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Pre-orders for the Surface 2 with LTE are now open in the UK
Microsoft's LTE-equipped Surface 2 has only been available in limited markets since it was formally announced, but today the company has said it's opening pre-orders in the UK. As per the company's usual sales approach, the 4G tablet is already live on the Microsoft Store for £539, with shipments making their way to doorsteps by May 8th. From that date, Microsoft says customers can also pick up the Surface 2 (4G) from a number of high-street retailers, including Dixons, complete with 200GB of free OneDrive storage for two years and a year of unlimited Skype WiFi calling and landline calls.
Daily Roundup: 8GB iPhone 5c rumor, Microsoft OneNote goes free, and more
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Daily Roundup: Surface 2 review, Google's Project Shield, LG's Chrome OS fixation and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
This week on gdgt: Apple's new iPhones, Loewe's Speaker 2go and Steam Machines
Each week, our friends at gdgt go through the latest gadgets and score them to help you decide which ones to buy. Here are some of their most recent picks. Want more? Visit gdgt anytime to catch up on the latest, and subscribe to gdgt's newsletter to get a weekly roundup in your inbox.
Microsoft's Surface 2: New tablet, same problems
What's the definition of insanity? Trying the same thing several times and expecting a different outcome. While we wouldn't suggest that Microsoft's finest minds are in need of urgent medical care, it does seem as if the company's executives have failed to heed the lessons doled out this summer. After all, it was only a few months ago that Microsoft had to admit that very few Surface RT tablets had been sold, and booked a $900 million loss on inventory that remains rotting in warehouses. At today's launch of Microsoft's second Windows RT-running slate, Surface chief Panos Panay opened his remarks by saying that the "Surface 2 is not subtle, but is a revamp. It is not the simple changes that everybody wants, but it's the changes people need." Unfortunately, the changes that he then went on to describe involved making the device thinner, faster and giving it a full-HD display -- criticisms that few had leveled at the first generation of the hardware. No, the problems that every critic had were the limitations of the Surface's operating system: Windows RT. Not that you'd know it from today's event. In fact, Microsoft went out of its way to downplay the fact that the Surface 2 runs RT, mentioning the ambitious Windows-on-ARM project only three times in an hour. But why was the star of the show reduced to such a bit-part role?
Microsoft Surface 2 liveblog!
Welcome to Microsoft's Surface 2 event in NYC! We'll be on hand to deliver updates on new hardware, pricing, keyboard covers and whatever else Redmond has in store. Stay tuned! September 23, 2013 10:30:00 AM EDT
Catch our Surface 2 liveblog tomorrow at 10:30 AM ET!
Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to meet the follow-up to Microsoft's Windows 8 tablet? There's most definitely new Surface (and likely Surface Pro) hardware in store at tomorrow's NYC event, so you'll want to tune in as Ballmer and co. unveil the goods. Keep your browsers locked here from 10:30 AM ET and on -- we'll be updating you live from the NYC launch! September 23, 2013 10:30:00 AM EDT
Microsoft plans Surface launch event on September 23rd in NYC
With no shortage of rumors about a next-gen Surface and Surface Pro -- not to mention significant price cuts for both those devices -- it's no surprise that Microsoft is about to launch some new hardware. Redmond just sent out invitations to a press event scheduled for September 23rd, and it's pretty clear from the image that the company has a new tablet (or two) to share. Will we see a smaller-screened Surface this time around, and can we expect a slew of new accessories? Stay tuned -- we'll be bringing you all the news live from NYC.
Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface available for pre-order in 23 countries, expected to ship in 2012
Microsoft's Surface hasn't exactly exploded on the sales figure front, but with next-gen model pricing estimated at $7,600 $8,400 and limited availability, we're not surprised that the table of the future hasn't begun popping up in hotels and retails stores the world over. That may slowly change, however, with one of the most recent models -- Samsung's SUR40 -- finally coming up for pre-order today. Enterprise customers (or deep-pocketed individuals) can reach out to dedicated sales reps in any of 23 countries to place an order, including the U.S. and Canada, parts of Asia, and most of Europe. An exact ship date has yet to be released, but don't expect the 40-inch 1080p multitouch table to start popping up until early next year. Want to start touching and tapping today? Check out our hands-on with an early SUR40 from CES. Update: Microsoft wrote in to let us know that pricing has jumped a bit -- to $8,400 -- since this year's earlier estimate. International pricing will vary by country.
Surface SDK gets input simulator, opens doors to indie devs
There's one big, table-shaped obstacle to developing apps for Microsoft's Surface: you kind of have to own one. A new Surface 2 SDK, landing this summer, will sidestep that problem with an input simulator so devs can test their code on any Windows 7 PC. You can tap fingers, place tags, or paint "blobs" for your virtual SUR 40 to interact with, and even fake multitouch gestures by "stamping" a finger in one spot then moving a second one. If the Surface you're programming for happens to be movable (though we're not sure who would put a $7,600 computer on hinges) you can also alter the tilt of the display to trigger UI changes. You'll still need access to one of these behemoths to make sure your wares work in the really real world, but at least the preliminary work can be done on any old laptop or desktop. Frankly, this is something we'd have thought would be included from day one -- as they say, better late than never.
Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface hands-on with video! (update)
Microsoft offered a brief glimpse of its revised Surface earlier this week at the Ballmer keynote, but now we've had a chance to check the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface (as its officially termed) for ourselves. The "2.0 experience" firmware is early and a bit buggy right now (especially with finger input), but there's plenty of time fix that up before its launch later this year. The hardware itself is much thinner, with a 4-inch profile that can now be placed vertically against the wall (although we suggest using the stylish legs when possible). The 40-inch 1920 x 1080 gorilla glass display was crisp as all out, but since we could get close and scrutinize, you'll definitely notice the pixels. The first demo we got to see is also probably the most impressive, wherein a paper with "I can see" written on it is scanned and read very clearly (a dev monitor was hooked up to show what Surface could "see"). Meanwhile, we couldn't help but touch every point to watch the ripple effect emanate from our fingers. Apps are arranged in a row that you can sift through or rotate 180 degrees for someone facing opposite. We kept accidentally opening apps when we tried to scroll through, which is annoying but again, we were reminded it's early firmware. Some of the apps we have seen before with the original Surface -- some changes are required to make compatible, but we're told it's a fairly smooth transition process. Some highlights from what we saw: Bing, which for now only does image search (maps and local to come). The screen right now is a bit too sensitive and would detect sleeves as much as it would our fingers (you can see typos galore in the gallery). Images are scattered about a new results widget, and you can move around a bit from there or pull out individual ones to rotate and scan. A Red Bull with a printed code on the bottom that launches on-screen prompts for videos that you can smoothly rotate and scale on the fly, and a RBC Royal Bank that'll make you feel really guilty about that cup of coffee from this morning. Oldies like Social Stream, Garibaldi Panorama, and Galactic Alliance. Another plus for the SUR40? It's cheaper than its predecessor -- but at $7,600, it's still not ready for consumer market. We've got a ton of pics below and video after the break! Update: We've added our full impressions and cleaned up the footage after the break. Enjoy! %Gallery-113289%
Microsoft shows off next generation of Surface, has per-pixel touch detection
Microsoft's Surface still isn't for consumers, but it's getting a whole lot wilder. We just saw the next generation of Surface, which has infrared "pixel sense" detection in each pixel, meaning instead of multiple single points of touch, the screen can image your entire hand in all its detail. This should allow for some pretty wild UI improvements, but Microsoft's primary demo was the tried-and-true rippling water effect. The technology was developed in conjunction with Samsung, and measures four inches thick -- it's obviously not going into your next tablet. Under the hood is an AMD CPU / GPU combo. The wildest part, however, is pictured above: placing a piece of paper with writing on it on top of the screen / sensor lets you "scan" the contents of that piece of paper. Microsoft showed us a demo of a bank application that lets you swipe a mailer up against the screen and have it be detected and read by the screen. As for a release, there's no word on when this is coming out, but Microsoft says it will be cheaper than the current generation of Surface when it does. We asked about the potential for this sort of technology in smaller form factors, and were told it only scales down to around 24-inches, and we really get the feeling that Microsoft doesn't have any plans to bring Surface to Joe Consumer any time soon. %Gallery-112778%
