I’m recovering from a Las Vegas hangover. And it has nothing to do with partying. I’m talking about seeing dozens of companies over the course of several days, running to back-to-back-to-back meetings and spending one very late night deliberating our Best of CES Awards with the LAPTOP team. In between all of this I had the opportunity to discuss the big CES trends on CNBC and Fox Business from the show floor. As I emerge from a fog of next-best-thing spin, I thought it might be helpful to summarize some of the lessons I took away from the show, both for those whose heads are still spinning like mine and for the wrongheaded CES doomsayers who decided to sit this one out.

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Smart Watches Are Hot But Need Work

At CES we saw a half dozen new smart watches and played with most of them. But as much as I'm a sucker for Dick Tracy-style wristwear, the first wave of devices is hit or miss. Take the I'm Watch, which lets you see who just messaged you (but not respond) and check out your latest Facebook updates (and not do anything about it). Being able to glance at this sort of information at a glance sounds convenient, but what's the point if you have to pull out your phone anyway when you need to act? Worse, the voice calling simply didn't work. Then I called our online editorial director while heading to an event and didn't even realize he was taking it on the Martian Watch. This time the call quality was surprisingly clear, with only a few clipped words. I'll give this category some time before I make up my mind.

More: Top 5 Smart Watches of CES 2013

Editor-in-chief Mark Spoonauer directs LAPTOP’s online and print editorial content and has been covering mobile and wireless technology for over a decade. Each week Mark’s SpoonFed column provides his insights and analysis of the biggest mobile trends and news. You can also follow him on Twitter and Google+.

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