Gadget Show Live Part 2 – The good and the lazy

Part 1 was a little depressing, I'll give you that. I basically said the show had few of the big names it usually does and that it was full of people pushing products most of you don't want. To counter that, this one's going to be a little more positive, though I have to highlight some of the laziness involved as it's just silly.

TVs are usually a dominant part of the show and the big names almost always buyup the stall space right infront of the entrance way. Sticking with tradition, LG and Samsung were both front and centre as I arrived, so I checked out what they had on offer. They both had big Ulta HD 4k displays on the go, with LG focusing more on size – 84 inch TVs are just ridiculous – and Samsung opting for a slightly smaller setup, with more smart features.

Easily the most impressive display, on… display

Samsung's offering wasn't quite as pretty, but all of its TVs were very, very thin.

Finlux was also showing off displays, though I will admit that was a new company to me. Based off of the pricing information that was slapped everywhere with these sets, I can confirm that Finlux TVs are indeed cheap, but again it doesn't feel like this is the sort of place I want to be thinking about cost. I'm not going to a show like this to buy a TV. Why would I?

Lots of friendly staff to tell you about the products…

However, if we're talking stand quality, I have to tip my hat to Sony. The people who designed and manned the two Sony areas of the floor did a bang up job. Not only were the staff welcoming and well informed, but they were actually there, which is impressive considering the state of some stands at the show.

Nice to see Car Audio Centre cares deeply about the press' opinions of it.

Unlike the aforementioned stands, Sony was great. Partially, because it had a bus:

This is actually being toured around by the staff. I asked how that was going and they told me that unfortunately it didn't have a toilet and that it really, really needed the shocks looking at, because at the moment when they went around a corner, the whole thing almost tipped over. Still though, it's a cool marketing tool. If only there was a way to get past the little sign that says “no visitors allowed.”

KitGuru brings you all the behind the scenes action.

Sony's big focus of the show was drastically different from last year. 2012 was a big push for the Vita. Giving up on that this time around, Sony's thing this year was its Xperia Z smartphone, which is doing far better. So well in-fact that I'm almost annoyed that I jumped from the Sony ship after my Satio packed in. All of a sudden my Galaxy II feels like some sort of betrayal.

I was informed by the Sony staffer, that all these products were “live,” IE. retail boxed versions – hence the no visitors sign. That's right, Sony thinks you'll nick their stuff.

Despite Sony's impressive setup however, my interesting-product-of-the-day award goes to Honda, for its Miimo. This robotic lawn mower runs on only a few pounds worth of electricity per year, is rain proof, requires almost zero maintenance  no rear collector bag – as it cuts so frequently that there is a very small amount of waste and therefore it can be left to fertilise the grass – and it's whisper quiet. The catch is that it'll cost you over £2,000 for the base unit and a few hundred more for the larger version. It also works on that old pain-in the neck, wire tech, where you bury a wire in the ground around your garden and it won't cross it. The fact that the blades are in the very centre suggest you'll still need to strim the edges too – or more likely hire someone if you can afford to drop this much on a lawn mower.

The best part of the whole thing though, is if your grass is really long, the Miimo won't be able to make much headway; so I have it from the Honda representative, that if you want it, when you buy one of these, Honda will deliver it to your house, install it and set everything up and then manually mow your lawn themselves, to a Miimo manageable length.

It would be worth the money just for that.

Check out Part 3 in a short while for my final wrap up of the worst of the show, as well as a look at some of the game's on offer.

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