Surface Dial is a physical scroll wheel for your digital art
Breeze through documents or bring up a virtual color palette.
During its big event today, Microsoft introduced a new Surface-centric peripheral alongside the new all-in-one Studio desktop. The Surface Dial is a wireless, brushed aluminum puck that adds new gestures and functionality to a variety of Surface-friendly apps.
Onstage, Surface chief Panos Panay demoed the Surface Dial on the Studio itself, showing off its ability to quickly flip through document pages like a scroll wheel, adjust screen brightness or audio volume, and rewind through pen strokes like a rotating Ctrl-Z button. But the dial also has the ability to work directly onscreen for additional functions based on the app and the context -- like changing paint color without picking up your pen. While the dial can rotate smoothly with ten points of precision per degree, it also uses haptic feedback to give you the feeling of a real-life dial click. For Engadget's first impressions on the Dial, check out our hands-on with the Studio.
Speaking of the sort, not only does the Surface Dial work with the Surface Studio, but it's also backward compatible with the Surface Pro 3, Pro 4 and Surface Book. (Although the on-screen functions will only work with the Studio.) At launch there will be 14 compatible apps, including Sketchable, Spotify, Microsoft Office apps and the new MS Paint 3D. The Surface Dial is available for pre-order today for $100 and ships on November 10th, about a month before the Studio's December 15th ship date.
Click here to catch all the latest news from Microsoft's big Surface event.
