At the Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday, Texas Instruments showed off the company’s OMAP 5 chipset in a reference platform running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The 28nm system on a chip (SOC) features a dual-core ARM Cortex A15 CPU, 2MB L2 cache, a PowerVR SGX 544MP2 GPU and a dual-channel LPDDR2-533 memory interface. The OMAP 5 supports 24 and 20-megapixel cameras for front and rear 3D HD video recording. It also supports up to 8GB of dual channel DDR3 memory, and includes 3 USB 2.0 ports and a SATA 2.0 controller. “This is the greatest platform on Earth right now… way ahead of Apple, and it’s the first Cortex-A15 (which runs 2x faster than the Cortex-A9) product on the market,” Texas Instruments vice president Remi El-Ouazzane told Engadget. ”When running two Cortex-A15 chips at 800MHz, it’s more or less the same performance as running two Cortex-A9s at 1.5GHz. We’re working on multiple form factors — tablets, thin-and-lights — and we think ARM is going to bring tablets to the masses.” The first devices featuring the OMAP 5 chipset aren’t expected to ship until late 2012 or early 2013.

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The Consumer Electronics Show is one of the biggest technology trade shows in the world, and this year’s CES was as big as it has ever been. It was estimated that between 140,000 and 150,000 people attended the show in Las Vegas this week — CES’s record stands at 149,529, achieved last year — and the show was as busy as we’ve ever seen it. Hundreds of companies touted thousands of gadgets and all of the big names were there showing off their upcoming wares. As is always the case, however, a few products managed to outshine the rest. Here, we provide a quick rundown of our favorite tech from CES 2012.

As is common here at CES, TVs took center stage. Big-name brands come to the show in full force every year, each trying to push boundaries and innovate in one of the most crowded spaces in consumer electronics. This year was bigger than ever for ultra-thin HDTVs that were slimmer and brighter than ever before, and we saw a renewed vigor surrounding “smart TVs,” which provide integrated connectivity and app support. While it was a great show all around for TVs, two companies in particular really wowed us this year.

Samsung came to the show packing plenty of new TV tech, but the gorgeous panels on its Super OLED HDTVs blew us away. The South Korea-based vendor’s new displays are remarkably bright, the colors are incredibly vivid and designs are beautiful. Samsung has helped make HDTVs something of an art, and anyone would be proud to display one of the company’s new Super OLED TVs at the center of his or her living room.

The other company that came out swinging this year was LG. Its 55-inch OLED TV was the only unit we came across that could possibly give Samsung’s new models a run for their money, offering a slender borderless design and an infinite contrast ratio. It also uses LG’s Color Refiner technology to produce a picture that is beyond stunning. In an effort to get the jump on a potential new competitor, Samsung, LG and others also showed off voice controls, face recognition and other new features. It was interesting to see how these companies plan to cut Apple off at the pass, especially considering its Siri-fueled HDTV is nothing more than a rumor at this point, but we’re looking forward to seeing motion and voice-based controls become commonplace in the living room.

While the most exciting smartphone-related announcements of the year typically happen at Mobile World Congress and the CTIA Wireless show, there were a handful announcements made at CES 2012. HTC, outed the Windows Phone-powered Titan II, Motorola had two new smartphones on hand — the DROID 4 and DROID RAZR MAXX for Verizon Wireless — and Sony Ericsson unveiled the Xperia ion and Xperia S, among others. When all the dust settled however, the smartphone we found ourselves most excited about at this year’s show was Nokia’s Lumia 900 for AT&T.

Nokia’s first flagship Windows Phone for the U.S. market is a stunner, offering the same unique design as the Lumia 800 but on a larger scale. The sleek smartphone will hit AT&T in March featuring a 4.3-inch ClearBlack display, a 1.4GHz Snapdragon processor, 4G LTE and Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system. We took a hands-on look at the Lumia 900 and suffice it to say we can’t wait for Nokia to begin shipping review units.

The ultrabook was also a hot item this year, with a number of vendors looking at the high-margin slim notebook as a far more appealing alternative to netbooks of old. But it wasn’t just netbooks being replaced by these slender Wintel laptops, tablets took a huge hit this year as well.

At last year’s Consumer Electronics Show, more than 100 new tablet models were unveiled as vendors from around the world looked to capitalize on a new market created by Apple’s iPad. Only, that didn’t happen. Android was the king of the slate during CES 2011 but at this year’s show, Android tablets felt like a distant memory. Only a handful of new Google-powered tablets were unveiled by companies like Toshiba and ViewSonic, and Samsung had a new version of its 7-inch Galaxy Tab for Verizon Wireless on display.

Despite Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich now being available to vendors, many look to be focused on Windows 8 as the more promising tablet platform. Microsoft has made it quite clear that tablets and convertible, touchscreen-equipped notebooks are a huge part of the strategy with its next-generation operating system. With big chip makers like Intel and Qualcomm confirming that Windows 8 will be a major focus, a number of tablet makers appear to be looking forward to Windows 8 as opposed to backward at Android when it comes to future tablet efforts.

In the end, CES 2012 got us excited about the tech we’ll see rolled out over the next six months, and even more excited about what we’ll see emerge further down the line. Always on, always connected, ultra-thin, ultra-portable, slim, sleek and stylish… this is the future of consumer electronics. Thanks to all of our great readers for tuning in this past week, and thanks to Verizon Wireless and Novatel for creating the only 4G LTE Mi-Fi portable hotspots that could manage to keep us connected reliably, the CEA for putting together another amazing show, Sprint, Nokia and others for hosting great events, and LensRentals.com for providing BGR with the cameras and gear that made our coverage possible.

Motorola Mobility had quite a presence at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. It launched two brand new high-end smartphones, the DROID 4 and the DROID RAZR MAXX, and Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha also announced that Motorola will become a partner with Intel for its new Medfield processors. The Motorola booth was packed with all of its new technology, as well as a number of products that launched earlier this year. There were even people riding bikes and running on treadmills to show off the company’s exercise-friendly accessories. The booth also had demo stations for testing nearly all of Motorola’s current products, from its MOTOACTV watch to its smartphone docks, tablets and more. Check out all the highlights from Motorola’s CES 2012 booth in our gallery below.

Samsung and Sony each brought their A-game to the Consumer Electronics Show this year when it comes to high-end HDTVs. If there was one other brand that could easily give these tech giants a run for their money though, it was LG. The South Korea-based company had a handfull of other devices to show off at CES 2012, but televisions took center stage in the firm’s booth and sets on display ranged from entry-level offerings to high-end stunners that were absolutely beautiful. Of all the TVs LG had on display at CES, our clear favorite — it’s not even close, really — was the company’s new 55-inch OLED model. The gorgeous panel on this HDTV gives Samsung’s Super OLED displays a run for their money, and we would be hard pressed to say which screen produces deeper blacks and more vivid colors. No pricing has been announced and we’re sure this set will cost a pretty penny, but it could very well find its way to BGR headquarters once it hits the market. Pictures can hardly do LG’s new OLED HDTV justice, but several photos can be found in our LG booth tour, which follows below.

Last summer, Huawei’s MediaPad was one of the first manufactures to ship a device pre-loaded with Android 3.2 Honeycomb. The Chinese company is now attempting a similar strategy with the release of Ice Cream Sandwich. Existing models of the MediaPad will receive an Android 4.0 update by the end of the first quarter, and new MediaPads will come pre-loaded with the software beginning some time the first quarter. Additionally, the tablet will be offered in the current color scheme, and will add shadow black, classic brown, and passion pink to the mix. The MediaPad features a 7-inch 1280 x 800-pixel display that supports 1080p full HD video playback, a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor and six hours of battery life. Read on for the company’s full press release.

Huawei’s MediaPad Now Comes with Android 4.0

Huawei also unveils new MediaPad color series, operating on Android 3.2

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, today announced that the Huawei MediaPad is now one of the world’s first tablets to come pre-loaded with the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. First launched in June 2011, the original MediaPad was the world’s first 7-inch Android 3.2 tablet. This latest version of the MediaPad once again provides users with the very latest Android experience, along with access to the newest and hottest services and apps available in the Android marketplace.

Huawei also unveiled its new MediaPad color series – fashionable MediaPads in three new colors: shadow black, classic brown, and passion pink and running on Android 3.2. Both MediaPad versions have a high-quality display, with screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels at 217 PPI and supporting 1080P Full HD video playback. Additionally, they come with a Qualcomm dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and have a battery capacity of six hours or more.

“In a tablet market defined by staid black and white tablets, the new colorful MediaPad offers a personalized look without the need for an external case,” said Richard Yu, Chairman, Huawei Device. “With a hardware package that includes a high-quality screen, a powerful dual-core processor, and long battery life, these colorful MediaPad embodies a rare combination of style and performance.”

Huawei’s new MediaPad color series and the MediaPad with Android 4.0 will be available in selected markets in the first quarter of 2012. Existing MediaPad owners will receive an OTA Android 4.0 upgrade to their tablets by the first quarter of 2012.

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Microsoft had a massive booth at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. It was home to brand new laptops, a huge array of Windows Phone devices, demo stations for Xbox 360 and SkyDrive, and plenty more. Sadly, however, there were no Windows 8 devices on display to give show-goers a closer look at Microsoft’s next-generation operating system. We love Windows Phone in its current state and it seems like we aren’t alone; there were tons of people gathered around the phones playing with them and it looked like plenty of people were impressed, too. Whether or not this new wave of enthusiasm will translate into sales remains to be seen, of course. There were plenty of other sights to see in Microsoft’s booth, so be sure to check out our full gallery below.

Toshiba had a ton of products on display this year at the annual Consumer Electronics Show. The booth was chocked full of stunning new technology and we were blown away by several of the 3D products on display. Toshiba had its new line of Qosmio laptops with glasses-free 3D screens, glasses-free 3D TVs that were more impressive than the models we saw last year, and its Thrive and Excite X10 tablets were on display as well. We even had a chance to play a 3D game on a huge HDTV that was hooked up to a Qosmio laptop, which was a ton of fun. Check out all the highlights from Toshiba’s booth in our gallery below.

On Tuesday, Intel announced that it was entering the smartphone space and that Lenovo will be the first vendor to introduce a smartphone powered by Intel’s Medfield processor. Intel also had its manufacturer reference design on display at CES however, which we had a chance to play with. The current device runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and felt just as fast as other high-end smartphones we’ve played with recently, such as the DROID RAZR MAXX. The device was extremely thin and is capable of taking 15 8-megapixel photos in a single second — something no other mobile processor can handle at this point. Intel explained that the reference design is used to show manufacturers what Medfield is capable of, but that manufacturers can and likely will add their own tweaks to their devices. Motorola Mobility announced on Tuesday that it has entered into a multi-year partnership with Intel, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see the first Medfield-based smartphones hit store shelves later this year. Check out our gallery below for a closer look at the reference device.

There is no clear cut winner or loser at the Consumer Electronics Show but if there was, Samsung would easily be a top contender for the crown. The South Korea-based consumer electronics giant came to CES 2012 with guns blazing, showing off everything from new televisions, ultrabooks and smartphones to a revolutionary new washing machine. Yes, a washing machine. Samsung had a gigantic booth packed to the brim with cutting-edge tech, but the stars of this year’s show in our eyes were Samsung’s new Super OLED HDTVs. The only word that can possibly describe them is gorgeous. They’re unbelievably slim, incredibly bright, and they produce colors unlike anything we’ve seen on a TV before… but we’ll let the pictures do the talking. Our CES 2012 booth tour featuring Samsung follows below.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt spoke about the idea of fragmentation in Android. Schmidt argued that while there is a “differentiation” between Android devices, it isn’t the same as fragmentation. “Differentiation is positive, fragmentation is negative,” said Schmidt. “Differentiation means that you have a choice and the people who are making the phones, they’re going to compete on their view of innovation, and they’re going to try and convince you that theirs is better than somebody else.” Schmidt defined fragmentation as having an app that runs on one device but not another, with Android this is not the case 99% of the time. The differentiation between devices comes from the various skins that manufactures lay over the Android operating system. ”We absolutely allow [manufacturers] to add or change the user interface as long as they don’t break the apps. We see this as a plus; [it] gives you far more choices,” said Schmidt. While everyone who buys an iPhone receive the same user experience, Schmidt doesn’t think the same is necessary with Android. ”It’s not required that everyone use the same interface,” Schmidt said. “People are free to make the necessary changes. What’s great is if you don’t like it, you can buy the phone from someone else.” Android is all about choice, not every consumer is looking for a slide-out keyboard, a 4.65-inch display, or a dual-core processor, the different manufactures allow you to find a device that is perfect for you. Though those specifications sounds pretty good to me.

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We swung by Intel’s booth to check out the Lenovo K800 during the Consumer Electronics Show on Wednesday. The Lenovo K800 is the first commercial device to launch with Intel’s brand new Medfield mobile processor. It currently runs Android and, unfortunately, all of the menus were in Chinese so it was a bit hard to navigate. Still, it was noticeably fast and we love Lenovo’s hardware design. The phone felt solid but still was able to be extremely thin. It offers an 8-megapixel camera and the Medfield platform technically supports shooting of up to 15 frames per second, although Lenovo wasn’t sure if the camera on the K800 was actually capable of doing that. It doesn’t appear that there are any plans to deliver the K800 to the United States at this point in time, but we’re sure to see Medfield devices from Motorola in the coming year. Check out our full gallery below.

Sony had a big presence at the Consumer Electronics Show this year but we were expecting a more impressive showing from the technology giant. The company had a handful of exciting prototypes on hand including its vision of the tablet of the future, but we were expecting more in the way of innovation where TVs are concerned, especially when companies like Samsung and LG really pushing into new territory this year. Sony did unveil next-generation Google TV-equipped HDTVs with motion control and voice recognition capabilities, but its integration of these new features weren’t quite as impressive as similar offerings from some of its competitors, namely Samsung. Sony had some new phones on hand of course, including the Xperia S and Xperia ion, and there where plenty of other gadgets to gawk at in the company’s booth. CES is especially crowded this year with more than 140,000 attendees, but those of you who couldn’t make the show should check out our tour of Sony’s monstrous booth, which follows in the gallery below.

We just met with Corning during CES in Las Vegas to check out its new Gorilla Glass 2 panels for smartphones and tablets. The new glass is 20% thinner than before, but just as strong and scratch resistant as the original Gorilla Glass. The thinner build will surely help manufacturers make smaller and lighter smartphones. We stayed to watch a pressure test, images of which are in the gallery below, and were impressed with the strength of the glass. Corning said that it’s already shipping the new panels to phone manufacturers and that we will see smartphones on the market soon with the new glass. We were also told that Gorilla Glass 2 will be used in new Windows-powered computers later this year. Be sure to check out our gallery below.

Research In Motion didn’t unveil any new devices at the Consumer Electronics Show this year, but the Waterloo, Ontario-based vendor still managed to appease fans with a preview of its first major PlayBook OS update that will finally be released some time next month. We spent a good amount of time putting the OS 2.0 through the paces and while there are still some kinks to iron out — we had apps crash on us a number of times — we absolutely walked away impressed. Check out our hands-on photos in the gallery below and hit the break for our impressions.

PlayBook owners have been waiting for what seems like an eternity for RIM to finally bring native PIM functionality to the PlayBook, but the wait was worth it. We were already fans of RIM’s tablet, but the addition of in-built email, calendar and contacts without the need to tether to a BlackBerry smartphone is obviously a welcome addition. RIM did a great job with the apps as well, providing what is easily among the best email and calendar experiences we’ve seen on a tablet. Apps integrate with each other seamlessly and we’re big fans of the layered UI RIM used in the email app.

The email app opens to reveal a unified inbox with a list of messages on the left, and the body of highlighted messages appears to the right. Interactions with the menu buttons on the far left beyond the message list reveal a new panel on which users can perform searches, apply view filters, drill down to individual accounts and more. The calendar and contacts apps function much the same way, with layers of panels that slide to the right as the user selects menu items.

Integration across apps is also well-designed. For example, contacts are tied to meeting entries in the calendar. In the day view, a panel opens up to the right that displays a complete list of all contacts the user is scheduled to interact with over the course of the day. If changes to a meeting need to me made, the user can quickly and easily call or message contacts scheduled to attend the meeting and notify them of the changes. The PIM functions in PlayBook OS 2.0 support the standard mix of email services along with LinkedIn and Twitter right now, but more integration with various social services is coming.

While BlackBerry Bridge is no longer needed for email, calendar or contacts, RIM has added some great new functionality that we will be showing off in a forthcoming video walkthrough. Most notable is the new remote control feature, which allows users to type, navigate and even perform gestures on a PlayBook using a BlackBerry smartphone.

Even with all its improvements, the PlayBook OS is still missing key elements — most notably, support for two features RIM is well known for are still missing: BES corporate email support and BBM. The absence of this core functionality makes the PlayBook 2.0 still feel like an incomplete solution, but from what we know so far, RIM is working hard to overcome the development obstacles we have detailed numerous times here on BGR. As it stands now, assuming RIM works out the stability issues we saw, PlayBook owners should absolutely be happy with the PIM features and other new functionality coming to the PlayBook next month.

Last paragraph updated to clarify a lack of BES email support in PlayBook OS 2.0. Other BES features are supported by RIM’s BlackBerry Mobile Fusion solution.