The IFA, or the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin, is also known as the Berlin Radio Show. It is one of the oldest exhibitions in the country, held annually between 1924 and 1939 and bi-annually from 1950 to 2005. After 2005, the event was held annually again. In 2012, the IFA ran from August 31 to September 5. It brings together exhibitors and gives them the chance to showcase their latest products to the general public.
Extensive coverage from German media outlet allows information to be shared with the rest of the world thus exhibitors and visitors also come from all corners of the globe to take part. Because of the nature of the event, the IFA was a venue where many of the innovations that the world is enjoying were first seen. The IFA 2012 was open from 10am to 6pm for the duration of the event where more than 1,300 exhibitors participated. If you’re interested in any of the products or services made available through the event, up-to-date information on the exhibitors and their offers is made available online through the Virtual Market Place, the official IFA online catalog.
The IFA is split up into seven segments: home entertainment, audio entertainment, home appliance, my media, public media, communication, and technology & components. The Home Entertainment segment is where all the TVs, Blu-Rays, home cinemas, and home servers and recorders are, while the Audio Entertainment segment houses the loudspeakers, the HiFis, and high-performance audio equipment. The Home Appliance segment boasts of small electric domestic appliances, large household appliances, built-in kitchen units, and electric domestic heating systems, while the My Media segment covers video, photo, imaging, computing, mp3, and gaming products, as well as memory solutions and the eLibrary.
As for the Public Media segment, this is where all the TV and radio stations gather and where public music and video areas are set up. The Communication segment brings together cable, mobile, telecommunication, navigation, and IP solutions, while the Technology & Components segment rounds up suppliers and semiconductor equipment and covers the international halls.
As for all the gadgets unveiled during the IFA 2012, there are far too many of them to list everything. However, you can get a good idea of what goodies where made public during the event by checking out what popular brands had in store for the year.
Samsung was one of the many unveiling a lot of gadgets during the IFA 2012 for their Unpacked event and some of their offerings include: the Samsung Galaxy Note II, Samsung Galaxy Camera, dual-display Windows 8 laptop, Samsung Galaxy S III LTE, Samsung Smart TV with Google TV, Windows 8 tablets, Samsung ATIV Smart PC and Smart PC Pro (the Series 5 Slate), Windows RT ATIV Tab, and the Series 5 Ultra/ Touch Ultrabook.
Some of the other giants in attendance at the IFA 2012 include:
- Acer with the Aspire M3, Aspire V5 touchscreen laptops, Aspire ZS600, AcerCloud, Liquid Gallant, and Liquid Gallant Duo
- Lenovo with the 15-inch IdeaPad U510 Ultrabook with Ivy Bridge; IdeaPad Y400, Y500, Z400, and Z500; IdeaTab S2110, IdeaPad S300, S400, and S405 notebooks, IdeaTab A2109, and IdeaTab A2107
- LG with the 29-incher EA93, the 55-inch 3D OLED TV, 84-inch UD 3D TV, the 27-inch Personal Smart TV, Optimus L9, Optimus G, and 4K 84-inch ultra HDTVs
- Sony with the Xperia Sola, Bravia HX950 HDTV, Xperia J, VAIO Duo 11 Slider PC, VPL-HW 50ES projector, VAIO Tap 20, Xperia TX, Xperia V, SRS-BTM8 NFC/Bluetooth-enabled wireless speaker, HMZ-T2 Personal 3D viewer, Bravia KD-84X9005 84-inch 4K HDTV, NFC-capable MDR-1 headphones, Xperia T, and 16.1MP NEX-5R camera
Some of the other products that made their way to the IFA 2012 include:
- E-ink dual-screen prototypes
- EyeTV Mobile (iOS) and EyeTV Micro (Android) from Elgato
- CX890i earbuds and Momentum retro-cans from Sennheiser
- ZTE Grand X IN Android phone
- Desire X from HTC
- Fujitsu Esprimo X AIO CPU
- ASUS DesignoMX239H and MX279H monitors and Zenbook U500
- Ultra HD 3D transparent eye-controlled TV from Haier
- Huawei Ascend G330, G600 and MediaPad 7 Lite
- Sharp’s IGZO
- Jabra Solemate Bluetooth speakers
- Dell XPS One 27 AIO, XPS 10, XPS Duo
- HP Spectre XT TouchSmart, Envy 4 Ultrabooks
- Panasonic 103-inch glasses-free 3D Plasma panel
- Toshiba 84-inch 4K Quad HDTV
For years and years, and until today, people having been trooping all the way to Berlin to be one of the first to witness the unveiling of various innovations that will improve and make more fun life as you know it. Of course, there are the tech journalists from all over the world but quite a percentage of the visitors to the IFA through the years are private individuals, just common people sharing common interest and love for electronics and gadgets.
The good thing though about the IFA today is that you don’t actually have to be there to stay abreast of whats happening. After all, a week-long trip to Berlin is not always possible, no matter how badly you wanted to go. With the advent of the internet, it is now possible to keep up with what is happening at the IFA as if you are in the halls of Messe Berlin yourself. However, due to the extent of the IFA, most of the events you can watch online are the major ones.
This is great if you’re excited about new releases from the big brands because you’ll be catching the good news at the same time as people covering the event. Just be mindful of the difference in time zones and you should be fine. If you can’t access live feeds for the events themselves, you’ll most likely be able to catch what’s going on by checking out live blogs from tech groups. Just remember that in exchange of not taking part of IFA personally, you at least have to make sure that you have good internet connection so you’ll be able to access streams and live blogs without any trouble. If you’ve been religiously following the IFA, then you know how many goodies the tech world is presented every September. Maybe you weren’t able to go this year, but maybe next year will be a different story.
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