Samsung Booth Highlights

Samsung is Korea's largest single corporation, and they have one of the largest booths here at CES. Aside from a bevy of new TVs and a ton of Wi-Max Asia-only mobile phones, Samsung packed in a few other interesting tidbits. Here are a handful that caught our eye.

Samsung joined Sony in being the only two of the big dogs showing OLED TVs, which are super thin because they don't require a backlight. Samsung's 31" set is the largest here at the show. Unlike Sony, however, Samsung doesn't have any OLED units in their finalized release calendar.

The slick-looking BS900 3-channel Bluetooth speaker system has some neat tricks up its sleeve: it can automatically begin playing both when your Bluetooth phone or MP3 player is in range, or simply when you step up to the unit thanks to a motion sensor in the front bezel. And if a call comes in, the volume is peacefully faded out. Sounds pretty good, too.

Samsung has partnered with Reactrix Systems—the guys behind those interactive advertising projections you see at the mall—to develop this gesture-recognition system for TVs. Near-field IR cameras detect gestures in front of the screen, and software filters out ambient infrared noise and projects a real-time "cursor" on the screen, similar to a Wii but without the remote. The system will be seen in Hilton hotels providing interactive kiosks for info and ads this year, with possible integrations into Samsung's product line down the road.

Samsung's "Touch of Color" TVs were artfully displayed trade-show style in a separate area. Like many of the other big players, Samsung is heavily hyping unique bezel designs—here, with a subtle translucent color border surrounding the outer edge. I'm not quite sure I get it, though:

—John Mahoney