7 Gadgets To Look Forward in 2012

New year's Gadget

In some ways, we're reminded of the excitement during the build up to the 2012 gadget season, but everything's bigger and flashier. Where once we were waiting on the influx of dual-core tablets, now we're looking at a quad-core revolution on the horizon. We were looking forward to Android 3.0 and Google's Chrome OS, but now we're clamouring for Android 4.0 and Windows 8.



Gaming also looks set to have a bumper year, with new consoles and technologies coming, and this is all before we get the usual raft of awesome announcements  in January.

Here's our pick of the 10 we're most excited about so far.

1. Amazon Kindle Fire

You might wonder what this is doing at the top of our list when it's quite clearly already out - heck.. But it's only out in the USA so far, so for the UK and the rest of the world, it remains a gadget for 2012.

Kindle Fire
So what's got us so excited about the Kindle Fire? Our review called it "a brilliant media consumption device that doesn't break the bank", making it "perhaps the best gadget bargain of this era".


We'll be interested to see what video streaming options and other content it launches with outside of the US, and it'll be fascinating to see if it spurs tablet adoption with its relatively tiny price.



2. Wii U

Wii U
Enter the Wii U, then. The Wii's successor looks set to be a powerful HD console, offering 1080p output and 3D support, with yet another interesting new controller. The Wii U comes with a kind of small tablet - a controller with all the usual buttons, but a touchscreen in the middle as well. The touchscreen can be used to control games, or you can actually play the game on that screen, leaving your TV free for Masterchef.



3. Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

This is where tablets really start to grow up when it comes to horsepower. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is the first Nvidia Tegra 3 tablet, which means quad-core processing and amazing graphics performance for a portable device. Somehow, it's also unbelievably thin and light, and comes in a bundle with keyboard dock for typing on the go.
The Asus Eee Pad





Our Eee Pad Transformer Prime review found that it had good battery life, a great screen and amazing performance, especially for games. It's probably going to be just the first step in what's to come for Tegra 3 tablets in 2012, but it'll be a hell of a way to start the year when it's released in January.




4. Windows 8 tablets

There are still a lot of unanswered questions when it comes to Windows 8 tablets, but the information is starting to come out, and there's no doubt Microsoft is prepared to make a real go of this tablet malarkey.
Windows 8 tablets
Windows 8 will use a Metro interface that's much like Windows Phone 7 for when it's used on touch devices, with separate Metro apps. It will support ARM processors, such as Tegra 3, as well, which means manufacturers have options for the hardware they include.

5. Apple's 2012 tablet

We could fill this article with what Apple's supposedly got in the works for next year, but since they're all officially fictional until the moment Tim Cook walks on stage and reveals them to the world, let's not get too wrapped up in them. Rumours of an iPad 3 with a Retina display are stronger than ever, and it's fair to say that we'd be drooling all over a tablet with a screen as highly detailed as the iPhone 4S's.

Phone 5 rumours persist too, though at this point we suspect it'll be called something else, since it won't be the fifth iPhone. A thinner design with a larger, possibly edge-to-edge, screen is supposedly the order of the day, which will be unusual, but we'd love to see if Apple can pull it off.

Apple iTV



And then there's the Apple TV. No, not the Apple TV you can buy now, the new Apple iTV television set that's supposed to be in the works. Of course, it's hard to say how good an Apple TV would be from a visual point of view, but we like the sound of a TV with AirPlay and iCloud built in, with Siri functionality as a remote control option.



6. PlayStation Vita

In the face of the casual gaming revolution from the DS and App Store, Sony has stuck to what it knows, and its latest handheld is going to be a beast of a machine when it comes to raw power. And that pleases us greatly.
Sony PlayStation
The Vita packs a quad-core graphics processor, making even the impressive graphics in the iPad 2 [link] look small-time in comparison. The graphics can shine on the qHD screen, and there are touch controls as well as dual analogue sticks, to keep both hardcore gamers and the Angry Birds crowd happy. With amazing-looking versions of Sony's games, including a new Uncharted offering, coming, the Vita is definitely a gamer's device, and potentially an awesome one at that.

7. Asus Padfone

The Asus Padfone raised quite a few eyebrows when it was announced at Computex, as much for the odd presentation as the unusual device itself. A phone that you can slot in a tablet shell to give yourself a larger device seems to come firmly under 'just crazy enough to be crazy', but as time goes on, it's started to make more sense.
Asus Padfone

What's got us really interested now is the news that not only will the Padfone come with Android 4.0, but with Nvidia's Tegra 3 quad-core CPU as well. Android 4.0 makes perfect sense for the device; it's designed to unify the tablet and phone versions of Android, just as Asus is trying mash the two physical devices together. But with a launch planned for Mobile World Congress, we could be about to see the first quad-core phone released, and that's really going to make things interesting.

Happy gadget Shopping....!

2 comments:

  1. abc said...:

    where is lumia 900?? :O

  1. Our Planet said...:

    @Pratyay ya sure..!! it is just rumoured that Nokia Lumia 900 may be there in the market in feb,but no official released has been issued so far.

    So hope for a better & most perfect Lumia 900 in New year.

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