The news on Monday that thermostat giant Honeywell slapped startup Nest with a lawsuit for patent infringement throws an unexpected wrinkle in the landscape of the smart thermostat this year. These connected energy devices — often overlooked but finally getting some attention in 2012 — have been poised to be a gateway into the connected home, working with mobile phones, utility meters, and heating and cooling systems. Honeywell’s lawsuit, which you can read more about here, claims that “many features of the Nest Thermostat infringe Honeywell patents.”

How might this new lawsuit impact the growth of the overall smart thermostat market? We want you, GigaOM readers, to weigh in below, and we’ll release all the details of the survey in a research note.

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After spending a full week with the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 I purchased from an importer, I’m thoroughly impressed with the small slate. U.S. consumers will see a version with LTE for Verizon’s LTE network in the near future, but my hope is that the Wi-Fi version I bought follows soon; it would be priced less than an full-cost LTE version and wouldn’t require a lengthy data contract.

The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is Samsung’s first tablet to use its Super AMOLED Plus technology, bringing vivid colors, deep blacks and super-wide viewing angles. It doesn’t hurt that the 7.7-inch screen has a higher resolution than most 720p HDTV sets either: the 1280 x 800 resolution is a treat for the eyes; especially when watching high-def videos.

Of course, the outside of a tablet is only as good as what’s inside. In this case, its Samsung’s Exynos dual-core processor running at 1.4 GHz. And this chip keeps the Galaxy Tab 7.7 humming along quickly.

I ran many benchmarks between this new tablet and several others, including the quad-core Transformer Prime, and found that the new Tab tests just as fast, if not faster.

The Prime is better for gaming, thanks to 12 graphics cores, but for most tasks the Galaxy Tab 7.7 is currently comparable. This may change in the future as more apps become optimized for quad-core chips, however.

A cheaper Android tablet option appeared this week as well. Sprint is selling the ZTE Optik for with a 2-year 3G data contract or 9 without a commitment. This 7-inch slate runs Android 3.2, not Android 4.0, but has a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, two cameras, GPS radio and 1280 x 800 resolution display.

ZTE, a Chinese hardware maker, is starting to make a big push in the U.S. tablet and smartphone market; if it can build quality devices with these low price points, it should do well against the current competition.

Late in the week, some confusion arose around the Galaxy Nexus, Google’s flagship developer phone. Verizon currently sells the Galaxy Nexus LTE in the U.S. while an unlocked GSM version — the one I have — is sold overseas. On Google’s website for the Galaxy Nexus stock software, the Verizon version is now archived. It appeared at first glance that Verizon was taking over control of the Galaxy Nexus software for phones on its network.

Google later provided an explanation that suggests it will still provide the updates for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, saying certain software signatures on CDMA phones aren’t compatible with the Android Open Source Platform builds of Android. The situation is odd because the Sprint Nexus S, available since December of 2010, is a CDMA Nexus phone and this issue never cropped up. I suspect there’s more to this story, so I’ll be researching and watching for further developments.

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Android was everywhere at this month’s Consumer Electronics Show, but the downside to the event is that many products don’t hit retail shelves for months. Acer took a decidedly different approach by launching the A200 tablet at CES and getting it in stores soon after. A 16 GB version of the A200 is now available at Best Buy for 9, or 0 less than last year’s A500 slate. But outside of the price drop, there isn’t much that’s different in this 10.1-inch tablet refresh.

Just like the old A500, Acer chose a 1 GHz dual core processor and the Honeycomb version of Android for the new A200. The device is lighter and keeps the many ports from the prior model: Full-sized USB, microSD card slot and micro USB jack to name a few. Gone is the rear camera on the A200, but it does keep a 2 megapixel front-facing sensor for video chatting or images. At this price, the A200 is surely worth a look and will be even more attractive once Acer pushes out the expected software update to Android 4.0; possibly as early as next month.

Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi tablet owners don’t have to wait for a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich, however. The company began to roll out Android 4.0.3 to the Xoom this week and will continue to push the software out in waves. The updated software could help give new life for the first Android tablet, which arrived nearly a year ago to generally mediocre reviews.

How much will Android 4.0 improve the experience on a Xoom tablet? That will vary by each individual’s needs, but overall the device is better with the updated software according to Jason Perlow of ZDNet. He used a enthusiast-created version for two weeks and then got the official upgrade a few days earlier than consumers. There are still some rough edges in the operating system, he says, but most will welcome the improved interface on their tablet.

While I wait for Android 4.0 to appear on my own 10.1-inch tablet, I’m enjoying Android 4.0 on my smartphone and this week found a new app that I consider a “must try”, if not a “must have” for Android devices. Wikipedia finally debuted its Android app this week and while you could use a browser to access the online encyclopedia, I find the free app in the Android Market much better. Simple sharing of Wikipedia entries, support for offline article reading and GPS-powered local Wikipedia results all add to the experience.

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Home video surveillance is rarely fun or easy to deal with. High-end systems typically require heavy integration, and even consumer do-it-yourself camera setups can be frustrating to get going. But the latest HD video camera from Dropcam and its associated cloud-based DVR service and mobile apps are easy to set up and a joy to use.

Dropcam has been in operation since 2009, but the latest version or its home surveillance cameras are a big step forward in both form and functionality. Let’s start with the Dropcam HD Wi-Fi Video Monitoring Camera itself, which records 720p video and provides two-way audio functionality. Oh, and it looks good, too. Just as important, set up is a breeze. Users need only plug the camera into their computer, select their local Wi-Fi network, and personalize the name of the video feed.

The new Dropcam product has a pretty powerful night-vision camera, which automatically switches on whenever a room becomes dark. It also has two-way audio, enabling users to hear what’s happening in a room and actually respond if they want to. There’s a digital zoom function that can be used to pinpoint certain parts of a room to focus on. And Users don’t need to hook the camera into a computer or network-attached to record: All the video is uploaded via Wi-Fi into the cloud. The cloud-based DVR records up to 30 days worth of video, which users can log in and watch at any time.

In fact, the real beauty of Dropcam is its cloud-based DVR and mobile applications, which give its users constant access to video footage of their homes from nearly any mobile device on the go. In addition to browser-based web viewing, Dropcam has released mobile apps for iPhone and iPad, as well as Android mobile phones and tablets. Through those apps, Dropcam users can watch live or recorded video, or receive push notifications when motion or audio is detected by the camera.

If there’s one downside to Dropcam, it’s that the camera might be too sensitive to motion — frequently I received notifications from my empty apartment only to watch those events and find a whole lot of nothing going on. The whole thing, especially when combined with a pretty powerful night vision camera, led to a Paranormal Activity-type feeling that my tiny little studio was haunted.

The Dropcam HD Wi-Fi Video Monitoring Camera costs 9 and is now available for pre-order from www.dropcam.com, with shipment beginning later this month. For users that wish to record video, plans with moment-by-moment HD video capture start at .95 per month.

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Broadcom is expected to show off silicon that offers 1.8 gigabit per second Wi-Fi at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. The technology will help prepare home networks for the era of whole-home video streaming. To promote the chips, which will use the 802.11ac standard, Broadcom has highjacked the G used by cellular networks, calling the new standard 5G Wi-Fi.

Terminology aside, here’s why this latest iteration of Wi-Fi is so cool:

1. It’s fast. The standard can deliver up to 3.6 Gbps around the home, although initial chips offer 1.8 Gbps. The current top-of-the-line Wi-Fi chips (802.11n) top out at 600 Mbps.
2. It’s designed for video. The technology uses the 5 gigaherz band as opposed to the 2.4 gigaherz band. The gigahertz band has wider channels to deliver more capacity and competes with fewer other wireless devices, which means the channels can carry more data such as fat high-definition and maybe even 3-D video streams.
3. It’s designed for multiple devices and concurrent streams. Those wider channels also mean a home can support more devices trying to send lots of data, such as sending multiple, concurrent HD video streams around the home, while someone else plays a game or video conferences. So while you might not think you need a gigabit home network without a gigabit pipe leading to your home, if you’re streaming cached content from a hard drive or another device, this helps.
4. It’s more power efficient. The wider channels allow for more data to travel over the network, which means downloads take less time. At that point the radio powers down to save on battery life or power. This doesn’t help when streaming, but would be good for keeping devices and hard drives synced.
5. It goes the distance. The physics of transmitting data using airwaves over distances and through certain materials doesn’t change, but because the standard can deliver faster speeds from the router, folks will get proportionately faster speeds as they move away from the router in their homes and offices. It also uses beamforming technology (basically it compresses the signal like a laser compresses light to make it more powerful) to better pass through buildings, especially through those made of concrete. The end result is a better signal even if it must pass through a few walls — and a decent end-user experience.

Broadcom expects to start shipping chips in the middle of this year and appearing in a wide variety of products from phones and laptops to set-top-boxes and home routers that will ship in the second half of the year. In November Quantenna, a chipmaker startup that has raised more than million, announced its own 802.11 ac chips, and in September I spoke with Craig Barratt, president of Qualcomm Atheros about that chipmaker’s vision for the next generation of Wi-Fi.

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Apple has done a lot in terms of pushing sometimes marginal technology to the fore, something it may be able to do with NFC soon, too. But narrowing down that list to a few choice selections that stand out above the rest is surprisingly easy. Here are the Apple technological innovations I’m most thankful for.

1. The iPhone. It seems like a no-brainer, but in terms of actual impact on my day-to-day life, nothing beats Apple’s smartphone for transformative power. The iPhone was my first smartphone, and though I’ve temporarily strayed once or twice since then, it remains my go-to mobile device. But why should I be thankful for a device that costs me an arm and a leg each year when I upgrade, and also natters me incessantly with notifications, both meaningful and otherwise?

Because for all its downsides, the iPhone means that I can better stay in touch with friends and loved ones. It also provides tons of entertainment, has reduced the amount of devices I lug around on most trips from four or five to one or two, and includes all the joy of an iPod, too, which would’ve made this list if it wasn’t for the iPhone.

2. Screen sharing built into every Mac. If you manage a multi-Mac household or small business, you know what I’m talking about here. The ability to quickly and easily view and interact with the desktop of any Mac on your local Wi-Fi network is an amazing time-saver that lets me update, manage applications for and coordinate the efforts of all four Macs in operation at my home from my central work computer. Girlfriend runs into a technical problem? Connect, fix, done.

3. iTunes Home Sharing. This feature was one that made a lot of sense for long before it was implemented. Why shouldn’t any Mac or iOS device on your local network play back your iTunes library, so long as they have the proper credentials? That you can both stream and transfer music between libraries on Macs has saved me a lot of headaches, and size restrictions on iPod touches (which usually remain in the house anyways) are no longer an issue.

4. Combo audio in/out ports with remote control. Some will no doubt call me crazy for putting this on a list of tech I’m most thankful for, but considering how much I use it, I don’t think it’s out of place here. Obviously on iPhones and iPod touches it’s great for answering calls and controlling playback, but it also works terrifically well when on your MacBook or iPad watching movies or fielding Skype calls. It’s a thing that I never missed until I had it, and now can’t live without, even on my desktop iMac.

5. The App Store. Another pretty obvious one, but my appreciation has some qualifications. For example, I think the vast majority of the App Store is pretty much a waste of time; even well-designed apps aren’t necessarily useful in the long term. But for the few apps that remain glued to my home screen, like Delivery Status Touch, Next TTC, Instapaper and Reeder, the App Store’s thousands of low-quality, throwaway applications are more than endurable.

Those are my five, but I doubt they’re everyone else’s too. Let us know what Apple tech you’re most thankful for in the comments.

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