ERT editor Sean Hannam shares his initial thoughts on IFA 2010

I can´t quite believe it - IFA is here again.

As I write this from the press room at the Berlin technology show, I am bleary eyed from an early morning flight and a gruelling schedule of meetings and product launches. However, I´d like to take this moment to share some of my initial thoughts on the exhibition.

As expected, 3D is everywhere, with plenty of new players in the 3D market. Brands including Philips, Sharp, Toshiba and Loewe have all announced their intentions to launch 3D TVs and Blu-ray players in the near future. The general feeling is that these brands were waiting to see how the technology took off and for more content to be available before they went to market.

Philips is also demonstrating prototype ´no glasses´ lenticular 3D technology on its stand, but don´t expect to see it commercially available for a long time yet, due to cost restraints. Sony has a 3D projector on its stand, so I´m going to take a look at that later....

Philips is also showing a, ahem, 3D shaver, featuring SensoTouch 3D technology that allows the appliance to perfectly follow the unique contours of the face. I´m not sure if it means you have to wear glasses while shaving!

Connected - or web TV - is another hot topic. Loewe has unveiled its internet TV portal - MediaNet - which offers online content optimised for
large flat-screen TVs, including video-on-demand, news, weather reports and social media. The portal will be available on new Loewe TVs that are due out in November and will include access to the BBC´s iPlayer. 

The other big buzz at IFA is tablet PCs. Brands including Samsung and Toshiba have unveiled their ´iPad killers´. In particular, there´s been a lot of talk about Samsung´s new Galaxy tablet which was debuted at the exhibition.In fact, it could be the star of the show.

The device will run on Google´s Android operating system, weighs 380g (14oz) and has an 18cm (7in) screen, which makes it smaller and lighter than the iPad.

Launched in Europe and the UK in October, the tablet will connect via 3G networks, as well as wi-fi and Bluetooth. It supports Flash video and will be able to stream content to a TV.

Right, that´s all from me. I´m off to check out the rest of the show. I´ve got a lot to see and I´m already worn out.

I´ll keep on taking the tablets....

Sean Hannam