IFA has shuffled its way off the tech calendar for another year, leaving a slew of tech trends in its wake. Want to know what’ll be hot in the next 12 months? Read on, and we’ll give you the inside track.
Blu-ray boom time
IFA 2009 finally marked Toshiba’s climbdown after the HD format war, with the company unveiling its first Blu-ray player, as well as a monster entertainment laptop, the Toshiba Satellite P500, packing a Blu-ray writer.
The same laptop also features upscaling tech to polish up pictures from traditional DVD discs, but it’s the Blu-flavoured innards that mean Blu-ray has finally reached ubiquitous status. Almost every major manufacturer now has a Blu-product of some description. Well, everyone except Apple. Expect it to follow suit in the next year.
3D format wars
IFA was awash with gadget fans gawping through silly 3D glasses, but in fact it wasn’t the viewers that looked daft, it was the manufacturers. We counted no less than three different types of 3D telly tech on show at IFA, each is, of course, a conflicting standard and means one thing: there’s a 3D format war on the way.
Which will win? Lenticular, polarising or active shutter 3D tellies? Even more important is the question of whether you’ll actually splash out for technology which, whenever we’ve tried it, has left us with a headache.
So soon after the Blu-ray vs HD-DVD debacle, it’s incredible, but there’s yet another battle for your living room waiting in the wings. And with Sky and Channel 4 prepping its own 3D channel too, it’s all to play for.
Tablets set for takeoff
While the world (or at least the web) is poised for the unveiling of an Apple tablet, Toshiba scooped the Mac makers with what looks like a genuinely new type of tech product. Dubbed the JournE Touch it’s a small-form tablet, designed to help you hop online, browse the web, and keep in touch with friends.
The JournE Touch will even have an App Store, much like the iPhone and, we presume, the mythical Mac Tablet. How long before we see a tablet avalanche? Not long, we predict.
Wireless tellies incoming!
Wireless HD has been a regular fixture at tech trade shows for years, but now it seems we’re finally seeing it taken seriously. Sony, LG and Toshiba all talked it up, with Toshiba even claiming it’ll be in their telly ranges next year.
But it’s not all Wireless HD. We’ve also been told Transfer Jet will be made available for all of Toshiba’s TV sets next year, beaming pictures and video at lightning speeds, a bit like a super-charged Bluetooth.
OLED competition breaks out
Sure, you’ve seen Sony’s OLED TV, but what about LG’s? At 15 inches it’s bigger than Sony’s telly, and LG’s got plans to use the technology in more than just goggleboxes.
In the next 12 months we’ll see the beginnings of an OLED price war as more manufacturers show their wares, and as prices fall the technology will find its way into other devices, from laptops to portable OLED monitors.
