Best of CES 2013: In pictures

The LaCie 5big external hard drive is a RAID monster that also includes a super-fast Thunderbolt connection. Aimed at video and photo professionals, this drive transferred a whopping 30GB of data in about a minute (at least in the demo we saw).

Lenovo’s IdeaPhone P770 packs a high capacity 3,500 mAh battery with enhanced power management software, for up to 30 hours of talk time between charges. Native anti-virus software, and dual-sim capability. That’s about all the info in the press release. There’s not even a Webpage for “Ideaphone.” In November 2012, details were leaked or uncovered: 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean; 4.5-inch (960 x 540 pixel) display; 5 MP camera on the back, front-facing VGA cam; 4GB storage. Ships: January, first in China; price not announced. See the P770 video ad.

Panasonic announced two rugged ToughPad tablets. The first is the FZ-G1, running Windows 8 Pro. It has a third generation Intel Core i5 processor, at 1.9 GHz (up to 2.9, with Intel Turbo Boost); 128G-265GB solid state disk options; 4G-8GB, RAM; sunlight viewable 10.1-inch touch screen, user-replaceable battery runs up to 8 hours; 10.6 x 7.4 x 0.75 inches; 2.43 pounds; Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11n, optional 3G or LTE radio; full USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, HDMI, Ethernet, serial port or dedicated GPS; complies with MIL-STD-810G spec; ships in February, starting at $2,899.

Qualcomm announced a fire breather: the Snapdragon 800 mobile processor series, aimed at “premium” mobile devices. The 800 uses a four-core Krait 400 CPU (based on ARM cores), the company’s Adreno 330 GPU, Hexagon v5 Digital Signal Processor, and its latest 4G LTE Category 4 modem. All components offer dramatic performance gains over the current generation Snapdragon S4 Pro, which is used in smartphones like the Google Nexus 4 and the HTC Droid DNA. Also new: the 600 series, which offers a lower performance level at a lower price, though still a major step up from the S4 Pro. See this blogpost for more information.

Intel banged the drum for a new generation of lighter, thinner, and cheaper ultrabooks: shown is this sleek prototype, dubbed Northscape, running Intel’s next-generation, ultra low-power Haswell mobile processor. Haswell is due out in mid-2013, several months earlier than expected. Press a button and the 13-inch display is released, to be used as an 11-inch touch tablet (the change in screen size lets you hold the bezel-less tablet). The 0.67-inch thick ultrabook has 13 hours of battery life; the tablet, 10 hours.

We thought we’d left curved TVs behind with cathode rays, but no: Samsung announced a prototype 55-inch concave organic LED TV, with a gently curved surface. The curve makes all viewing angles equal in terms of the eye’s distance to the screen. Gizmodo’s Brian Barrett says the effect is enveloping, and both “disorienting and majestic.” No information on price or on when, or whether, it will be available.