Critics at CES find favor with LG TV

As the 2012 International Consumer Electronics show winds down, tech critics and experts have decided which new products are best of show.

LG's 55-inch OLED 3-D television is heading home with a handful of awards, including the top prizes in CNET's Best TV and Best of Show categories.

The TV's features include its sleekness -- at 4 millimeters thick, it's about the size of three credit cards stacked together -- and its OLED technology, which means no backlighted screen.

The TV is expected to ship in the second half of the year. No price has been announced, but expect it to be expensive. A few thousand dollars, even. Organic light-emitting diodes (the OLED in the model's descriptor) are not yet mainstream, so prices are still high.

"It's still the new thing on the block. It's going to be aimed at the tech enthusiast, a videophile who really appreciates the picture quality attributes," said LG's Tim Alessi. "I think over time it'll start to permeate down into mainstream price points, different screen sizes."

A big award doesn't necessarily mean big sales, though.

The Android-based Motorola Xoom tablet, which was crowned CNET's Best of Show at CES last year, wasn't a huge seller.

The HP Envy Spectre, an ultrabook made largely out of Corning Gorilla Glass, picked up CNET's 2012 Best PC award; Nokia's new Windows-based phone, the Lumia 900, won the Best Cell Phone category; and the Asus Memo 370T snagged Best Tablet.

A few football field lengths away from the CNET awards show in the Las Vegas Convention Center on Thursday was the Last Gadget Standing competition, which Executive Director Robin Raskin said was launched 11 years ago to provide a forum for CES attendees to see the show's coolest products in one spot.

The Lytro light field camera beat out big players such as the Samsung Galaxy Note and Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga to be the Last Gadget Standing, the outcome of which was determined through the use of a highly technical applause-o-meter.

Lytro this week also picked up a 2012 CES Innovation Award in the digital imaging category from the Consumer Electronics Association.

The company is currently taking pre-orders for its $399, 8-gigabyte digital cameras, which allow users to refocus images after snapping them.

A red version is available for $499. The cameras ship at the end of February.

Eric Cheng, Lytro's director of photography, said the Mountain View, Calif.-based company doesn't have a booth at CES, but he brought a large team with him, and the company has scheduled back-to-back meetings with potential partners.

The Lytro team will head back to Mountain View this weekend with some praise, press and a trophy for winning Last Gadget Standing.

And maybe some connections that will turn the Lytro camera from an award-winning product to a best-selling one.

Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at cmcgarry@review journal.com or 702-387-5273.