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Personally, I had a great time at CES 2009. A ton of walking, there was more good food than I could endure, I met some great people and saw some old friends, I made some coin in the casinos, and most importantly, I got to see some nice new phones. I was very disappointed with my preparation though. I had an issue with my video camera where my battery drained while turned off as well as when it was on. I also had issues with my Sony Alpha. I was very unhappy with all this. Next show I have some better ideas to bring some better coverage. I plan to bring a 3G router and a Eye-Fi card to help get things online better.

Picking up our Press Badges… (right to left) Eric Hicks, Steven “fyiguy” Hughes, Judie Lipsett, Graham Skee, Kevin Stanford, Jack Cook, and Mike Temporale.

The 1st thing I want to talk about is CNTRSTG. I volunteered my time 2 hours a day during CES to help with the door and I am very glad I did. CNTRSTG was a big success and provided a great place for bloggers to get work done, socialize, learn from vendors, get some rest, and have some good food. The sessions that the CNTRSTG guys set up were really great and I think they saw tremendous value in presenting at CNTRSTG. My hat is off to Steven, Johan, Mike, and Eric. They also brought in some great folks to help organize. Thanks Mike Hockey and HP for being such a big part of the event as well. A++

Devices
I didn’t get as much time to discover the latest on the CES show floor, but Digital Experience provided a good amount of discovery for me alone. I was able to get some hands on time with the previously unannounced T-Mobile Shadow II (aka Shadow 2009) from HTC, the Motorola Surf A3100, the newest from RIM, and I finally got some hands on with the Pharos phones.

Motorola Surf A3100
This one was announced during CES 2009. It’s a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone with a custom UI that is TouchFlo like. The phone was pretty snapping and I look forward to getting some additional hands on with it. I shot a short little video from Digital Experience. Engadget posted another quick video too.

Pharos 137 and more
I’ve always been a big fan of Pharos and it was great to meet up with James Oyang to get the hands on time with their newest, the Pharos Traveler 137. I was also impressed with the others too. I had not yet had a chance to check them out yet. The 1st photo below shows their co-branded version of the older i-mate JAQ 3 and the Pharos Traveler 127. The 127 is my personal favorite and one that I am actually going to purchase soon. The 2nd photo shows the newest of the Pharos Traveler family. From right to left, the 117, the 127, and the new 137. Check out more photos from Engadget too.

Blueant X1 Noise Canceling Headset
Here are some photos of the Blueand X1 due to launch in March for around $129.

Samsung MBP200 Pico Projector
One of the coolest devices I messed with was this mini projector. It’s not yet released, but it’s coming soon. This will be available later this year and will be able to hold and display a multitude of video and image formats as well as popular types like Powerpoint and PDF files.

Compact and lightweight, the portable MBP200 can connect to mobile phones and laptops and by utilizing the DLP^® pico chip from Texas Instruments it allows users to transform their traditional two inch screen to a 50-inch viewing screen allowing others to share in the video experience. In addition, users can easily transfer files and project content independent of an attached source via the microSD card slot. The MBP200 has a simple shape and design with touchpad controls on the right side of the device for easy navigation and a 2.2-inch QVGA LCD screen which allow users to view content privately.

What was HTC Showing?
They didn’t have much to show this year really. I think we’ll see more at CTIA in April. The US version of the HTC S740, the S743 was on display as well as the T-Mobile Shadow 2009. The Shadow was on display at the T-Mobile booth as well.

OQO Model 2+
The newest coming of the OQO is here. This one is powered by the Intel Atom processor and offers many enhancements from earlier versions. You can learn more about it at OQO. The video was stunning and the viewing angle is obscene. Look at the 1st couple photos, you can read the screen from side almost. Look for this one to start to take a foothold in the consumer market.

Blackberry Storm and Blackberry Curve 8900
The Storm just debuted on Verizon last month with much fanfare. This was my 1st time to check it out and I was impressed. It’s not new news, but hey. T-Mobile’s newest addition is the Blackberry Curve 8900. (Pictured right)

The Biggest Story… Palm MobileOS and the Pre
I will be posting an individual post on this later, but I am very happy for Palm with this offering. I provided my earliest impressions in this post already, but I don’t have much more to say about it now. I made it up to Palm’s VIP Room for some 1 on 1 time with the Pre, but it wasn’t quite the 1 on 1 that I expected. I understand that my 10 seconds of holding the device was more than most. It felt good, but I had hoped to actually drive. The 1 on 1 session was a PR rep, a Palm rep, and myself (Chris Deherra from PPC FAQ’s tagged along as well) getting a close up of what we had already seen at the launch event. I still think it’s a nice step for Palm though.

There is more to discuss as the days go on, but for now, I am glad to be home. CES is always fun, but it will wear you out. I went to bed last night at midnight and slept until 2pm this afternoon. I did my share of gambling at CES too. For the inquisitive types out there… I did well. I hit the Wynn Hotel and Casino up for about $1400. I was up about $2500 at one point Friday night at Harrah’s, but gave it all back though. As I waited for my flight yesterday, I threw a $20 in a quarter slot machine in the airport and hit a triple 7 for about $400. After tips, airfare, hotel room (comped by Harrahs), food, cabs, and all the other crap you have to pay for in Vegas, I finished up about $1,000 positive. It was a great trip either way. For the record, all expenses were out of my own pocket. Other than the comps I get at casinos, there was no other benefit paid by external sources.

All and all it was a great show and I really liked that the attendance was down. Cab lines were much shorter and it was a better experience. In the future, I think that I will be skipping CES to focus on CTIA events though.

Chris Leckness (3549 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Chris Leckness is the Owner/Administrator of Mobilitysite. He is a Microsoft MVP, Mobile Devices and a member of the exclusive focus group, Mobius. Chris runs a Mobilitysite, GotZune, and a few other smaller sites and blogs. His personal blog is chris.leckness.com.