Well the day has finally arrived, it’s Thursday 8 April and it’s time for me to enjoy my birthday present which Deb bought for me back in November. We’re all off to visit the Gadget Show Live at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) just outside of Birmingham UK. Officially Thursday is the first day of the show proper but, due to the high demand for tickets, an additional extra “view only” day was added on the Wednesday when people could come and just see the exhibits; there were none of the special events scheduled in for the original four days. We set off from Home at about 8:45 and arrived without incident at the NEC around 9:50. The show wasn’t due to start until 10:30 so we milled about outside, with the 100’s of others who were already there when we arrived.
It was interesting to see how many people had iPhones. It appears to be that if you’re willing to pay the exorbitant amount necessary to own an iPhone you’re obviously, also, a lover of Gadge of all kinds. The girls (and they were almost all girls) who were working the show were, almost without exception, decked out in very, very high heels, (their legs must ache something chronic by the end of their working day) short skirts, v-necked tee-shirts and push up bras; you couldn’t move for the cleavage on display! Based on their apparent dress code I would hazard a guess that most of the people who attend events at the NEC are of the male gender.
At 10:30, precisely, the doors were finally opened and as one we all streamed through and started lusting after tech. It was a Gadge fans nirvana; three whole halls full of the latest tech. It’s almost impossible to describe everything that was there, even by late afternoon we were still discovering stalls we’d missed the first time round.
There were a plethora of companies demonstrating the latest 3D TV tech and these were, without exception, amazingly impressive. The tech varied from large screen TV’s with basic 3D glasses, to TV’s linked to smart 3D glasses and glasses alone that contained video screens which gave the wearer the impression that they were watching a 60 inch screen when they wore them. Until now I’ve always been sceptical about the practicality of 3D TV in the home but after what I saw I’ve gone a long way toward changing that opinion. The smart glass, they have embedded electronics which monitor the wearer’s eye moments and adjust for these in order for the viewer to always be at the “sweet spot”, can be fitted with prescription lenses so it won’t be a case of us “specci-nerds” having to wear them on top of our normal glasses. As will be seen from the photos and the various videos embedded below there were hundreds of items on display and it’s only possible to touch on a few of them in this post. Click here for a floor plan of the whole event
Another highly impressive area concerned touch screen technology. There were numerous different versions of this on display also. One particularly impressive stall featured what appeared to be a standard PC screen that was fully touch enabled. It was astonishing what you could do on this and it was priced at a “mere” £219.00 (I say mere only because I thought it would be a lot more; not that £219.00 is a mere pittance to me…I wish!). In the Game Zone there was one of the new Microsoft touch tables, designed for bars, hotels etc and this was pretty amazing too; Google Maps displayed on this was astonishing to behold, more on the Game Zone later.
The Test Track
In the area known as the Test Track there was the opportunity to ride a number of new electric vehicles, particularly the latest model electric bikes and, also, the newly released Yike Bike.
We didn’t get to ride any of them; we missed the Yike Bikes because of a schedule clash. They were available to ride from 3:30 but we had tickets for the 4:00 show in the Super Theatre and so couldn’t spend the time waiting in the queue for a turn. It was a real shame and one of the few disappointments of the day; I’d love to have had a go at riding one and so would the kids. Many of the other vehicles had age restrictions and we couldn’t justify queuing to ride these if only I would be allowed to do so.
The Game Zone
This was where Nat wanted to be and once he was in there it required a Herculean effort to get him out. It was his idea of paradise; X-Box’s with all the new games on them… for free! Han was pretty much smitten too; see the video on the driving game below. Gaming leaves me cold or perhaps I’m just loath to try, in case I’m either rubbish at it or worse still, from Nat’s point of view, I get hooked. In the centre of the zone was a stage area and a number of events were held there. During one of these events Nat managed to win himself a INSERT NAME beanie.
Between frequent visits to the Game Zone we did do other things, Deb booked a paintball session for Nat and friends as his main present for his next birthday. The kids got to play on “Rock Band” – it’s like a group version of Guitar Hero and whilst they were doing this I went walkabout by myself. Saw lots of things we’d previously missed particularly the T3 stall where they had, unfettered, an iPad an HTC Legend and a HTC Desire all of which I was able to play with. I was impressed by all three but surprised at how heavy the iPad was; I wouldn’t fancy trying to read anything lengthy on this unless I was sitting and it was rested on my lap.
The Super Theatre
This was the last thing we did during our day there. This was the chance to see the stars of the TV programme presenting a live version of the show. Deb had booked us tickets for the last show of the day starting at 4:00. By this time we were all pretty exhausted and welcomed the chance to sit down. Cost considerations meant that we had seats near the back and this did somewhat spoilt the experience. We had no chance of winning any of the competitions and it was a struggle to see some of what was happening on stage. All that said it was still a very enjoyable hour. Some of the tech on display was awesome and Titan, the 8 foot robot, was amazing. When it was all over, the show lasted an hour; when it ended we made our way to the exit and drove home.
All in all it had been a good day; it’s a shame that there seems to have been so much that we missed; however, we saw a lot, I got to play with an iPad (it’s bloody heavy as I mentioned above but it bears repeating here) and an HTC Desire and Legend and, in my excitement, forgot to take any photos or film any videos of my doing so, please believe me I really did play with them!
Below are our photos and videos. In addition I've included some taken by other people there that have been posted on YouTube.
This is the iPad that I played with on Thursday, the only one at the show!!!
This is the most incredible special effect I've EVER seen. How it's done...Lord Only Knows!
And finally, here's a compilation of the best bits of the show.
Our Videos
Our Other Videos
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