In Depth: CES 2012: what to expect

CES 2012: Home Entertainment

The world's greatest tech show is just over a month away – CES 2012 takes place in the second week of January (if you're a show obsessive, note that's a week later than usual).

Running from 9 - 13 January, the show will see the entire tech world descend on Las Vegas. We'll be hearing from the biggest names in tech to talk about their plans for 2012.

As for every CES, TechRadar will be there getting hands on with the hardware that matters and bringing you the latest breaking news from the show.

So what are we expecting to be launched at CES 2012? Here are our complete predictions for the show.

Home entertainment

While some brands like Philips prefer to use IFA in September to show new wares, most of the consumer electronics giants choose CES to showcase their forthcoming gear for 2012.

For this reason, the big names like Sony, Panasonic and Samsung always have huge stands packed full of new products and exciting new prototypes.

For a couple of years there was an element of stagnation as iterations of new products failed to truly innovate or inspire but recently that trend has started to turn around.

For the last two years Samsung has led the way in terms of TV design. The bezel-less look of the D8000 range is simply stunning, and we fully expect other brands to make strides in this field in the coming year. LG in particular are nailed on to ape Samsung's design with its new Nano and Plasma ranges, but we'd put money on some of the other big brands also following suit. Bezels are just so last millennium.

OLED

OLED was the 'next big thing' a few years ago but viable products failed to materialise other than in the form of Sony and LG's small-sized super-expensive vanity panels a few years ago. But in 2012 we're expecting to see OLED make a comeback. The problem has been the expense – the yield rate for OLED panels has been so poor that the working products were subsequently prohibitively expensive. But new production techniques are thought to be more promising and so we're likely to see the likes of Samsung and LG show off some large new OLED prototypes – probably 55-inch.

3D, 4K and Smart TV

As ever we'll be inundated by new 3D TVs and it's likely that the majority, if not all the new TVs from the big names at 32-inches and above will be at least 3D-ready.

But the exciting 3D innovation will be elsewhere... We're also expecting to see improved crosstalk-free flagship 3D TV models, universal active 3D glasses, and maybe even the appearance of some glasses-free active 3D prototypes which do the shuttering inside the screen. There will certainly be plenty of lenticular glasses-free 3D TVs on show, though if Toshiba's first-generation models are anything to go by they won't be terribly exciting.

The next big step on the roadmap for TVs is the introduction of 4K panels. While full HD TVs have a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, 4K panels are much sharper with a resolution of 3840 x 2160. Toshiba's 55ZL2 glasses-free TV, which launched at IFA in September, has a 4K 2D resolution, and we're expecting a lot more new sets to emerge from the other big names in 2012.

It's even possible that we might see the announcement of a new storage medium for 4K sources. Just maybe…

Of course Smart TV is another area of innovation in this field, and we're likely to see some bold new interfaces and features.

Gaming

It's very possible that we'll see the reappearance of the Nintendo Wii U at CES, although it's anyone's guess whether that would be the prototype we've already seen or if it'll be an updated version.

And of course, there are also rumours circulating the web that we may even see Microsoft show off a prototype or at least announce the Xbox 720. It's fairly obvious that Microsoft would want to get the next Xbox out before the PlayStation 4 – doing so with the 360 saw it gain a huge head start, but whether it's anywhere near showing its hand seems a bit far-fetched. But who knows?

CES 2012: Computing

The big thing we're expecting from CES 2012 is yet more details on Windows 8. Steve Ballmer is yet again doing the opening keynote of CES 2012, so we're expecting more versions of the OS to be shown off and possibly some more prototype hardware.

We've only so far seen a developer preview of the new OS – we're now expecting a fuller Beta to be available from CES and, if the gestation of Windows 7 is anything to go by, it will be a Public Beta too.

At last year's CES we were invited to a briefing with Microsoft at which it announced ARM support for Windows 8 – and we're really hoping we'll get more clarity on this at the show. How will Microsoft differentiate ARM and Intel-based tablets and PCs, for example?

This will become an even bigger issue as traditional x86-based software will not be backwards compatible on ARM-based installs of Windows 8.

After launching its Sandy Bridge range of Intel Core processors at last year's CES, Intel will showcase its die-shrink successor – Ivy Bridge.

Intel chief Paul Otellini is set to deliver one of the main keynotes at CES 2012 and, while his keynotes have delivered little in the past, we'd expect him to at least show off some Ivy Bridge hardware designs – probably an Ultrabook. Ivy Bridge itself won't be with us until later in 2012.

We'll certainly see a lot more Ultrabook laptops at CES 2012 – not least because Intel is actively encouraging kit manufacturers to create designs for the platform. And, if we're lucky, we might experience some running versions of Windows 8.

There are also rumours that several large manufacturers could launch ARM-based laptop designs at the show – most likely ready for the launch of Windows 8. It wouldn't be the first time we've seen kit like this: 2010's Lenovo Skylight used a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

These could be the new netbooks - netbooks as we've known them for the last couple of years are dying out as customers demand more features and basic full-fat laptops reduce in price.

Of course, tablets are also an area we'll be hearing a lot more from at CES – read on for a lot more on that.

CES 2012: Mobile phones and tablets

The mobile industry traditionally launches its new phones and tablets during February's Mobile World Congress, but such is the fierce and deadly competition to make bigger, faster phones with more cores than ever before, we expect many manufacturers to steal a few weeks of publicity and go big at CES 2012.

Tablets will be huge news. Most high-end models will have moved on from the Tegra 2 chipset that's inside many popular Android models today, so we ought to see plenty of quad-core Tegra 3 tablets at the show.

HTC

HTC still hasn't released a version of its Jetstream tablet in the UK, so we won't get too excited about the company's next rumoured tablet - currently known as the HTC Quattro. It's your usual 10.1" format, only updated with a quad-core processor.

As for mobiles, quite a few possible HTC models for 2012 have leaked in recent weeks, any of which may show up at CES. There's the quad-core HTC Edge and the dual-core HTC Ville, but HTC likes to release separate models for the US market - so any CES HTC releases are more likely to be US-only products.

OUTED: Is this the HTC Ville?[Image credit: BGR]

Acer

A possible new Acer tablet has also leaked online recently, with Acer's Iconia 700 said to be the company's attempt to impress us a little more than it did with the boring Iconia A500, this time with a quad-core processor update. The A700 is also said to feature a 1080p resolution display, which ought to grab it a few headlines.

Samsung and LG

Samsung is guaranteed to be launching a Galaxy S III in 2012, with plenty of internet leaks underlining its existence. Samsung could show it off at CES. This would make us literally sob with joy.

And if Samsung's there, LG won't be far behind. There's recently been a leak of a possible Android 4.0 LG phone called the LG Optimus U1, which, although looking rather bland, could be something to get excited about if LG manages to get the Ice Cream Sandwich OS to market quicker than the competition.

Sony Ericsson

We could see Sony Ericsson show off its previously leaked Xperia Arc HD at the CES event. Sony will want to make its recent acquisition of Ericsson's share of the business look like it's paying off, so a prompt unveiling of a new flagship Android phone would go some way to reassuring its shareholders that it was a good buy.

And there could be many more. Recent reports claim Samsung, LG and Motorola have been sourcing quad-core processors for future smartphone use, so expect multi-core mobiles and tablets to be big news in early 2012.

CES 2012: Cameras

CES 2012 is going to be especially interesting for photographers because it is also hosting the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) trade show. Unlike CES, all the major camera manufacturers have traditionally attended PMA.

As usual, all the camera manufacturers are playing their cards very close to their chests, but there are a few products that we hope to see at the show.

Canon

Canon's EOS 5D Mark II is getting on a bit now and a replacement is hotly tipped for early 2012. This full-frame camera straddles the boundary between high-end enthusiast and professional-level models and is a firm favourite with those who want to shoot still and high quality video footage.

Canon recently announced that it is developing a full-frame SLR capable of shooting 4K video at 24P (with APS-H cropping). As yet we don't know the name of this model, could it be the EOS 5D Mark III or EOS 6D replacement for the EOS 5D MK II?

CANON EOS 5D MK II: Can we expect the successor to the MKII at CES?

Canon is the only major camera manufacturer to not have a compact system camera (CSC). It's bound to announce one soon and perhaps CES will be when it chooses to reveal its first CSC to the world.

Nikon

We've been expecting Nikon to update its top-end SLRs for ages now and perhaps CES 2012 could be the company's launchpad.

The 12-million pixel full-frame D700 is particularly long in the tooth, with a D800 being widely rumoured to be coming soon. It may feature a 36Mp sensor, which would make it the highest resolution SLR around.

It's also been a while since the Nikon D3 series has seen a refresh and with the Olympics coming next summer a D4, or perhaps a D4S, could be on the cards.

Looking a little lower down the Nikon SLR line-up the D300S is looking out of step with the competition with only 12 million pixels on its APS-C format sensor. Perhaps we will see a D400?

Sony

When Sony announced its 24-million pixel Alpha 77 a slip of the tongue seemed to suggest that there could be a full-frame SLT waiting in the wings. If so, this would replace the Alpha 900 and it's most likely to be called Alpha 950.

This would be the first full-frame digital camera to feature a fixed translucent mirror to enable full-time phase detection autofocus in live view mode and blistering-fast continuous shooting rates. It would also be the first full-frame SLR to have an electronic viewfinder (EVF).

It's widely known that Sony produces Nikon's sensors and if Nikon is about to use a 36MP device, it seems likely that Sony is too.

Compact system cameras

It seems that 2011 has been the year of the compact system camera (CSC) with models being announced by Panasonic, Olympus, Samsung, Sony and Nikon.

Our contacts suggest that Panasonic will be making CSC announcements at Photokina in September 2012, rather than January, but the other manufacturers may have something up their sleeves. Could Canon join the party as well?

Now that Sony has revealed the NEX-7's impressive EVF, the other manufacturers have some ground to make up. Olympus has promised a massive improvement in its optional external EVFs in 2012.

We'll be watching developments - rest assured we'll be keeping you posted about what new cameras and other kit we expect to see at CES.