What are the hot techs of next year?

Ultrabooks will be all the rage
The netbook segment had a good run but it’s now time to make way for ultrabooks. This new niche created by Intel gives you the best of both worlds, ultra portability of a tablet but the power and ergonomics of a standard notebook. It’s a formula that has worked well for Apple (MacBook Air anyone?) and now Intel plans to make it mainstream. While currently we just have a handful of ultrabooks (which cost a bomb) the flood gates should open next year. This in turn would bring down the prices making them more affordable.

Bigger and badder smartphones
The fine line that separates a tablet and a smartphone almost vanished when Samsung launched the Galaxy Note. At 5.3-inches, it’s the largest screen to grace a smartphone this year and this trend may continue next year as well. But more than the size of the screen, ‘HD resolution’ screen will be the new buzzword in 2012. It first started with TVs and now it’s infecting the mobile segment as well. Currently, no one does displays like Samsung. Their Super AMOLED screens continue to push the boundaries of how good a display can look, which is very evident from the Galaxy Note.

Desktop and mobile synergy
Till today, working on a desktop and a mobile device (like a tablet or cellphone) has never been easy. You couldn’t switch seamlessly between the two platforms, the simple reason being their different software environments. Microsoft tried to remedy this with Windows 7 tablets but that didn’t work out too well. This is why Windows 8, their next OS, set to debut in 2012, is such a big deal. Together with Windows Phone, Microsoft aims at providing a singular platform across different ecosystems like desktops, laptops, mobiles and tablets.

For the first time, Microsoft will support ARM based devices which means we can expect Windows 8 based tablets or a version of Windows Phone that runs on tablets. One of the main highlights if Windows 8 is the Metro UI (like in WP7) and an app store for the desktop. This means you could be working on a document on a PC and then seamlessly continue that on your phone or your tablet and since the environment will be uniform, the transition should be smoother.

Smart TVs
Let’s face it, 3D technology in televisions was a bust. Even though every Tom, Dick and Harry offers 3D TVs today, the content is yet hard to come by and doesn’t even get me started on 2D to 3D conversion. Smart TVs on the other hand have a somewhat brighter future. Currently, there’s too much fragmentation, with each company doing its own thing and signing up with top brands to have its apps exclusively on their TV. This is a hindrance as it’s the customer that’s left out in the cold at the end. This should all change next year once TV’s start integrating Opera TV Store. This project from Opera aims at creating a universal store so that developers make apps for just one store and then users can download those apps, irrespective of the TV manufacturer. The store is based completely on HTML 5 so developers are familiar with the language.

When two cores just won’t do
Single cores just don’t cut it any more. Dual-core chipsets in phones started with the LG Optimus 2X and in a few months we’ll be getting a taste of the first quad-core phone, the HTC Edge. Paving the way for such devices is Nvidia’s Tegra processors. The Asus Optimus Prime was the first device to sport this quad-core chip and we’ll be seeing a lot more next year. Nvidia will also launch the Tegra 4 or ‘Wayne’ chipset in 2012. Based on a 28nm fabrication, it will be more power efficient, would have an oct-core (o cores) variant and will be ten times faster than Tegra 2.

Samsung will also launch their next-gen Exynos 5250 chipset, a dual-core monster running at a whopping 2GHz.

Cloud gaming
Not everyone can afford a high-end rig and if you’re travelling, you’re stuck with games like Angry Birds to pass the time. But what if you wanted to continue playing Crysis 2 or Battlefield 3 on your tablet from where you left off on your PC? OnLive is one such service, and soon this will be coming for Android and iOS as well.

L.A.Noire from Rockstar Games has already been added along with 25 other titles which will roll out soon. The basic idea behind OnLive is that the game will be rendered on their servers and then streamed to your device so all you really need is a good internet connection for a smooth framerate, not high-end hardware. While this will work best on a Wi-Fi connection, 3G is picking up pretty fast and with Reliance set to launch its 4G network in December, it’s not too long when we can use this service on the move.

This is just the the tip of the iceberg though as a tonne of new products and technology will be unveiled at Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas between January 10 and 13.

So, here’s hoping that the Mayans were wrong about 2012, and there’s a lot to look forward to and be excited about!