LONDON: The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a good place to spot the trends that will dominate the tech world in the coming months. Following are picks of the biggest trends that will dominate 2015.
4K everywhere
4K, or Ultra HD, is not something very new. If Dell’s new Inspiron and Alien ware ranges are any indication, 4K screens will hit the budget as well as top-end computing devices this year. On the other hand, the price points of 4K televisions to come down drastically by the end of the year. Companies like MediaTek are meanwhile putting in place delivery mechanisms for this high resolution content. On the other hand Sony and Panasonic have launched cameras that make creation of 4K content much easier.
More Android Sony will launch the world’s first Android Lollipop televisions in collaboration with Google and powered by MediaTek’s processors. While over the top Android boxes have been there for televisions for the few years now, it will be the first time that users will get a true blue Google experience on their large screen televisions. It is noticed that a lot of other stuff, from virtual reality glasses to smart watches were also drawing heavily from Android. The domination of the Android operating system is almost complete.
The business of fitness Tech companies have realised that there is money to be made in keeping people fit. So innovation is now looking much beyond fitness trackers. In fact, users will see devices that try and keep them fit whatever they are doing. For a change, there will be devices that look at mental health too, striving for achieving total relaxation as if it were the final goal in a game.
The affordable Smartphone The affordable mid-size Smartphone is now as good, if not better, than any flagship. Recent launches like the Lenovo Vibe X2, the Meizu MX4, OnePlus One and Yu Yureka have shown that phones priced between $100 and $300 can take on the top end smartphones when it comes to specs and performance. Thanks to this democratisation of technology it remains to be seen if the Smartphone giants change their strategy and start focussing more on the mid segment where the margins could be much lower.
Breaking barriers
2015 could be the year in which cross ecosystem chatter between devices and technologies becomes easier to execute. In fact, the cloud could become the big facilitator for this to happen. All this will mean the user will get a better experience even if he is not completely on a single brand ecosystem.