Happy New Year... CES 2010 and Nexus One incoming!

It's January 1st 2010, and the entire SlashGear team wish all our readers a very Happy New Year.  Since it's a public holiday in the US we'll be giving you a break from our regular coverage; rest up, though, as we're facing a tech-packed seven days.  CES 2010 and Google's Android announcement are all fast approaching: read on for what we're expecting from the first full week of 2010...

The biggest event is undoubtedly CES 2010, and the SlashGear team will be on-site bringing you the latest hardware from the show floor, covering the press conferences and generally picking out the best of new consumer electronics.  Netbooks and Smartbooks look set to dominate many of the announcements, pitting Intel's latest Pine Trail Atom processors against low-power, high-performance mobile chipsets from Qualcomm, Freescale and others.   We're also expecting to see some non-notebook form-factors, perhaps finally delivering to the mainstream the MIDs, UMPCs and Tablets that have so long been promised.

Elsewhere, ebook readers look to be proliferating, with much-anticipated announcements from Plastic Logic and others, while those in the market for a cheap, non-wireless model should be spoilt for choice.  Color e-ink technologies may also make an appearance, though we're not expecting to see much on the market until late in the year.

Home media distribution is also a likely candidate for heavy CES inclusion, with the ratification of the WiFi 802.11n standard and the growth of HD content – both online and via traditional OTA, Cable and Satellite methods – adding up to a consumer base keen to watch what they want, when they want, and in as high a quality as possible.  Big names like Sling, Netgear, TiVo and others should be debuting some fresh hardware for place-shifting, multi-room viewing and content management.

Of course, Google have slipped in ahead of CES with a press conference of their own, and we'll be in Mountain View come Tuesday for what's expected to be the launch of the Google Nexus One.  Interest in this own-brand Google Phone has shown just how much demand there is for a "definitive" Android device from the search giant, even if they don't look to have delivered the knock-out blow to the contract status-quo many were hoping for.  Still, the Nexus One should be the fastest Android device on the market – as well as the first to offer Android 2.1 – with a spec-sheet you'd be hard-pressed to find fault with.

That's all just the first few days of 2010, and the new year is shaping up to be a very interesting one indeed.  Hopefully some long-awaited, oft-rumored devices – like Apple's iSlate tablet – will finally make their debut, and it looks as though mobile technology is finally reaching a point where the ultramobile dream could come true.  We're excited and we'll bet you are too; enjoy your holiday weekend, and we'll see you next week!