CES 2015: Sony, Samsung, LG, Intel and Lenovo top announcements
We round up some of the biggest announcements so far from the annual tech show
CES 2015 is now in full swing with announcements coming thick and fast. To help you keep track of the news from the show, particularly from the key firms exhibiting, we've put together a quick guide to what's been revealed so far.
Sony
Sony endured a fairly traumatic end to 2014 after a major hacking attack that forced it, at one stage, to cancel the release of the movie The Interview, and will no doubt have been hoping to let its tech do the talking at CES 2015.
However, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai used his keynote to hit back at the hackers. "Sony, former employees and current employees were the victims of one of the most vicious and malicious cyber attacks in recent history," he said.
Some tech was unveiled, though, such as a 4K Android TV that the firm said is slimmer than the Xperia Z3 smartphone at just 4.9mm thick. The Sony X90C 4K TV is part of the Bravia line-up for 2015 which comprises 12 4K Ultra HD models.
Sony also unveiled another version of its SmartWatch 3 wearable, the first using the Android Wear operating system. The latest version has a fashion update, as it comes with a stainless steel band. It will launch in February.
Samsung
Samsung had a two-hour slot lined up for CES 2015, so hopes were high that it would unveil some eye-catching items.
Sadly, this was not the case. There was a distinct lack of notable announcements, such as phones or tablets, and no mention was made of the next Galaxy phone, the S6.
However, Samsung did announce a new standard in UHD displays, which aims to boost the viewing experience for its TVs. SUHD is described as a proprietary nano-crystal technology and will be included in its curved TV products.
Perhaps of more interest was Samsung chief executive BK Yoon promising to invest $100m in funding for developers and to create an open system to kickstart an Internet of Things (IoT) revolution.
"We can deliver the benefits of IoT only if all sensors can talk to each other. I'm making a promise that our IoT devices and products will be open. We will ensure that others can easily connect to our devices," he said.
LG
LG got CES 2015 off with a bang with the G Flex 2 smartphone. The G Flex 2 features a flexible 5.5in OLED display, which the firm has bumped up to a 1080p HD screen. The phone is powered by a Qualcomm octa-core Snapdragon 810 and runs the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop mobile operating system.
V3 had a play with the G Flex 2 at CES and found plenty to admire about the phone. We were impressed with the performance, design and display.
Intel
Intel has made several notable announcements at the show so far, covering everything from processors to people.
Kicking things off was the unveiling of the 5th-generation Broadwell Core processor on Monday. Intel said that the Core update packs in 35 percent more transistors than the previous 4th-generation Haswell chips, while also shrinking die size by 37 percent.
Several hardware manufacturers, such as Dell and Lenovo, have announced products using this architecture.
Intel's Cherry Trail chip was also unveiled, a 14nm Atom chip for tablets. However, Intel was coy on the specifics of the chip.
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich also talked about a $300m investment to create a diverse workforce in the years ahead as the technology sector looks to tackle the problem of workplace diversity and equality.
Lenovo
Perhaps two of the most noteworthy hardware announcements made so far have come from Lenovo. The company, on a roll from 2014 when it snapped up Motorola and IBM's server business, is clearly not slowing down.
Firstly Lenovo unveiled the ThinkPad X1 Carbon ultrabook based on Intel's 5th-generation Core processor chips and boasting a touch-enabled 14in display to support Windows 8.1. It has a choice of screens with resolutions up to 2560x1440 pixels.
Lenovo also unveiled the Yoga 3 at CES (pictured below). This is a slightly larger version of the Yoga 2, as it has a 14in display and weighs 1.6kg. It is also powered by Intel's 5th-generation Core processor, based on the Broadwell architecture.
Best of the rest
Aside from these big five vendors there have been other eye-catching announcements at the show.
Qualcomm talked about working with car manufacturers to produce better in-car information systems, while other car firms such as VW and Mercedes-Benz also touted their efforts in this space.
Meanwhile, Nvidia unveiled its Tegra X1 chip that has the same 256-core Maxwell graphics processing architecture found in powerful PC graphics cards, but with an eight-core, 64-bit processor.
Nvidia also sees this as having a home in cars as it too looks to capture a piece of this market.
Dell also threw its weight behind the new Intel Broadwell Core processor by announcing that its XPS 13 laptop will launch with the chip.