CES 2011: A product preview video from CES Unveiled

The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show opens officially Thursday, Jan. 6, but our reporters and analysts have already hit the ground running—as have many companies that decided to announce their products a bit early, to beat the rush.

CR's Electronics Editor Paul Reynolds visited a preview event called CES Unveiled, to get a sneak peek at some of the first devices to be shown this year. As we anticipated, we've already seen tablet computers intended to spar with the Apple iPad, from Vizio and Toshiba, among others.

LG debuted one of the first "passive" TVs, which uses light and inexpensive glasses instead of heavy, costly active-shutter glasses. And Sprint announced the first (for this show) 4G phone, the HTC EVO Shift 4G; we're sure to see many more in the coming several days.

Our Consumer Reports crew will be at the show all week, covering press day today and many more announcements and surprises. Check back often for breaking CES news!

—Carol Mangis

—Carol Mangis