We’ve got the best innovations of 2010 broken down for you right here. These are the technologies that arrived this year for your man on the street to part with cold hard cash for. See what broke out of the lab, onto shop shelves and made off with our hearts.
Tablets
Sure, tablets have been around for years. But where Apple goes, others follow. Cupertino cranked out the first ever slate with mass market appeal (and success) in the iPad, and we’re starting to see the first competent rivals in the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. We’re already convinced that for most tasks the keyboard on our home laptop was just wasting space – expect more rivals next year to hammer that nail into the coffin.
True motion gaming
The Nintendo Wii is not motion control. There are remotes, nunchuks, cases, cords and straps galore. Sony added improved depth perception with PlayStation Move this year, but the true breakthrough was Kinect for Xbox 360. Microsoft’s camera peripheral is genuinely revelatory, allowing anyone to get involved, no controllers needed. We cannot wait to see the results in 2011 as more games arrive.
Mobile HD video
720p resolution video recording on new smartphones isn’t a bonus anymore, it’s the new standard, now that there are sensors and processors out there for phones that can support it. The iPhone 4 made chopping it up on iMovie a doddle. Granted, it’s not something you can see the advantages of on your handset yet, but played back on desktop YouTube, it’s a delight.
NEX interchangeable lens system
Sony typically likes to make its own standards akin to rival open ones just to be Sony, but this is one we actually like. Sony’s mirrorless interchangeable lens system allowed for a stunningly small camera in the NEX-5 (and NEX-3) that still comes out with ace photos, and it’s poised to shake up the market for prosumer camcorders too in 2011.
4G phones
This one’s at the bottom, but only because we’ve not got them in the UK yet. The first super speedy WiMAX smartphones went on sale in the US this year (The HTC Evo and the Samsung Epic 4G), and Verizon has just switched on its own rival LTE network for grabgin web pages and streaming video on the go at blinding speeds. UK networks, we want this NOW.
