Microsoft Surface Event Live Blog
by Brian Klug on September 23, 2013 8:59 AM EST
11:38AM EDT - I think we're wrapping up here, off to get hands on shortly
11:33AM EDT - Specs are up, preorders start 9/24 at 8 AM, launch on 10/22
11:32AM EDT - Surface Remix Project being shown off with those buttons being used for more than just QWERTY
11:30AM EDT - We're looking at how the touch cover sensors can be used for other things like instrument control with pressure sensitivity
11:27AM EDT - Looking at a video of Surface 2, coming 10/22
11:24AM EDT - Gestures on top with these new sensors, new experiences beyond just typing
11:22AM EDT - Many more sensors, 1092 sensors in Touch Cover 2
11:22AM EDT - Touch cover is also backlit now, thinner, more rigid, turns itself off when not being used
11:21AM EDT - Going over everything in Surface 2 - price $449
11:20AM EDT - 200 GB of SkyDrive for 2 years with Surface 2
11:17AM EDT - That front facing video demo was pretty compelling, the lights went down very low in here but exposure looked great on the video preview
11:14AM EDT - Unique lens, able to filter light through the product (need more on this), very low light inside the room right now but the video looks great
11:13AM EDT - Looking at Skype now and how the adjustable angle on Surface 2 helps the front facing camera experience
11:11AM EDT - Surface 2 cameras - back camera is better by 5x (not sure what metric they're referring to), front facing camera is improved
11:10AM EDT - Working and playing at the same time on Surface 2 with Spartan Assault next to Office apps as a crazy example
11:09AM EDT - 72 cores on the GPU right now, Tegra 4 in the Surface 2
11:08AM EDT - Looking at Surface 2 running all four Office apps at the same time
11:06AM EDT - Office comes with Surface 2, full Office Suite
11:05AM EDT - 100k apps in the Windows Store right now
11:05AM EDT - Talking about Surface 2 running RT 8.1 and multi user scenarios at home
11:02AM EDT - 25 percent battery life improvement on Surface 2
11:02AM EDT - Also has the 2-stop kickstand for use on the lap, 2 pieces of magnesium, same process as in the past, less display reflectivity
11:01AM EDT - Moved from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0 on Surface 2
11:01AM EDT - Screen on Surface 2 is full 1080p clear type display, 3-4 times faster
11:00AM EDT - Added a surface logo to the back, color now shows off the alloy used as well
10:59AM EDT - Doubled bus speed for Wifi, memory, increased CPU speed
10:59AM EDT - "Lighter, Faster, Full HD"
10:58AM EDT - Watching a summary video now for Surface
10:57AM EDT - Vision with Surface was to move beyond consumption and enable creation on a tablet without having to move all the way up
10:56AM EDT - Moving on to Surface 2 now
10:55AM EDT - That wraps up Surface Pro 2 – better display, better speakers, Haswell, and improved accessories
10:54AM EDT - Keyboard is backlit as well, and dims in 9 seconds
10:54AM EDT - Very quiet keyboard, feel but not hear the keypress
10:53AM EDT - Better key switch, full 1 mm removed from travel, Type Cover 2 is now almost as thin as the original touch cover
10:52AM EDT - Type Cover 2 with colors
10:50AM EDT - Optically bonded display with the least amount of reflectivity in the industry
10:49AM EDT - Raw 6K image data, 9x the resolution of Full HD going to Surface Pro 2
10:48AM EDT - Now that RED camera on stage makes sense
10:46AM EDT - USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, miniDP, ethernet, audio, and power in the docking station
10:46AM EDT - Surface docking station
10:45AM EDT - Surface Pro 2 now has all day battery life with the Power Cover keyboard and battery
10:44AM EDT - 30 Whr battery added to the device
10:44AM EDT - 2.5 times battery life from the original device with Power Cover
10:43AM EDT - More battery life - 75 percent improvement in battery life
10:43AM EDT - Surface Pro 2 operates cooler, quieter
10:42AM EDT - Surface Pro 2 now has Haswell inside
10:42AM EDT - Looks like Surface Pro 2 has two kickstand positions now
10:41AM EDT - Able to use it on the knees at a great angle now, evolution of the kickstand
10:41AM EDT - Surface Pro 2 has a tweaked kickstand, more than just 22 degree tilt now, needs to work better in the lap
10:39AM EDT - Improved performance by 20 percent
10:38AM EDT - Increased graphics performance on Surface Pro 2 by 50 percent
10:38AM EDT - Surface Pro 2 is faster than 95 percent of all laptops in market today, it's a full PC
10:38AM EDT - "People love Surface Pro because it's fast"
10:38AM EDT - Dolby Pro 2, better sound with boost, subtle changes
10:37AM EDT - Color accuracy is much better on Surface Pro 2
10:37AM EDT - ClearType HD display, wanted to make it as productive as possible, true to color true to life images, 46 percent more color accuracy
10:36AM EDT - 'Surface Pro 2 has been the best selling device in its class'
10:35AM EDT - Starting with Surface Pro 2
10:35AM EDT - Next generation of devices, two of them, the most powerful professional use tablet will be introduced today in Surface Pro 2, and the most productive tablet with Surface 2, 7 accessories
10:34AM EDT - Working on second gen products for 18-24 months
10:34AM EDT - Just saw Surface Pro 2 flash briefly on the screen
10:33AM EDT - Here we go, getting started
10:29AM EDT - Unfortunately the event venue is below street level so LTE is shaky at best, no AT&T LTE, barely any Verizon LTE, hoping this holds up, if I go text only, you'll know why
10:26AM EDT - Hopefully this time around Tegra on RT does use the shadow core, that'd be my biggest desire from a hardware standpoint
10:24AM EDT - The event gets underway at 10:30 AM so we've got a bit of time still, which I guess we can pass with some speculation. I'd guess Tegra 4, plus possibly a S800 variant for the RT successor, and it's just a matter of which Haswell ends up inside the Pro successor at this point.
10:20AM EDT - There are some Surfaces on the podium, are any of these a Surface 2? Hard to tell from here
10:18AM EDT - WiFi is holding up, thankfully Microsoft is running some 5 GHz channels, but already down to the lowest MCS rate, Verizon LTE is holding up though, so hopefully photos will come through ok
10:17AM EDT - It's just me today on photos and text, it's going to be a busy week here in NYC
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Drumsticks - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link
Asus T100 ships with a bay trail SoC that will be equal or maybe slightly less powerful for $100 less. Oh and it has a keyboard already.kyuu - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link
Right... and like I said, hardware (I'm not talking about simply the silicon when I say "hardware") is not going to be on the Surface's level, from what I've seen.Impulses - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link
Are people buying sub-$500 devices gonna pay a 50%+ premium for a nicer build? Surface 2 is already $100 more expensive BEFORE adding a keyboard cover, it's $200+ more expensive once you factor that in. Huge difference...eanazag - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link
Not with core Office.Bob Todd - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link
Supposedly the T100 includes a full copy of Office 2013 Home & Student. No Outlook, but the target market for that device doesn't need it anyway.Drazick - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link
If the Surface Pro 2 screen is well calibrated and support of Adobe for Touch (With the Pen) it could become the best companion for Photographers.Looks amazing!!!
Stuka87 - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link
So they addressed the TERRIBLE screen of the first RT with a not as terrible screen. 1080P for a screen of that size is ok, but WAY behind the competition.Will be interested in benchmarks, but I don't see Tegra 4 being all that compelling.
kyuu - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link
Lol? Surface RT had a pretty damn good screen. The pixel density at 1366x768 on a 10.1" device is more than fine. There's a lot more to a good screen than simply pushing pixels.Now they've moved to full HD and they're "WAY behind"? Gimme a break. The only reason Apple skipped straight to 2048x1536 was so they could use pixel doubling, not because it's actually meaningful to push that many pixels on such a small screen.
1080p on a 10.1" screen is about 218 PPI. That's about the same PPI as a 20" 4K monitor would have.
Stuka87 - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link
The blacks and contrast were decent on the 768P display. However trying to read small text was painful. Text was pixelated enough to not be pleasant to read.Every other tablet out there (Even cheaper $200 models) have a higher PPI. If MS is going to charge $450 for the base model, it should at least attempt to match the specs of the cheaper devices.
Daniel Egger - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link
What's even more painful is that RT will mostly refuse to work on any vertical resolution less then 768p which means it's a royal PITA to connect it to 720p devices like many projectors. Unfortunately the signal quality and strength out of the micro-HDMI socket is so lousy that 1080p@50Hz or up are not even an option. So one is screwed in the two most common resolutions on those devices with no proper intermediate available that can be scaled by decent output devices.