The Best of CES (Android related only)

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

So CES has come and gone, and we now have a ton of new stuff to talk about. But which deserve the tag of "Best of CES 2011"? We all have our own ideas and favorites, so let's share them.

Since there is so much to choose from, a poll is damn near unpossible. Let's try it this way:

Best Phone --
Best Tablet --
Best Accessory --
Best Software Product --

I'll share mine to kick things off

Best Phone -- The Xperia Arc. Yes it doesn't have the best specs. Yes it's SE. But it's the only phone announced that has current software. With so many folks feeling burned waiting for updates, or by updates that made things worse, I have to give props to Sony Ericsson. And it feels very weird to say that

Best Tablet -- ASUS Eee Pad MEmO. Surely won't be the most popular tablet, but so far it's the one that brings something new to the table with it's capacitive stylus and apps that use it. If someone writes a crossword puzzle app that uses the stylus to write the answers, I'll be in hog heaven.

Best Accessory -- HSTi's Wireless Media Stick. It's cross platform, so that's a huge plus. Imagine having all the pictures and a few short video clips of a fishing trip, or a weekend away in Cabo on your phone, and while telling your friends how fun it was, you can pop the stick into their television and show them, too. A hundred bucks is pricey, but if it works as advertised it's worth it to me.

Best Software Product -- NVIDIA TegraZone. Manufacturer "value added software" that doesn't suck. If you buy a phone with a Tegra2, you're going to want to play optimized games. Yes, you will. And this helps you ferret them out, and whatever extras NVIDIA has planned (extra game levels, Tegra-only games, etc) will probably only make it better.

I've talked enough. Lets hear yours!

 

[Bla1ze]

I'm pretty much on par here with the exception of best phone.. SE may have the only device with the latest NOW but later on history dictates they will lag so I'm on board with the Motorola Atrix

Best Phone -- The Xperia Arc. Yes it doesn't have the best specs. Yes it's SE. But it's the only phone announced that has current software. With so many folks feeling burned waiting for updates, or by updates that made things worse, I have to give props to Sony Ericsson. And it feels very weird to say that

Best Tablet -- ASUS Eee Pad MEmO. Surely won't be the most popular tablet, but so far it's the one that brings something new to the table with it's capacitive stylus and apps that use it. If someone writes a crossword puzzle app that uses the stylus to write the answers, I'll be in hog heaven.

Best Accessory -- HSTi's Wireless Media Stick. It's cross platform, so that's a huge plus. Imagine having all the pictures and a few short video clips of a fishing trip, or a weekend away in Cabo on your phone, and while telling your friends how fun it was, you can pop the stick into their television and show them, too. A hundred bucks is pricey, but if it works as advertised it's worth it to me.

Best Software Product -- NVIDIA TegraZone. Manufacturer "value added software" that doesn't suck. If you buy a phone with a Tegra2, you're going to want to play optimized games. Yes, you will. And this helps you ferret them out, and whatever extras NVIDIA has planned (extra game levels, Tegra-only games, etc) will probably only make it better.

I've talked enough. Lets hear yours!

 

[Sean Brunett]

Best Phone: Motorola Droid Bionic. The Atrix is a great phone and I almost picked it, but the fact that the Droid Bionic is on Verizon is a huge plus. A large screen at 4.3-inches, dual core, 4G LTE and 1 GB RAM all make the Bionic the pick for best phone.

Best Tablet: Motorola Xoom. I have to give props for the first tablet to really bring us and display Honeycomb, the next iteration of Android. Honeycomb looks like an enormous improvement and one that has a lot of influence from Matias Duarte. Excited about it!

Best Accessory: Laptop dock for Motorola Atrix. Motorola's announcements were fantastic, in my opinion and one of the best was the laptop dock for the Atrix. The fact that you don't have to carry around a separate notebook, but simply plug your dual core phone in to get a good experience excites me. Great job by Motorola.

Best Software: I am going to echo Jerry's sentiments for the TegraZone. A good way of introducing other software without the term 'bloatware' popping into our minds.

 

[Kyle Gibb]

Phone - Atrix.

Tablet - Xoom

Accessory - Laptop and desktop docks for the Atrix

Software - Custom linux + desktop Firefox on the Atrix when docked. No one has ever done anything like it.

Can you tell I am in love with the Atrix?

 

[BloodiedWraith]

Best Phone: Motorola Droid Bionic. The Atrix is a great phone and I almost picked it, but the fact that the Droid Bionic is on Verizon is a huge plus. A large screen at 4.3-inches, dual core, 4G LTE and 1 GB RAM all make the Bionic the pick for best phone.

Um... you do realize that the Atrix has 1GB of RAM but the Bionic only has 512MB right? Other than that I agree with your statement that the Bionic was the best phone on show. My reasons are the larger screen over the Atrix, the better camera over the Atrix, but most importantly doesn't run the full Motorola Blur interface that's on the Atrix. It has the more custom version and I can deal with that more than stock Blur (although I hate them both).

Luckily for me, getting both of them won't be a problem. My personal lines that I pay for are through VZW and I work for AT&T so I'll get the Atrix for my work phone. Problem solved on deciding which one I want.

Best Tablet: Motorola Xoom. Honeycomb and the specs that it boasts speak for themselves.

Best Accessories: The Motorola Atrix accessory lineup. The impressive docks are what really set that phone above the others.

 

[StrandedBrit]

Phone : I'd have to go with the Sony Xperia Arc too. Specs wise there are others that are better, and buy the middle of the year there will be a bunch of dual cores from various manufacturers, but the Arc was just a good looking piece of hardware, packing fairly high-end hardware and current software. I also think that Sony has learnt from it's previous software failings and that updates, while maybe not lightening quick will hopefully be regular and timely.

Tablet : I'd have to go with the xoom because I haven't seen many and whatever video I watched had me finally sold on a tablet/honeycomb.

 

[mc511]

Phone: i would pick the Atrix for having amazing specs and going to be one of the fastest phones on the market.

Best Tablet: the xoom due to it running honey comb and i feel lke it is a true tablet competitor to the ipad

Software: i think tegra zone looks good to take that place. Seems to turn your phone into a power house of gaming.

Bet Accessory: probably the Atrix line. The laptop dock alone made me drool.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

So CES has come and gone, and we now have a ton of new stuff to talk about. But which deserve the tag of "Best of CES 2011"? We all have our own ideas and favorites, so let's share them.

Since there is so much to choose from, a poll is damn near unpossible. Let's try it this way:

Best Phone --
Best Tablet --
Best Accessory --
Best Software Product --

I'll share mine to kick things off

Best Phone -- The Xperia Arc. Yes it doesn't have the best specs. Yes it's SE. But it's the only phone announced that has current software. With so many folks feeling burned waiting for updates, or by updates that made things worse, I have to give props to Sony Ericsson. And it feels very weird to say that

Best Tablet -- ASUS Eee Pad MEmO. Surely won't be the most popular tablet, but so far it's the one that brings something new to the table with it's capacitive stylus and apps that use it. If someone writes a crossword puzzle app that uses the stylus to write the answers, I'll be in hog heaven.

Best Accessory -- HSTi's Wireless Media Stick. It's cross platform, so that's a huge plus. Imagine having all the pictures and a few short video clips of a fishing trip, or a weekend away in Cabo on your phone, and while telling your friends how fun it was, you can pop the stick into their television and show them, too. A hundred bucks is pricey, but if it works as advertised it's worth it to me.

Best Software Product -- NVIDIA TegraZone. Manufacturer "value added software" that doesn't suck. If you buy a phone with a Tegra2, you're going to want to play optimized games. Yes, you will. And this helps you ferret them out, and whatever extras NVIDIA has planned (extra game levels, Tegra-only games, etc) will probably only make it better.

I've talked enough. Lets hear yours!

Best Phone - LG X2. The first dual core phone. Not the only, but the first. And it's LG, so it probably won't be locked down like the new HTC and Motorola phones (and Sony has a weird rooting method too).

Best Tablet - LG G-Slate. Noticing a theme here? I'm on T-Mobile. The G-Slate is on T-Mobile. It only makes sense. Need more reasons? Probably not gonna have ridiculous data plans like the Xoom. Oh, and it's LG, so my reasons above for rooting stand here, too.

Best accessory - I agree with the above stated. Maybe with the bluetooth keyboard/headset combo found HERE.

Best software - Besides Honeycomb of course...I would agree with Tegra Zone. Which reinforces my LG picks above.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Best Phone - LG X2. The first dual core phone. Not the only, but the first. And it's LG, so it probably won't be locked down like the new HTC and Motorola phones (and Sony has a weird rooting method too).

Best Tablet - LG G-Slate. Noticing a theme here? I'm on T-Mobile. The G-Slate is on T-Mobile. It only makes sense. Need more reasons? Probably not gonna have ridiculous data plans like the Xoom. Oh, and it's LG, so my reasons above for rooting stand here, too.

Best accessory - I agree with the above stated. Maybe with the bluetooth keyboard/headset combo found HERE.

Best software - Besides Honeycomb of course...I would agree with Tegra Zone. Which reinforces my LG picks above.

LOL. Your list looks just like my list of things to buy, even if it doesn't line up with my best of list

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

So CES has come and gone, and we now have a ton of new stuff to talk about. But which deserve the tag of "Best of CES 2011"? We all have our own ideas and favorites, so let's share them.

Since there is so much to choose from, a poll is damn near unpossible. Let's try it this way:

Best Phone --
Best Tablet --
Best Accessory --
Best Software Product --

I'll share mine to kick things off

Best Phone -- The Xperia Arc. Yes it doesn't have the best specs. Yes it's SE. But it's the only phone announced that has current software. With so many folks feeling burned waiting for updates, or by updates that made things worse, I have to give props to Sony Ericsson. And it feels very weird to say that

Best Tablet -- ASUS Eee Pad MEmO. Surely won't be the most popular tablet, but so far it's the one that brings something new to the table with it's capacitive stylus and apps that use it. If someone writes a crossword puzzle app that uses the stylus to write the answers, I'll be in hog heaven.

Best Accessory -- HSTi's Wireless Media Stick. It's cross platform, so that's a huge plus. Imagine having all the pictures and a few short video clips of a fishing trip, or a weekend away in Cabo on your phone, and while telling your friends how fun it was, you can pop the stick into their television and show them, too. A hundred bucks is pricey, but if it works as advertised it's worth it to me.

Best Software Product -- NVIDIA TegraZone. Manufacturer "value added software" that doesn't suck. If you buy a phone with a Tegra2, you're going to want to play optimized games. Yes, you will. And this helps you ferret them out, and whatever extras NVIDIA has planned (extra game levels, Tegra-only games, etc) will probably only make it better.

I've talked enough. Lets hear yours!

My list is exactly the same as Jerry's for basically the same reasons with the exception of best phone. That award in my mind goes to the Atrix. Jerry has a point that the Arc is the only one running current software, but I can't forgive or forget Sony for the disaster that was the current Xperia line. Call me crude or stubborn, but that's just how I feel, and I can't help but feel that it'll somehow still be left in the dust by the end of the year.

 

[Sean Brunett]

Um... you do realize that the Atrix has 1GB of RAM but the Bionic only has 512MB right? Other than that I agree with your statement that the Bionic was the best phone on show. My reasons are the larger screen over the Atrix, the better camera over the Atrix, but most importantly doesn't run the full Motorola Blur interface that's on the Atrix. It has the more custom version and I can deal with that more than stock Blur (although I hate them both).

Luckily for me, getting both of them won't be a problem. My personal lines that I pay for are through VZW and I work for AT&T so I'll get the Atrix for my work phone. Problem solved on deciding which one I want.

Best Tablet: Motorola Xoom. Honeycomb and the specs that it boasts speak for themselves.

Best Accessories: The Motorola Atrix accessory lineup. The impressive docks are what really set that phone above the others.

oops, I mistyped. My bad, but both phones are going to fly.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

LOL. Your list looks just like my list of things to buy, even if it doesn't line up with my best of list

If I buy it is IS the best. Obviously I picked the items that I would actually buy. When I look at what's released I can't look at just the hardware. I have to take into consideration the carrier, which means service in my area and data plan cost.

My list might be different (but probably wouldn't) if I took carrier out of the question.

 

[terpitude71]

phone- atrix. could finally be what android needs to really get the ball rolling on at&t

tablet- xoom. the tablet apple's non-supporters have been waiting for

 

[ls377]

Best Phone -- The Xperia Arc. Yes it doesn't have the best specs. Yes it's SE. But it's the only phone announced that has current software. With so many folks feeling burned waiting for updates, or by updates that made things worse, I have to give props to Sony Ericsson. And it feels very weird to say that

So will it still be your best when it comes out sometime in July?

Best Phone-LG Optimus 2X
It comes down to either this or either of the Moto phones, and I'm not a fan of a locked bootloader, so this one goes to LG. It will be interesting to see how LG is with updates, and if this one ever makes it to the US (pretty please? lol).

Best Tablet-LG G-Slate
This would easily be the Xoom if it was actually fully functional out of the box (must...repress...urge to rant...). But, it isn't, so I have to go with the other Honeycomb tablet. Not a bad "other", though.

Best Accessory-Atrix Laptop Dock
I think this is pure genius. For (hopefully) less than $100, you can have a netbook with better specs than any netbook out there. Hopefully you will be able to do more than just browse with this.

Best Software-TegraZone
Same as Jerry said, and I think it's better to have these games somewhere where they're easy to find, and not cluttering up the market.

 

[fwdixon]

Best Phone: Atrix, hands down. It combines top-tier hw, well-thought out accessories, and LTE in a useful package. Couple that with the fact that VZW's LTE will take advantage of SIM Cards, and you can get this phone off contract and use it on Big Red. Gonna be a hard-to-beat combo imo.

Best Tablet: No doubt the Asus Memo. For those that are looking for a tablet for their mobile computing needs, Asus finally has offered up something that knows its place. This isn't a glorified eReader/Browesr (a la iPad) but a full-on digital office. With front-facing camera for Video conferencing, capacitive stylus (and more importantly an app suite to take advantage of it), 7.1" screen and corresponding overall size, and options for 3G (GSM & CDMA), HSDPA+, and LTE connectivity, it could realistically be used to replace the smartphone for a mobile professional (yes it will include voice call capability). The only miss is 512Mb of RAM (as opposed to 1GB), but we won't know how this translates to real-world performance until it's released sometime in June.

Best Accessory: This is a toss up. The Asus dock for their 10" tablet, the Atrix docks, media stick, etc. all offer value-added benefits to our existing Android HW. But I honestly think the Sony Ericsson LiveView Watch tops out this category. For someone looking to carry a larger phone or small tablet as their primary device, the prospect of having a remote control on their wrist exponentially increases the viability of such a decision. The only drawback is the current lack of non-SE device support. Hopefully though this is something that either SE or the Android Dev community can work around with relative ease.

Best Software: TegraZone, with the Asus stylus-optimised suite a close second. Having sw optimised for a given platform is a huge plus, and being able to have it located in one place is the icing on the cake. Hopefully TZ can will be expanded to include optimised programs beyond gaming as they are released.

 

[HAAS599]

Phone - Atrix but nothing at CES made me want to upgrade

Tablet - Eee Pad Slider......... Docks? We don't need no stickin' docks!

Accessory - HSTi's Wireless Media Stick........ Cool, very cool

Software - TegraZone..... What else was there?

 

[AndroidFTFW]

Best Phone: Motorola Atrix 4G
This phone packs a dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM which are by far the most powerful specs in any phone that we know about. Inclusion of hspa+ is awesome for data speed purposes also. The phone also features the best screen on android with a 4" qHD screen with a resolution of 540x960. Although the bionic has a 4.3" qHD screen, the images will appear sharper on the atrix due to more pixels being shoved into a smaller space. The phone also contains a 1930mAh battery which is the best battery ever put in the phone and will help the phone chug along throughout the day. The front-facing camera is also a plus. An important thing to note is that Motorola is also good at updating their phones (as you have seen all the droids have 2.2 and some even have 2.2.1)

Best Tablet: Motorola Xoom
It features android 3.0 which hasn't even been released yet. It features a 5mp rear camera that has autofocus with zoom and features dual LED flash. It is also equipped with a 2mp front facing camera. The device has a 10.1 inch 1280x800 HD screen. This thing clearly blows the iPad out of the water.

Best Accessory: Motorola Dock
This is an extremely well thought-out and executed item. You will be able to have a phone that can power a netbook and run it extremely smooth. With the phone's specs you would also have one of the most powerful netbooks out there. This is extremely convenient to have.

Best Software: nVidia TegraZone
This software provides android users with tegra-based phones access to the games on the market that best take advantage of the processing and graphical power of the new tegras. It will be extremely convenient feature for the tegra-based phones out there.

 

[breakmedown]

What makes me really sad about all the phones that were announced is that I didn't see any that had a physical keyboard. Why no love there? Not all of us want a 4" touchscreen only phone.

 

[eric6052]

Okay I'll play.
Best Phone- The LG Revolution, the Atrix wins on pure specs but the locked bootloader that Motorola insists on is a deal breaker for me.

Best Tablet- Im most interested in the Toshiba tablet. The wifi only option as well as being stock Honeycomb draws me. It has a rubberized back for durability. I had a Toshiba labtop I always liked to I would like to check it out.

Best Accessory the laptop add on for the Atrix is hopefully the Folio done right.

Best Software- I have to give this to Honeycomb. It looks awesome.