This year at CES, we'll be checking out two new TV technologies—OLED and Ultra HD—as well as advancements in smart TV platforms, and new ways to control them.
OLED televisions will be shown in 55-inch screen sizes, and they're expected later in the year at a price of close to $10,000. Ultra HD sets, which double the horizontal and vertical resolution of a 1080p HD set so there are four times as many pixels, will be shown by several brands at the show. Prices for the first available models (from Sony and LG) have been in the $20,000 neighborhood (nice neighborhood!) for 84-inch sets, but we expect them to come down.
The number of smart TVs, with access to online services and apps, will continue to grow and add more content. But with all this content available, several companies will show off better ways to organize that content with new user interfaces and menu systems, plus remote control that have keyboards, touchpads, and even gesture and voice control. While last year we saw rudimentary voice control, we expect to see enhancements such as a wider range of commands that can be executed by voice, plus a move to more natural-language commands that sound less like robot-speak.
The other big trend we're following is the multi-screen living room, with more interactivity between TVs and mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. We expect to see several manufacturers show new way of moving content from portable devices to the TV, using both wired (MHL) and wireless (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and even NFC) technologies.
