Author name: Mark Haworth

Finally got round to going to a Gadget Show Live with Mikey. I must confess I'm only a recent "convert" to the programme, I seem to get so little time to watch TV these days so I'm very choosy about what I watch. No show is going to please all of the people all of the time, but for me this one just about hits the spot. Along with the BBC's "Click" it covers most bases. Most of all, it presents the information in a fun and engaging way.

 

Anyway, the show at the NEC, what did it do for me? Well, two things came out of it, one, that I now think I "get" what tablets are and what they're for. I can certainly see them replacing laptops / netbooks as the computer of convenience while out and about in time. Let's face it, for what *most* people use computers for (e.g. browsing, email, social networking etc), they'll do the job just fine. There were some cheap Elonex ones on show, the price was very attractive, but I couldn't help but feel their speed and responsiveness let them down. The screen didn't have the same vibrancy as the more expensive counterparts either, but for a third of the price I can see lots being sold. I'm not going to be getting one just yet, but would be hard pushed to decide between the Samsung Galaxy and the iPad2 at the moment. Both have the pros and cons, and that's before the Apple / Android antagonists get going.

 

The second "biggy", is it looks like 3D TV could be mainstream before too long. Had a "look" (with the silly glasses) at a fair few, and the quality was astonishing. Still believe a lot of content is targeted to accentuate the 3D, for example, snakes reaching out to you, but I was quite astonished at the quality of the game content that's out there now. It's *extremely* convincing, and although I'm no gamer, I could well understand those who are wanting to make the next step up.

 

The live show itself was very good too, although when we came out, the whole show had become much busier, and it was quite difficult to get around. We'll certainly be back next year…

 

M.