As we bid farewell to the 2011 International CES, we close with some general observations from the ETC reporting team…

Las Vegas was crowded – really crowded. If the national economy is slow to recover, there was little evidence of it in the Nevada desert. CEA estimates that about 140,000 people attended the show (more than last year and on par with pre-recession levels), and the state of the industry is showing strength. CEA’s Gary Shapiro estimates that consumer electronics spending will show a 6% increase for 2010, to $180 billion, and will rise an additional 3% this year, to more than $186 billion.

If we had to sum up this year’s show in 10 words, they would be: smart, connected, apps, 3D, 4G, gestural interfaces, tablets, tablets, and tablets.

The word that appeared around every corner of this year’s show floor was ‘smart’ – from banners and new product lines to marketing slogans and more. There was no escaping it, as it seems manufacturers now recognize the need to simplify consumer control over the dizzying array of available devices and services.

‘Connected’ everything was another star of the show, especially in regards to television and related services: search, discovery, VOD, and way too many apps to fathom. In fact, it was a challenge to spot a TV that wasn’t connected to Hulu, Netflix, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, Yahoo! – you get the idea.

CES presented the connected TV as the center for our new multimedia-driven homes. We saw Hubs, Dashboards, Media Links – all designed to address these needs.

This CE connectivity is reliant upon high-speed networks and we heard a lot in terms of 4G and LTE. Verizon, T-Mobile, and others showcased their recently launched networks and collection of tablets and smartphones designed to leverage new speed and efficiency. We found the Motorola Atrix 4G compelling, an Android-based phone featuring NVIDIA’s dual-core Tegra 2 chipset, support for AT&T’s 4G network, and a very interesting laptop dock.

We saw 3D in record abundance – from 3D mobile and 3D gaming to new autostereo displays and a wide selection of prototype and market-ready 3DTVs and laptops.

Sony and Panasonic are sticking with active-shutter, while others – including LG, Toshiba, and Vizio – are touting the benefits of new passive 3D models. Passive displays are being produced at a more reasonable cost and many find passive polarized to be more comfortable. Additionally, the weight of the glasses is an improvement, and they work better over eyeglasses.

For those who believe donning plastic glasses may become the primary obstacle to consumer adoption, a number of autostereo displays were on hand, some that showed real promise and others that were less than impressive.

In terms of gestural interfaces, Microsoft Kinect is already breaking sales records, but the real story here is how gesture technologies will be used beyond video games. PrimeSense showed a system that wirelessly links the PC and TV, enabling access to content from a controller-free 3D system. Imagine what ‘connected’ TV will be like with set-top boxes featuring gesture recognition.

If there was a single breakout star this year, however, it would be tablets.

The Motorola XOOM turned a lot of heads in Vegas. The Android-based device (CNET’s ‘Best of Show’ winner) is one in a growing number of tablets targeting the burgeoning iPad market. Reactions were also positive for the 4G BlackBerry PlayBook which, unlike most of the iPad competitors, does not use Android, but will run on the BlackBerry Tablet OS.

Another tablet not using Android is Samsung’s Sliding PC 7. It runs on Windows, and is a touch-screen device with its own slide-out keyboard. Larger than an iPad but smaller than many Netbooks, it could be the hybrid that many have been hoping for.

We have much more to discuss, especially in regards to cloud-based content hosting and delivery services (i.e. UltraViolet), connected TVs and Blu-ray players with 2D-to-3D conversion capabilities, and more – but we’ll save those thoughts for our post show report which should be available within the next week.

Thanks for reading the blog for this year’s CES coverage. A special thank-you to ETC’s sponsors who make our work possible. Until the next show…

KC Blake, Sarah Blake, George Gerba, Carolyn Giardina, Bryan Gonzalez, Bob Lambert, Michael Lei, Phil Lelyveld, Jack Lerner, Edie Meadows, Nick Nero, Paula Parisi, Adrian Pennington, Rob Scott, David Wertheimer, Joyce Yi

Winners of this year’s CNET Best of CES Awards were announced Saturday morning in the lobby of South Hall. With all the buzz surrounding tablet PCs taking over Las Vegas, it’s apropos that a new Android-based tablet would take ‘Best of Show’ for 2011.

Motorola’s XOOM turned a lot of heads this week – from its appearance in the opening keynote to crowded demos in Central Hall at the Motorola booth. The XOOM is one in a growing number of tablets targeting the burgeoning iPad market, but as Bob Lambert wrote in his CES event coverage, Motorola’s solution is compelling, “with Android’s refreshingly thoughtful user interface, growing range of applications and high-speed LTE-based wireless connectivity.” Additionally, CNET reports some interesting distinctions: “(XOOM) comes standard with front- and rear-facing cameras, including one that can record in HD, compared with none in the current version of the iPad. It also boasts a larger screen with a higher resolution, supports Adobe Flash, and uses Verizon’s network instead of AT&T’s.”

We’ll be watching how this potential competition will play out in 2011.

This year’s ‘People’s Voice Award’ went to the Razer Switchblade – an Intel Atom-based, concept design for a Netbook of sorts, designed to bring PC gaming to a portable form factor. Razer has taken the familiar keyboard and redesigned it as a tool for mobile gaming controls (CNET has a great online video demo). By combining a multitouch screen with a tactile adaptive keyboard (the keyboard actually changes on-the-fly based on which game you are playing), Razer presents a compelling solution for portable gaming.

Whether the Switchblade takes off or not, we expect the form factor is something we’ll see with future interface technologies.

Our audience should also be interested in some of the category winners, including: Nintendo 3DS (Gaming), a portable system in which gamers have the option of adjusting the 3D intensity or shutting it off; Toshiba 3D eyeglass-free technology (Prototype), a proof of concept design for 3D laptops that leverages eye tracking software; and the Motorola Atrix 4G (Smartphones), an Android-based phone featuring NVIDIA’s dual-core Tegra 2 chipset, support for AT&T’s 4G network, and an interesting laptop dock.

For the complete list of winners and related articles, visit the CNET Best of CES page. Other awards presented during CES worth noting include:

— The CES Innovations Design and Engineering Awards program (sponsored by PCWorld)

— The 61st Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards (NATAS)

— The 4th Annual Mashable Awards (formerly the Open Web Awards)

— The 2011 CES Mobile Apps Showdown (created by Robin Raskin of Living in Digital Times)

— The 2011 CES Hot Stuff Awards (sponsored by Stuff magazine)

Samsung announced a tablet that runs on Windows instead of Android, and it’s drawing a lot of attention at CES. The Sliding PC 7 is a touch-screen device with its own slide-out keyboard, giving users the option of a multi-touch display or full keyboard and mouse.

Larger than an iPad but smaller than many Netbooks, the 10.1-inch Sliding PC 7 features a multitouch screen so it can operate in both tablet- and Netbook-like formats. This could be the Netbook/tablet hybrid that many have been hoping for…

“With the proliferation of tablet devices, there is a demand from consumers that want the elegance, ease-of-use and portable form factor of a tablet but also the familiarity of a notebook,” said Scott Ledterman, director of mobile PC product marketing at Samsung. “The Samsung 7 Series is creating a category unto itself, with a total solution that is not only chic and convenient for content consumption, but also versatile enough for more intensive computing and content creation.”

The tablet has front- and back-facing cameras, a MicroSD slot and 3G card insert. In order to maintain its trim dimensions, the full-sized USB port has been replaced with a mini-HDMI port (although a mini-HDMI-to-USB 2.0 adapter is available). Other specs include: an Intel Atom Z670 CPU, 2GB RAM, 32 or 64GB SSD drive, along with 3G and WiMax connectivity.

The unit being demonstrated on the show floor is still pre-production, although Samsung suggests the Sliding PC 7 Series will be available starting at $699 in May.

Research in Motion (RIM) hasn’t kept the BlackBerry PlayBook much of a secret, but there was one specification it saved to announce at CES — the PlayBook will be a 4G device.

Wireless carrier Sprint Nextel will offer a version of the BlackBerry PlayBook that runs on Sprint’s next-generation network. The 4G PlayBook is expected to be available this summer. A release date for the Wi-Fi-only version has yet to be announced, but RIM indicated it would be available early this year.

Unlike most of the iPad competitors, PlayBook does not use Android, but will run on the BlackBerry Tablet OS that uses QNX technology. The tablet has a touch screen smaller than that on the iPad, and is geared toward business users.

Other specs include:

– Multi-touch capacitive screen (7-inch, 1024 x 600).
– Measures 5.1 x 7.6 x 0.4-inches and weighs 0.9 pounds.
– Features a 1GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM.
– Front-facing camera shoots 3MP.
– High-definition rear-facing camera takes 5MP shots.
– Adobe Flash 10.1 enabled, built-in HTML 5 support.

Video reports and commentary are available on the BlackBerry blog.

ZAGG Inc. – maker of skins, shields and other CE accessories – is showing its new ZAGGmate, a combo aluminium case/portable keyboard and stand for your iPad. This clever gadget for iPad owners is available from the ZAGG site or Best Buy for $99 ($69 without keyboard).

ZAGGmate uses a 510 mAh rechargeable lithium polymer battery that that the company claims will last several weeks without charging (a MicroUSB cable for charging is included). The company is designing a similar product for the Samsung Galaxy Tab and possibly additional tablets.

ZAGGmate is a 2011 Innovations Design and Engineering Awards honoree.

Video demos are available on the ZAGG site.

Japanese company NEC showed its LT-W Cloud Communicator,  a new “book-style” dual-screen slate running Android 2.1.

Two 7-inch TFT LCD screens are about the size of a traditional paperback book in full color. It weighs 530 grams and offers screen functions that range from side-by-side to divergent uses for multiple portals on the two screens. NEC has provided a range of original applications that let you share different scenarios (one interestingly allows a lecture on one side while taking notes on the other).

The prototype device features Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. Each screen is 800 x 600.

NEC reps say the tablet will be introduced in Japan, possibly in the next six months. There are no formal plans for a US release, but NEC is hoping to license the LT-W to other companies.

Digital content has quickly become the norm in a user’s daily life. And the need to be able to share, move, and enjoy the content at home in a seamless unified way is quickly becoming a demand that must be met. If digital is the way of the future, users must feel comfortable and have the means to share and move content around, without having to worry about the logins, IP address, or network settings.

Aiming to make it easier for consumers, Samsung has introduced AllShare, their software platform that uses DLNA to move content around a user’s home network. AllShare will allow many of Samsung new products such as the Galaxy Tab, the Galaxy smartphone, Blu-ray players, TVs, and home router to move content around the network seamlessly.

Using AllShare, a Blu-ray player can stream a movie out to a Galaxy Tab or smartphone. Also, the user can share photos from their Samsung camera or mobile phone and stream a photo slideshow to their TV. The platform even allows cameras to automatically back up photos to a computer, even if the camera is turned off.

The Moneual H1004 intelligent robot is “personal health centered IT at work.” It monitors patients and the elderly, purifies the air, supports web surfing, and plays soothing therapeutic music.

The Moneul H1004 isn’t just your personal robot pal who’s fun to be with. It monitors your health and automatically calls for help if it detects that you are having medical problems.

When it is not providing you with amusement via the removable web-enabled tablet on its head, it is wandering your house looking for dirty air. Yes, this is more than a passive air purifier. It wanders from room to room, staying only as long as it takes to clear the air before moving on.

When its batteries run low it returns to its docking station for a recharge.

Finally, it is a robotic sleep aid. To quote the brochure, “Audio playback of various music contents provides a mentally therapeutic function for your listening pleasure especially for individuals suffering from depression and other mental illnesses.”

Samsung and Comcast announced that Comcast’s Xfinity TV service would be available later this year on Samsung Smart TVs and the Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Xfinity TV is developed to enable customers to browse, discover and sort video content, change the channel on a Samsung Smart TV in real time, program DVRs, watch streaming TV shows and movies On Demand directly on the tablet, and access that content across multiple devices.

Future development plans for the service include allowing a viewer to begin watching a movie on one CE device, then pausing the movie and resume watching it on a different device from the exact moment it was paused.

AMD is refusing to let Intel leave it in the digital dust, using CES to showcase its new Fusion family of single-die chips with accelerated graphics. Included is the E Series for mobile devices. The E Series combines the power of AMD’s Northbridge chipset, a discreet-level graphics processor and dual core CPU onto a single chip that operates at 13 watts instead of 47, and is capable of driving HD video on small form factor devices.

At the show Acer debuted its first tablet, which uses the AMD C Series, a 9 watt version. AMD displayed more than 35 new E Series netbooks and laptops at its suite from manufacturers including Sony, Lenovo and HP, with more than 100 designs cued up. The company said a new quad core chip, the A Series, debuts this summer for desktops.

A more competitive market for digital components obviously means nothing but more choice and cheaper prices for end gadgets.