS, WiFi, Bluletooth, NFC, HDMI output and microSD support. Samsung really brought Windows 8 up to par with Android with these two devices. They also showed off two versions of what they call SmartPCs but to me they are more like a rip off of the Asus Transformers. I say that because Asus were the first to produce an hybrid device that crosses a tablet with a laptop. The Pro version comes with an i5 intel processor, 4 GB of RAM and a full HD display. The good thing about it is that it will be able to run the classic Windows programs you already 'love' like Microsoft Office. Samsung also unveiled a new laptop but that is boring compared to what I already talked about.

I will definately continue to keep you informed about what is going on in this years edition of IFA especially since I think more crazy devices will be introduced to the public. Lets just hope one of the big hi-tech manufacturer will be able to top off what Samsung and Sony presented yesterday. To be continued ...


PAF