Surface V2 was soft-launched at the press day at CES. It was then briefly demonstrated by Ballmer in his keynote. The next morning it was given official status with pictures.
Microsoft Surface V2 Demonstration
The major point to be noted is that Surface V2 is not at all a consumer device. It is too dear and its development is aimed for commercial development. Their aim is to make the device omnipresent. Now, this strategy is a little tough to catch.
Sur-40, a product of Samsung has a 1080p and 40” LCD display. It has tiny photosensors that are embedded in the sub-pixel layer. It was told that some tricks were used to enhance the resolution from 1024×768 and 30” but not affect the image. It is almost like a television of a reduced size. The change is remarkable as it would have taken a lot of research in optimizing the UI for that hardware. The device has 2.9GHz AMD Athlon II X2 processor and a Radeon HD 6700M GPU. Sur-40 is light and thin. It is hardly 4 inches and slightly heavier than the average LCD. The light weight makes the wall mounting of the device quite easy. It is definitely a huge advancement.
The photo-sensors detect IR light and use the long-in development surface algorithms for sensing touch, shapes and also to read text. The images of old Surface were not of enough resolution to read text and images. The new Surface is advanced but is limited by the DPI of the screen. They are still working on it.
Microsoft Surface V2 Hands on Experience
By showing concern that Microsoft has three touch-based interfaces and strategies which are completely different and not suitable for a hands-on with a newly launched device, we tried to extract information on a Windows 8 cross-over project. But we could not succeed. They said that the Surface is our sole concern and not the issues at stake. They at least are not headed to the R&D department in the sky.
The new Surface has interesting technology involved, hence is a nice product. It will be useful to overcome the squat, heavy barrel image the old Surface has had. But it will succeed in becoming common the way Microsoft wants, is dicey. Though, the stylish, standardized and mass produced hardware will definitely help achieve the aim.
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