Was 2008 a red letter year for gadget buffs? Let’s just fall back on Charles Dickens and say that it really has been the best of years, and the worst of years. While most of us are still licking the wounds of the annus horribilis that the latter half of 2008 has been, what with the tumbling stock market and the economic slowdown, one can’t help but marvel at some of the products and technologies that have graced these pages this year. Sample this — 2008 saw the release of the path-breaking EEE PC, the lighter-than-air appeal of the MacBook Air, the supremely capable Nokia E71, Blackberry getting ‘Bold’, not to mention the explosive action the iPhone has seen. And 2009 looks to be no less promising — the wheels are in motion, and a number of technologies that made their debut this year will likely go supernova in the next few months.

Dell XPS M1730

Notebooks

Or is it netbooks, really? There’s a reason why every manufacturer worth its salt has released a netbook this year — they’re easy to carry, capable enough for everyday tasks and don’t burn a hole in your wallet in these already troubled times. Now that the size and functionality equation is all sorted out, expect design and reduced prices to gain prominence next year — sleeker designs, snazzier cases and an expected 10 per cent to 20 per cent drop in prices are all but on the anvil. It won’t be a question of whether you have one or not, only about which colour you’ll have.

And should you be the rare breed who’s still planning to fork out some serious money for your computing needs, look out for notebooks with LED backlighting technology — they’re thinner and lighter than traditional screens, require less energy, do not use mercury and save almost 10 per cent energy (battery life). Expect to see the combination of dedicated graphics cards and on-board graphics in laptops to become commonplace, giving you the option to switch between graphics power and battery stamina depending on the need.

Sony Ericsson C905

Cellphones

With the Xperia, the iPhone 3G, Samsung’s Omnia and Innov8 launched this year, what’s really left to improve in the mobile phone space? For starters, phone display resolutions are set to breach netbook territory, and 640 x 480 displays should be seen in most smartphones next year.

Nokia 6110 Navigator

I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a ton of graphics improvements under the hood to make that possible — I only shudder to think of the effect that’ll have on battery life! The regulars — camera resolution, storage, processors — will see the standard bump-ups, but it’s really third party phone applications that will surge in 2009, especially those that work closely with GPS and location-based services. Not only should you expect most cellphones to incorporate GPS, we’ll actually start using them, preferring them to standalone GPS devices.

Also, 2009 will see Google’s smartphone operating system hit the mainstream with several releases planned for the first few months of the year, and if you’re willing to believe rumours, Apple’s got an ace up their sleeve as well — an iPhone nano, maybe?

But there’s one prediction I’m still going to go slow on — 3G. Yes, yes, I’ve heard it’s launched in Delhi already, but I still see it prohibitively expensive for any common man to use in 2009.

Blu-ray Disc Player and Blu-ray Home Theatre

Home entertainment

If LCD was the word of the year for buyers in 2008, Full High Definition is where this story is going in 2009. Full HD TVs and projectors, capable of displaying all 1920 x 1080 (1080p) pixels of movie or gaming goodness in all of its sheer visual splendour. Ultra-thin LCD TVs and TVs with energy saving LED technology should also be seen in far greater numbers.

JVC HD-ILA TV

And even though the high-definition format wars are over, Blu-ray will have to reduce the flab of production and marketing costs to aggressively cut prices — it’s the only thing that will stimulate some demand and prevent extinction in the wake of digital media downloads (and piracy, no doubt!).

In the gaming console segment, expect further competition with the India launch of the Nintendo Wii in late 2009. Better games with better graphics that fully utilise the capabilities of the PS3 and the Xbox 360 are on the cards as well. In any case, there’s more screen time at home ahead, with spending on entertainment slowing down and consumers spending more to improve their at-home entertainment experience instead of going out.

Sony PlayStation Portable

Green Tech hits the mainstream

There’s a ton of ‘green’ hardware on the market these days — from bamboo hard drives to solar gadget chargers — but 2009 should see a substantial focus on environmentalism across the mainstream industry, from decreasing reliance on heavy metals and hazardous chemicals to broader recycling programs. Apple’s recent notebook and iPod launches stressed their environmental consciousness, and one would expect other manufacturers to follow suit. Of course, the industry focus on reducing energy consumption and waste will continue.

Asus U6 Bamboo

Cloud computing

It’s early days yet, but all the major players are looking at it seriously. What is cloud computing, though? Is it an online operating system or simply a set of services like Google Docs and Spreadsheets? Either way, software as we know it is changing and the signs are there that one day, soon enough, the notion of buying a packaged software product will be as obsolete as floppy disks have become. Imagine the possibilities — why buy a computer with a pre-installed operating system when you can boot the always up-to-date operating system of your choice straight off the Internet!

Software

R.I.P. Windows Vista. With Windows 7 just a year away (some predict December 2009 for a release date), 2009 will see a frenzy of associated action. With Windows 7, Microsoft promises advances in touch, speech, and handwriting recognition, improved performance on multi-core processors and improved boot performance, plus fixes to most of Vista’s bugbears.

Also, expect a flood of software to be Win7-ready at launch, unlike the pathetic trickle that accompanied Vista. Given the kind of negative publicity Vista has generated, PC users and manufacturers would do well to wait for this release to lift them out of their current, Vista-driven agony.

Cowon S9

Portable media

With cellphones bragging of personal media player status already, will 2009 see the death of the iPod? Try watching a video on most current phones, and I’ll rest my case. Next year, OLED (organic LED) should replace the current crop of LCD screens on most players, allowing for higher resolution and better viewing angles, and better battery consumption as well! Connectivity options, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are getting to be a given in this segment, so innovation such as the Nike+iPod integration that extend the capability of the device will be the need of the hour.

And while I’ve got my Nostradamus hat on, allow me a few predictions in jest. For instance, touchscreen devices will continue to collect fingerprints in 2009, gadgets freaks will continue to search in vain for the all-in-one do-it-all device, and Apple will announce another loosely guarded product, which will generate a media and public frenzy with blogs furiously debating the feature the ‘products bestowed upon the world’. And oh yeah, it’ll be missing copy and paste!