LAS VEGAS -- Mobile companies in recent years have shifted away from making huge product announcements at January's Consumer Electronics Show, saving announcements for their own events, or for Mobile World Congress in March. At CES this year we did, however, get a glimpse into what we might be able to expect in the mobile space in the coming year by way of announcements from two big players in the mobile processing space: Qualcomm and Audience.
Here's a look at what 2014 has in store:
Better Voice Interaction Features
Voice processing company Audience announced the Audience eS700 series at CES, a family of always-on intelligent voice and audio solutions that will enable new levels of voice interaction with your favorite tablets and smartphones.
"We believe that dependable, Always-on voice detection and actuation is the next must-have mobile technology," says Peter Santos, president and CEO of Audience.
Audience's previous processor is already used by a number of mobile devices, and enables your smartphone to continuously listen to its surroundings and respond when you talk to it. The newest version of the processor allows it to be always-on, waking up whenever you say a particular phrase, such as "Ok, Phone, Play Music" in front of your smartphone. With the newest version of the processors your phone will be able to hear you a lot better, cancelling out noise on a busy street or a crowded bar. It will also respond to you immediately, with no need to pause between waking your phone up and asking it to complete a task. That improved performance also comes with a reduction in the amount of battery power needed to make the function work.
Audience is sampling it's processor to partners now, and expects the eS700 series to be included in devices the second half of this year.
Connected Everything
From app-supported Crock-Pot to a Android-powered fridge, 2014 will be a year of connecting all of our devices together. Qualcomm, the company behind the processor in many Android and Windows devices on the market today announced a new processor at CES, the Snapdragon 802, designed for televisions rather than smartphones.
The processor is capable of playing Ultra HD video with simultaneously video conferencing with someone and surfing the web. It's a powerful chip, that's going to likely find its way into devices towards the end of year.
Qualcomm also announced the Snapdragon 602A processor at the show, a processor designed specifically for vehicles that is expected to enable better apps and navigation services in your car.