This week in tech has been all about IFA, the international gadgets conference taking place in Berlin.
And while this year's show feels like something of a warm-up to September - when Nokia, Amazon and Apple are all set to make big their big pre-Christmas announcements - there was still a lot of amazing stuff on show.
HuffPost UK was there for a whistle-stop tour of the coolest gadgets, gizmos and digital whatnot.
So what did we find? Read on for our round-up of the shiniest new toys coming to a showroom near you.
We started our trip behind closed doors at Ford Europe, where we were taken through a demo of the company's new (for Europe) SYNC with MyFord Touch entertainment platform.
This voice-controlled entertainment, navigation and comms system looks like a really solid way to use the most important features of your smart phone while driving, and should reach the UK in the Ford Focus Electric next year. Looks for a longer write-up on HuffPost UK soon.
Above: The Samsung Galaxy Note II
Over at Samsung, the Galaxy Note IIwas one of our early picks of the show. This 5.5-inch, stylus controlled tablet-phone hybrid is clearly ludicrous, but it won us over anyway with an enhanced S-Pen, swish design and the ability to watch videos overlaid on top of other apps. (No - really, true multitasking on a mobile device. Amazing. And it's *only* 2012).
Above: Samsung Galaxy Camera
Elsewhere, Samsung's Galaxy Cameraleft us enamoured and baffled in equal measure. It looks like a camera with an Android phone smashed into the back, and we're not sure who wants to play Angry Birds between photoshoots. But it's an intriguing prospect.
We also took a long hard stare at Samsung's Ativ Windows 8 tablets, laptops and all-in-one PCs. This (vast) line-up of devices are the first dedicated machines that Samsung has released with Microsoft's brand new OS, and we were pretty impressed all around.
In particular, we liked the Ativ Tab. This is a 10.1-inch tablet with Windows RT - the ARM-based version of Windows 8. Its 1.5Ghz dual-core processor was snappy, but the device uses the same plastic back as seen on the Galaxy S3, and on a large device it felt even worse than usual. It's also strange to try and use a full version of Word on a touchscreen only device. It's nice, but we'll wait to see how consumers react.
Above: Samsung Ativ Tab
Luckily there is also the Ativ Smart PC (and also a Pro version), which are 11.6-inch tablets with detachable keyboard docks. These felt like better machines all around than the Tab - pleasantly weightier, with a nice brushed-metal effect on the case, and a more flexible form factor. The laptop touchpad felt cheap, though, and raising your arms to the laptop screen was both useful and, after just 10 minutes of use, a bit painful.
Above: ATIVsmart PCs
Similarly, we really liked the look of the Series 7 all-in-one desktop PCs. Coming in 23 and 27-inch models, they are nicely designed and powerful touchscreen machines. Again, we're not sure how the touch interface will work out in the long run, but on the show floor we liked them a lot.
At Sony's giant show floor stand, we took a close look at the new Xperia S Tablet, officially unveiled at the conference. While it's really just an update to the previous Tablet S, it felt like a high-quality product which we'd love to spend more time with. The screen was typically bright and clear for a Sony product, and the aluminium body felt stronger and better designed that the previous gen.
Above: Sony Xperia S Tablets
We also took a long look at the new 84-inch Sony Bravia 4K television - the first commercially available 4K panel. As you would expect, the quality is absolutely outstanding, and as long as you can find some 4K content to play on it (and have well over £10k to spend on a TV) you should definitely get one. The rest of us will have to wait a few years, but the future is bright.
Having said that, Panasonic stole the show in TV stakes with a demo of its insane 145-inch 8K television. This display has a resolution of 7680 x 4320 and while - yes - there is no 8K content available and - yes - the TV itself won't be on sale for some time, it's an incredible achievement. Get ready for your shiny Blu-Ray collection to look like crap.