The world's largest consumer technology tradeshow, CES, saw plenty of tablets, phones, computers and even electric vehicles, some yet to be launched. A report by Chandragupta Amritkar.

This year again more than 2,700 tech nology companies across global presented their products to over 140,000 industry professionals. The 2011 CES set several new records, including 30,000 international attendees and 22 top CEOs participating in keynotes. Owned and produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the 2011 CES, the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow held annually in Las Vegas.

"The 2011 International CES was a phenomenal worldwide event that spanned global industries including technology, automotive and entertainment markets," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA. "This global technology gathering featured more innovation, more news, more social media buzz and more international attendance than any other show in CES history."

Major technology trends emerged from the CES show floor including the launch of more than 80 tablets, wireless 4G LTE, connected TV technologies, smart appliances - featured for the first time in show history - and electric vehicles. Ford's Alan Mulally unveiled the company's first electric car at the 2011 International CES with its Ford Focus Electric.

The 2011 CES brought top CEOs to the CES stage including Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, Verizon's Ivan Seidenberg, Audi's Rupert Stadler, Samsung's Boo-Keun Yoon, Ford's Alan Mulally, Netflix's Reed Hastings, Cisco's John Chambers, Xerox's Ursula Burns and GE's Jeffrey Immelt. These executives were joined onstage by leaders spanning various industries including Comcast's Brian Roberts, Time Warner Cable's Glenn Britt, Dreamworks Animation's Jeffrey Katzenberg and Hulu's Jason Kilar. The 2011 International CES conference program consisted of 250 sessions featuring 900 speakers.

The 2011 CES created phenomenal buzz in the social media world with more than 158,000 CES-related tweets since Monday, January 3, and more than 11,000 page views on CEA's Digital Dialogue blog. This year at CES Motorola caught the maximum attention with two brilliant products. The Atrix which is a powerful 4G smartphone is probably the first smartphone to truly cross the line between computer and mobile device, and it was by far the most fascinating gadget at CES. On top of the Atrix, Motorola also managed to deliver the best looking Android tablet with the Xoom inspite of over a dozen of tablet competitors at the show. Here we present some of the best gadgets at the show.

Motorola ATRIX 4G

Another 4G phone, this time from Motorola. Motorola ATRIX 4G is the only smartphone that allows you to carry the power of mobile computing inside your pocket. Designed to bring unprecedented computing to your smartphone, Motorola's webtop application runs a full Mozilla Firefox 3.6 browser and supports Adobe Flash Player to open up all the rich graphics, animations and video on the web. The phone comes with different docking devices to attach to a PC, laptop or TV that enables the full power of the phone to come to life. When plugged in, software called WebTop activates allowing users to access both the phone and a separate desktop environment that features full versions of Facebook and Firefox. In short, via webtop you can turn a TV into a computer simply by plugging the Atrix into the appropriate dock.

Motorola ATRIX 4G includes a dual core processor with each core running at 1 GHz, delivering up to two GHz of processing power. While in the webtop application users can run their Android applications in a window, browse their favorite websites with a full Firefox desktop browser, send instant messages and make phone calls, all at the same time. Calls continue uninterrupted if Motorola ATRIX 4G is removed from a dock. Users can take advantage of the ability to surf the web, view social networking, and use HTML5 web-based applications and supported cloud computing services. Plus, the new Entertainment Center feature lets you show all of the photos, music and videos you already enjoy on-the-go on a big screen in your living room.

Motorola ATRIX 4G runs Android 2.2 with access to more than 100,000 apps and games in the Android Market. Convenient biometric fingerprint reader is included for easily unlocking your phone while providing extra security.

Motorola Xoom

Among a sea of tablets at CES, Motorola's entry was a surprise. The Xoom is the first Android 3.0 slate, sporting software that was built from the ground up for larger displays. You can easily multitask, interact with more robust widgets, and surf the full web with support for both Flash and tabbed browsing.

The Xoom features a 10.1-inch 1080p display and also features two cameras - a 5-megapixel on the rear and a 2-megapixel on the front.

The rear shooter is capable of shooting in 720p quality and the display can handle 1080p playback. The Xoom is powered by an almighty NVIDIA TEGRA 2 dual-core processor. The Motorola XOOM device will launch as a 3G/Wi-Fi-enabled device in Q1 2011 with an upgrade to 4G LTE in Q2.

BlackBerry PlayBook

While tablets have undeniably been the big news story of CES 2011, it has not all been about Android and Windows 7. The BlackBerry PlayBook, at 7 inches, it's more portable than the iPad and other 10-inch tablets, and it is quite fast. The processor on-board the PlayBook has been confirmed as a 1GHz dual-core OMAP 4430 from Texas Instruments. It has had a very positive response, and RIM are planning to have it ready for release during the first quarter of the year.

Samsung Series 9 Laptop

Samsung's series 9 ultraportable laptop bests most of its competitors -- it's slightly thinner, slightly lighter and a lot more powerful with a second-generation Intel Core i5 processor running at 1.4 gigahertz. It's also made out of aircraft-grade Duralumin, a metal that's twice as strong as aluminum. The 9 Series boasts a SuperBright Plus display that's 40 per cent brighter than the competition, a second-generation Core i5 processor, and a 128GB SSD that boots Windows 7 in 20 seconds. Add in 6.5 hours of battery life and a backlit keyboard (a feature the 13-inch MacBook Air lacks) and you have one of the most exciting lightweight notebooks yet. It'll be out in February at a steep $1,599.

Monster Vision MAX 3D

Monster, a global leader in high-performance headphones, connectivity solutions and A/V accessories presented its Monster Vision "MAX 3D" - the world's first universal wireless 3D eyewear "shutter system" compatible with every brand of Stereoscopic 3D TV.

The lightweight, high-gloss Monster Vision MAX 3D glasses allow users to wear them for hours without experiencing any vision fatigue.

Notably, because it is the first and only Active Shutter system using RF technology, MAX 3D glasses allow users unprecedented freedom of movement while viewing, creating a new type of relaxed yet powerful 3D experience. They are currently available for a suggested retail price of $229.95 per RF Transmitter and Eyewear set.

HP Photosmart eStation

The HP Photosmart eStation All-in-One combines the full features of an HP All-in-One with web browsing and access to HP print apps and widgets - plus a detachable, 7-inch, full-colour touchscreen for mobile freedom in the home. Additional features include access to Barnes & Noble's expansive eBookstore with more than 1 million digital titles as well as one-touch access to customized content from Yahoo.

Kodak Playfull Video Camera

Whether you like to party in the hottest clubs or shred from the highest peaks, Kodak has an HD pocket video camera for you.

Eastman Kodak Company introduced two new additions to its award-winning pocket video camera portfolio - the Kodak Playfull Video Camera that's packed full of features in an ultra slim and chic design and the next generation of the Kodak Playsport Video Camera that's shockproof, dustproof and waterproof up to 10 feet.

Both video cameras feature Kodak's exclusive Share Button making it easy for you to share your videos and pictures with friends and family in three simple steps. These are world's only cameras with 3-step sharing1 - with Kodak's Share Button, you can e-mail to friends and the Kodak Pulse Digital Frame or upload to Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Kodak Gallery, Flickr, and Orkut , Yandex and KAIXIN001 sites internationally. The International CES will return to Las Vegas next January 10-13, 2012.

(The writer is with Global Features and can be contacted at chandraguptaa@hotmail.com)