Techno-geeking in Bali

I was in Bali last week together with some tech writers and bloggers for the Samsung Forum 2014, an annual event that showcases Samsung products to be released in the coming months.

The products range from TVs to cameras, washing machines, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, tablets, laptops, printers, and some specialized equipment for hospitals and hotels. It is usually quite an exciting event and this Bali event again did not disappointment.

I won’t talk about all the products. I just wish to write about the few products I can most relate to, and these are the TVs, the NX30 camera, and the printers.

Let’s start with the television. They had on display the world’s biggest Ultra High Definition Curved TV at 105-inches. It is truly impressive to watch really sharp, vibrant images on a screen as huge as this. I must admit that when I first heard about curved screens, I could not imagine a reason for it. But the idea of having a curved screen in many ways simulates a 3D experience without the glasses.  It draws you deeper inside the picture. UHD is four times sharper than regular HD and is the state of the art of TV today.

Samsung also unveiled the 78, 65 and the 55-inch UHD screens.

Another class of televisions, the SD TVs, are equally engaging as well. The SD590  offers a wide viewing angle that delivers consistent natural color and contrast  from any angle within 178 degrees. What is interesting is the SD590 also includes a game mode option with a D-sub and two HDMI inputs. Samsung is launching these models in anticipation of the World Cup this year. In fact, the SD TV has a ‘soccer mode’ which allows you to change the audio equalization when watching the game live. It captures more of the ambient sound and feeling of the event. It also has a  screen capture where you can freeze the action while watching a live game. When you do, you can split the captured image into 9 parts and enlarge any one of them for better analysis.

And that’s not all. It can also do sound capture which you can save to USB in case your thing is watching music videos, for example. These are definitely big wow factors.

Samsung’s attempt to join the big boy’s camera club has been making inroads the last two years due to their innovativeness, quality and ease of use.  I am talking of about their 4/3rd, mirorrless cameras. The NX30 is the latest camera to impress. The advanced 20.3MP APS-C CMOS Sensor means it can capture more high quality images with sharper detail, richer colors. Its AF system guarantees really fast focusing which means you won’t miss a shot. It has an exceptionally fast 1/8000 sec Shutter Speed and it can shoot nine frames per second (FPS).  

But the big story here is about the viewfinder, which you can actually pull and move about. You can use it like an inverted periscope if you wish, just like the old box cameras, or use it like a regular viewfinder. It also has a moveable back screen that you can position on the left side of the camera. Lastly, it has Tag and Go feature which makes sharing photos between tablets, phones, etc. so much easier via NFC. All you do is put two NFC enabled devices together and voila! the picture is shared! I really like this feature. Sharing the photos online  through LTE or Wi-Fi, or using smartphones as remote viewfinders are just as easy to do.

There are many more things to talk about regarding the NX30. The video is a high quality HD.  It comes with a 16-50mm F2-2.8 S ED OIS lens. There are 11 other great lenses to choose from if you want to expand your gear.

Lastly, I want to say that Samsung’s latest Xpress series laser printers are quite impressive. Take for granted the sharpness. It delivers flawlessly. It can print 28 pages per minute on the Mono Xpress M2885, and 18 on  the Color Xpress C1865 series. The big deal here is the ease in which you can print via NFC technology. For on-the-go printing through NFC and Wi-Fi Direct technologies, all you have to do is tap your Samsung phone, camera or tab on a part of the printer and you can print any image you wish.

If you are buying anything new this year, I suggest you take a look at these offerings from Samsung. You will not be disappointed.