Consumer Electronics Show smartphones and sales
By Phil Hornshaw
The Consumer Electronics Show is a yearly convention packed to the brim with great gadgets, tasty tech, and all manner of the electronics and accessories we crave. If you’re looking for the latest and greatest stuff to do everything from play games to share spreadsheets, CES is the place.
When it comes to the newest smartphones, though, CES isn’t quite the wonder of new announcements it once might have been. There’s Mobile World Congress, a mobile-centric convention, coming up in Barcelona, Spain, which is drawing a lot of announcements instead. Still, CES has its share of great smartphones, and if you’re savvy, you might find new announcements and floor models corresponding with sale prices at your favorite online stores.
Watch for the price cuts
Sure, maybe CES isn’t seeing a wash of brand new smartphones being marched across a press conference stage, but it’s still got plenty of awesome floor models from Android device makers such as LG, HTC, Samsung and Sony Ericsson. Along with a chance to see a lot of great devices, you might also catch some sales to go with them.
The usual suspects are often the best when it comes to smartphone sales. Best Buy offers 3 percent cash back, along with free shipping to its stores, and you can often find solid deals through Amazon.com, or the other retailers it represents. Walmart is currently running a half-off sale on various electronics, with tablets and some smartphones falling into the mix.
Your new favorite smartphone accessories
Perhaps better than getting smartphones themselves are the various accessories that get shown off at CES. Everything, from cases to speakers to Nike pedometers, pops up at CES, and those items can really increase the use and value of your shiny new (or scuffed old) smartphone.
Amazon is among one of the better places to search for such accessories because of the variety represented, and Radio Shack offers 3 percent cash back to its customers. Target also carries a wide variety of electronics and smartphone accessories, plus offers 4 percent cash back and free shipping on orders over $50. You can also get 2 percent off various smartphone accessories from Dell.com.
CES may not be the stage on which the biggest device makers are announcing their latest products, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a huge number of smartphone-related gadgets, apps and other goodies in Las Vegas this year. Keep an eye out for the latest gear and the best deals, and you can turn even your old smartphone into something new and exciting.
