On Monday, September 23, Microsoft will be launching (but not shipping) its
next-generation Surface tablets at an invitation-only event in New York
City.
In the past few weeks, lots of leaks have revealed much of what's expected
to debut at the launch. Although Microsoft officials haven't commented on or
confirmed these specs, I've heard and seen information that leads me to believe
they are correct.
The new Surfaces are going to look almost identical to the current
Surfaces, as they are going to use the same 10.6-inch screens and VaporMg casing
and be compatible with the same snap-on keyboard/covers that the current
Surfaces use.
They will have the same number of USB ports and they won't support LTE,
just WiFi. The Surface 2, the successor to Surface RT, will be an ARM-based
(Tegra 4) tablet with an estimated eight hours of battery life. It will feature
a new ClearType full HD display, the one that debuted on the Surface Pro earlier
this year. The Surface Pro 2, the successor to the Surface Pro, will run an
Intel Core i5-based Haswell processor, and allegedly get seven hours of battery
life instead of just four to five hours.
Windows SuperSite editor Paul Thurrott has the full list of expected
Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 specs, including weight, thickness, ports, etc.
The more interesting part of Monday's Surface launch, in my view, are the
new Surface peripherals. In spite of Microsoft's claims last year that the
company had no intentions of making a Surface Pro docking station, they built
one. The new Surface docking station is expected to work with Surface Pro and
Surface Pro 2 models only. It is expected to include one USB 3 and three USB 2
ports, according to leaks.
And the expected Surface Power Cover -- a thicker version of the Surface
Type cover/keyboard, is coming, too. This cover will include a built-in battery
that will extend the battery life of Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 devices by
some (still unknown) amount. I'm expecting new Touch and Type covers in a
variety of colors at Monday's launch, too.
What about pricing and availability?
There are two big questions going into Microsoft's Surface 2 launch: Device
availability and pricing. Obviously, Microsoft execs aren't commenting on
either.
I've heard from one of my sources who has been in the loop on Surface
information (and asked to remain anonymous) that both the Surface 2 and Surface
Pro 2 may be generally available on or around October 22 -- right around the
time Window 8.1 is generally available, which is October 18.
I don't know if Microsoft will take preorders. I also don't have any
information as to what the international and/or reseller distribution strategies
look like. Microsoft was slow to make the first-generation Surfaces available
outside the U.S. I am not sure what's changed in the company's distribution
plans or capabilities on that front.
According to my source, it sounds like there are no huge price cuts in the
works, which will surely disappoint those who've been expecting the so-so
reception of first-generation Surfaces to have made Microsoft rethink its
Surface pricing.
The aforementioned source told me that Microsoft is planning to continue to
sell its first-generation Surfaces alongside its new Surfaces. The supposed plan
is to keep Surface RT pricing at its current level ($349.99 for the 32GB model
with no cover included) and introduce the 32GB Surface 2 at $499. A 64 GB
Surface 2 will start at $599, the source said.
The Surface Pro will continue to start at $799. Surface Pro 2 will start at
$899 for a 64GB version, according to the aforementioned source. There will be
128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB models available at $999, $1,299 and $1,699,
respectively, according to this source.
Touch and Type covers are still going to be priced separately, from what
I've heard, as will the docking station.
I initially shared some of this pricing information as my"Rumor of the
Week" on yesterday's recording of Windows Weekly (as some eagle-eared live
listeners heard).
Keep in mind, this pricing and availability information is fromone source
only. The actual pricing/availability -- if Microsoft announces that information
on Monday -- may be different.
Monday's Surface 2 event won't be streamed live, according to Microsoft.
But I'll be filing and blogging from it, starting around 10:30 a.m. ET on
September 23. Also: The Surface team will be doing a Reddit Ask Me Anything
(AMA) on September 23 at 3 p.m. EST, as well, where anyone can submit
questions.
Saturday, 28 September 2013
Windows eight and Windows Phone eight
In an work to save both of its ailing platforms, Microsoft is arranging to
combine each the Windows eight and Windows Telephone eight app stores into a
single, all-encompassing app retailer. It is not entirely clear irrespective of
whether this can result in full cross-platform compatibility for each Windows
eight and WP8 apps - like Apple’s iPhone and iPad App Shop - or if it’s a lot
more a case of designing a actually kick-ass app shop that both platforms will
then use independently of each other. In either case, the new combined app shop
will seek to rectify two enormous complaints: That Windows eight and Windows
Phone eight have poor app ecosystems, and, specifically within the case of
Windows eight, the utterly atrocious app store encounter that ordinarily leaves
you asking yourself why on earth you decided to purchase a Windows tablet rather
than an iPad.
This news comes from the usual “sources acquainted with the company’s plans,” who spoke to the Verge. In accordance with the supply, the head of Microsoft’s newly formed Operating Systems group, Terry Myerson, held a meeting exactly where he told a large number of Microsoft workers regarding the new strategy to combine the app retailers. There didn’t seem to become significantly in the way of particulars, only that the new retailer - which we’ll bet excellent funds on it being called A single Store - would come with the “next release” of Windows and Windows Telephone. This need to mean Windows Phone eight.1 and an update for Windows eight.1, both of that are due in spring 2014.
As for how the One Store will really perform, we are able to only guess. In a perfect globe, it would work like the iOS App Store: apps developed for Windows Phone 8 would be scaled up for use on Windows eight tablets, and apps especially designed for tablet interfaces would show up if you are browsing the shop on your Windows eight tablet. Apple can get away with this because its smartphones and tablets run the exact same operating program, and therefore developers can target the precise similar APIs. Windows eight and Windows Telephone eight share lots of comparable attributes, and even some low-level code, but it’s nowhere close to exactly the same degree of similarity as an iPhone and iPad.
Microsoft, for its component, has previously taken for the stage and promised a unified ecosystem - but the specifics on how such unification could possibly basically happen haven’t been forthcoming. Because it stands, in the event you create a Metro app very carefully, porting it to Windows Phone 8 might be as quick as changing a handful of lines of code. In reality, although, resulting from wildly distinctive screen sizes, UI and UX paradigms, plus a substantial range of hardware targets (from Tegra 3 and integrated GPUs, by means of to Haswell and discrete GPUs), cross-platform compatibility has remained elusive.
Unless Microsoft has a magic trick up its sleeve to enable developers to conveniently build apps that run on each platforms - a compatibility layer (emulator) of some sort, maybe - then it’s much more probably that the 1 Store will just be a brand new app shop design that may be utilised by both Windows eight and Windows Phone eight. Windows 8 sorely requirements a brand new app retailer, and if a really unified app ecosystem is coming for Windows 9 and Windows Telephone 9, then it wouldn’t hurt to have people applied towards the new app shop right now. (Read: The Windows eight Shop is broken: Here’s how you can fix it.)
Yet another possibility, as I’ve hinted at just before, is that one particular of Microsoft’s OSes may actually consume the other. As recently as last week, Microsoft’s Myerson told some analysts that we should anticipate to view Windows RT on bigger phones - and it goes the other way, also, with all the Lumia 1520 phablet operating Windows Phone. I would not be surprised if Windows/RT ultimately consumes Windows Phone, which would very neatly solve the situation of cross-platform compatibility by removing the pesky “cross” bit.
http://www.windows7prokeys.com/windows-7-ultimate-product-key-p-3528.html
This news comes from the usual “sources acquainted with the company’s plans,” who spoke to the Verge. In accordance with the supply, the head of Microsoft’s newly formed Operating Systems group, Terry Myerson, held a meeting exactly where he told a large number of Microsoft workers regarding the new strategy to combine the app retailers. There didn’t seem to become significantly in the way of particulars, only that the new retailer - which we’ll bet excellent funds on it being called A single Store - would come with the “next release” of Windows and Windows Telephone. This need to mean Windows Phone eight.1 and an update for Windows eight.1, both of that are due in spring 2014.
As for how the One Store will really perform, we are able to only guess. In a perfect globe, it would work like the iOS App Store: apps developed for Windows Phone 8 would be scaled up for use on Windows eight tablets, and apps especially designed for tablet interfaces would show up if you are browsing the shop on your Windows eight tablet. Apple can get away with this because its smartphones and tablets run the exact same operating program, and therefore developers can target the precise similar APIs. Windows eight and Windows Telephone eight share lots of comparable attributes, and even some low-level code, but it’s nowhere close to exactly the same degree of similarity as an iPhone and iPad.
Microsoft, for its component, has previously taken for the stage and promised a unified ecosystem - but the specifics on how such unification could possibly basically happen haven’t been forthcoming. Because it stands, in the event you create a Metro app very carefully, porting it to Windows Phone 8 might be as quick as changing a handful of lines of code. In reality, although, resulting from wildly distinctive screen sizes, UI and UX paradigms, plus a substantial range of hardware targets (from Tegra 3 and integrated GPUs, by means of to Haswell and discrete GPUs), cross-platform compatibility has remained elusive.
Unless Microsoft has a magic trick up its sleeve to enable developers to conveniently build apps that run on each platforms - a compatibility layer (emulator) of some sort, maybe - then it’s much more probably that the 1 Store will just be a brand new app shop design that may be utilised by both Windows eight and Windows Phone eight. Windows 8 sorely requirements a brand new app retailer, and if a really unified app ecosystem is coming for Windows 9 and Windows Telephone 9, then it wouldn’t hurt to have people applied towards the new app shop right now. (Read: The Windows eight Shop is broken: Here’s how you can fix it.)
Yet another possibility, as I’ve hinted at just before, is that one particular of Microsoft’s OSes may actually consume the other. As recently as last week, Microsoft’s Myerson told some analysts that we should anticipate to view Windows RT on bigger phones - and it goes the other way, also, with all the Lumia 1520 phablet operating Windows Phone. I would not be surprised if Windows/RT ultimately consumes Windows Phone, which would very neatly solve the situation of cross-platform compatibility by removing the pesky “cross” bit.
http://www.windows7prokeys.com/windows-7-ultimate-product-key-p-3528.html
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