Sleeker, cheaper goods at electronics show

Cheaper tablets, thinner laptops and an array of sleeker TVs stood out at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Here are some of the more significant gadgets that shined:

Cheaper tablets. Amazon.com Inc. had success late last year taking on Apple's dominant iPad with its bare-bones, cheaper Kindle Fire. Now, Asian manufacturers are hoping to jump on Amazon's bandwagon. One of those companies, Taiwan's AsusTek Computer Inc., showed off a tablet with a Fire-sized screen and a premium "quadcore" processor for $249.

Nokia Lumia 900. Nokia Corp., the world's largest phone maker, hopes to come back to the U.S. market with smartphones that run Microsoft's Windows Phone software. The Lumia 900 is its first such phone for the AT&T network, and the first Nokia phone to use AT&T's faster wireless LTE network. No word on price or availability. T-Mobile USA, a smaller carrier, started selling a more modest Lumia this week.

Lenovo K800. Intel Corp., whose PC chips previously used too much battery-draining power to go into a smartphone, says a new line of chips is ready for smartphone use. Lenovo Corp. of China is the first to take them up on it, with a smartphone to be sold in China in the second quarter.

OLED TVs. Both LG and Samsung showed off 55-inch TVs with screens made from organic light-emitting diodes, rather than the standard liquid crystals or plasma cells, and said they'll go on sale this year. Analysts expect prices to be upward of $5,000. OLED TVs provide a high-contrast picture with highly saturated colors. They also can be ultrathin: LG's set is just 4 millimeters thick, or one-sixth of an inch.

Ultrabooks. There were scores of ultrabooks -- thin, light and powerful laptop computers -- at the show. Two that stood out: Lenovo Yoga, with a touch-sensitive screen that bends backward to fold over completely, turning the device into a large tablet; and HP Envy 14, with a sensor for near-field communications chips (enabling you to transfer information from a similarly equipped phone by tapping it to the PC).

Canon G1 X. The Japanese camera maker revealed a compact camera that pushes into professional camera territory. Its G line of relatively large compact cameras has been popular among enthusiasts, and the G1 X extends the range by including an image sensor more than six times larger than those on other models in the category. Sensor size is the most important factor for a camera's image quality, far more than the number of megapixels -- 14, for the G1 X. The G1 X will have a 4x zoom lens that retracts into the metal body, and will sell for $800.