Next-Gen

Next-Gen or Next Generation refers to a new generation of a specific line of technology. This could be used for consoles, phones, computers, or any other type of product. This phrase has being used more commonly in the past year because there have been many new releases in almost every type of technology. This phrase will continue to be used throughout the following years as the new products settle down into the market and become 'current-gen'.

In general, next-gen products tend to be higher priced than the previous-gen, but also contains newer and more advanced features. Support usually starts of slow for next-gen products, but picks up a year or two after release when the product is better known in the market. Some next-gen products have been known to fail, and not be adopted as the definitive new format or product.

Next-Gen Consoles

'Next-Gen' is possibly the most used phrase in this line of technology. The current generation of consoles includes the Xbox, Playstation 2 and GameCube. These consoles have been released for over 5 years and have settled into the market. A steady supply of these consoles has been available for years now.

The new generation of consoles or next-gen consoles includes the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Wii. Completely remodeled and upgraded from the last generation of consoles, this generation is considered to be a great leap in this field. As with most next-gen products, these consoles feature something completely new and/or upgraded from the previous generation.

Both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 both have HDTV support. HDTV is high density television, which can produce much clearer and detailed pictures than the normal SDTV.

Graphics are one of the main upgrades seen in these two consoles. Other features such as wireless support for controllers and advanced online play are also supported. Both of these consoles are higher priced than the previous versions of it.

The Wii focuses on motion control and sensing. With the wireless control, or WiiMote, the user can move his or her character on screen simply by moving the WiiMote. This is the first console that has adopted this technology and be widely accepted and even acclaimed for it. Though the graphics are arguably not much of an improvement to previous gen, the game play is certainly completely new and unique in this case.

Very often these three consoles have been compared and contrasted to the extent that some have called the long drawn out argument, next-gen wars. Those that support one brand such as Sony or Microsoft wholly, no matter what the consequences, have been dubbed as 'fanboys' and are often ridiculed. Supporters for any of the consoles often argue about which console will have the most sales. They also mostly compare games based on ratings, gameplay and especially graphics. Online play has been a greater subject as of late as well as the amount of exclusive games.

Graphics is also another highly debated subject in 'next-gen wars'. Currently, it is disputed whether the 360 or PS3 has better graphics. It is argued that because the 360 has been out for over a year, the developers for the PS3 need time to get used to the system and create better graphics. Aside from speculation, as of yet no conclusions have been made and no 'winner' declared beyond a doubt.

Next Gen Format

Released a couple years ago were the new formats to replace the globally accepted DVD. These two formats were dubbed <---****HYPERLINK****--->"http://www.tech-faq.com/hd-dvd.shtml">HD DVD or High Density DVD and <---****HYPERLINK****--->"http://www.tech-faq.com/blu-ray.shtml">Blu Ray, because of the blue ray used to read the disc. Both of these new formats are able to store much more information on them allowing developers and publishers to include more features and a higher amount of detail for each disc. Both of these formats also support HDTV wholly.

There has been a lot of speculation whether this new generation of formats would take over DVD did. It is said that because the DVD was so much more advanced than the VHS, it was quickly made the default and global format. However it remains to be seen whether the HD DVD and Blu Ray is that much of an improvement to the widely used DVD. Players for this generation of format also seem to cost much more than the average DVD player. As of this moment it is only slowly being adopted as the new default format. Nevertheless, the film industry is slowly releasing films on both formats, with some exclusivity to one or the other format.

Since there were two new formats released, and not just a single one, there is somewhat of a competition between the two formats. Leading back to the console wars, HD DVD is supported by the Xbox 360 and Blu Ray is supported by the PS3 to the extent that it is integrated within the console. It is still too early to tell which format will be the new default, but it seems that because the PS3 comes with Blu Ray directly integrated within the console, that more Blu Ray players have been sold. The library of Blu Rays currently is over twice as big as those on HD DVD, but it is still too early to finally decide.

Next Gen Computers

The next generation of computers was really sparked by the recent release of Windows Vista. This new operating system is said be much better than Windows XP and include a large amount of features. Since its delayed release, it is only very slowly being adopted in the market, although it is definitely considered 'next gen' in terms of software by Microsoft.

Along with the new generation operating system of Vista, came the new generation of gaming on the computer with a native API of Directx10. This allowed computer to produce an incredible amount of detail and appeared to be quite a substantial improve from Directx9c.

This new generation of computers requires high-end hardware for programs to run at optimum speed. This has lead to an increase in price for computer products such as video cards or CPUs.

The next generation of computers on the hardware side is mostly focused on the CPU and video card. The next gen video cards are <---****HYPERLINK****--->"http://www.tech-faq.com/directx.shtml">DirectX 10 native and are built to work with Windows Vista.

The next generation of CPU is focused on multi cored processors. Dual or other multi-cored processors allow the user to run many different programs simultaneously while not compromising the speed of the CPU. While enabling user to multi-task more efficiently, these CPUs also tend to speed up the computer generally.

Next Gen Televisions

Next generation televisions are focused on <---****HYPERLINK****--->"http://www.tech-faq.com/hdtv.shtml">HDTV. This stands for High Density Television. With a larger screen and more pixels, these televisions provide an enormous amount of detail and astounding colors.

HDTVs are generally divided into these categories: 1080p, 1080i, or 720p nativity.

1080 or 720 is the number of lines of vertical resolution; the higher the resolution the better the quality of the picture. The p stands for progressive scan which is a higher quality than i, interlaced.

In general, HDTVs are very high priced. For large screens of 42. and over, a HDTV with 1080p native resolution can cost up to $4,500. This price is most likely what has been putting consumers off of upgrading to an HDTV. AS time passes and prices start to fall, the HDTV format should start to be more widely adopted.

HDTVs are currently being produced by all major manufacturers. Although this format of TV is slow to being adopted, more and more HDTVs are being sold as it settles into the market.

Next Gen Phones

Currently, there is no definitive 'next gen phone'. Although the more common features that are seen to day in phones include 3G, built in music players and speakers, 2.0+ Mega pixel cameras, Internet and email browsers, and others, it is hard to define exactly what a next gen phone is.

It is argued that the real next generation of phones includes the iPhone and other models of the BlackBerry because of its seemingly large amount of features. However, this is still debatable and remains to be seen.