As planned, the guys from Redmond have officially presented the long-awaited renewal of the Surface range, but not exclusively, as the guys from Satya Nadella have also presented new products and devices that were not expected since no rumor had been published about it.
We are talking about Surface Duo, a smartphone with two screens and foldable, Surface Neo, a folding tablet with two screens and the Surface Ear Buds, a wireless headset with touch control. If you want to know all the news that the guys from Microsoft have presented, I invite you to continue reading this article.
Surface Duo
After leaving the smartphone division that he had bought from Nokia, a personal decision of the former CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, Staya Nadella, current CEO decided to focus his efforts in other areas toabandoning any project related to Windows-based smartphones, something that I personally consider a shame as the integration it would offer would be fantastic.
Surface Duo is Microsoft's new bet for telephony but with Android. Nothing from Windows, at least for the moment, although it would be feasible using the version for ARM processors (but we would not find the eternal problem of applications). The Surface Duo really are two screens that fold in and out and has nothing to do with the Samsung Fold.
The two screens that are part of this device are 5,6 inches and it offers us a rectangular size (they have not informed about the aspect ratio of the screens). Both screens are joined by a hinge system that allow to rotate up to 360 degrees, so we can place them in any position.
Being managed by Android 9 and having worked hand in hand with Google on this project, we will not have any problems in terms of applications, not only because of their availability, but also because of compatibility. Inside, we find the Snapdragon 855 second generation.
At the moment it is not known the price that the Surface Duo will have when it reaches the market in the Christmas 2020.
Surface Neo
In addition to the Surface Duo, a smartphone with two screens, the guys from Microsoft have also presented a tablet with two screens. It really is not something new, since a few months ago, Toshiba presented a similar model, a model that has not had the same media coverage that a device launched by the computer giant can have.
The Surface Neo is nothing more than the evolution, in terms of size, of the Surface Duo. The Surface Neo offers us a device with two folding screens with a hinge system that allows us to place the device in any position. Unlike the Surface Duo, this tablet is managed by Windows, specifically with Windows 10X.
As we can see in the video above, the integration that Windows 10X offers us in this model is practically perfect, adding a large number of possibilities and offering solution to the typical problems that we can find in the day to day in any tablet, including the iPad, which we can find in the market.
When opening Outlook on one screen if they place the emails and on the other we can comfortably read the text of each one, to give an example of the adaptation it offers us, move elements from one screen to another of the functions it offers us. It is also compatible with stylus, like the Surface range, so we will not lose the versatility that this tool offers us in this new model.
When making use of the physical keyboard (we can make use of a virtual one located on the screen) the Wonderbar is activated, an area located above the keyboard where we can have access to images, videos, emoticons to include in our messages and with a very similar operation to that found in the MacBook TouchBar, but much larger and more versatile.
As with the Surface Duo, the price has not been announced. Will start to hit the market on Christmas 2020.
Surface Ear Buds
A few days ago we showed you all the news that the electronic commerce giant, Amazon, presented for this year and where we could find the Echo Buds, a wireless headset with Very interesting features at a very attractive price.
Microsoft has also presented its commitment to wireless headphones in the hands of the Surface EarBuds. If we are looking for wireless headphones that do not attract attention, these are not what you are looking for, since offer us a completely different design which we can currently find on the market with a fairly wide outer surface and in which we can perform gestures to manage the headphones.
The reason for this surface is that Microsoft wants us to not only use them for listening to music, but also for control slide playback through Powerpoint. In addition, it integrates a translator in real time. With these features, it is clear that the enterprise market continues to be Microsoft's main target, although not exclusively.
Surface EarBuds will hit the market before the end of the year for U.S. dollar 249 in United States. At the moment, we do not know when it will be available in more countries.
Surface ProX
And we continue with new devices that become part of Microsoft's Surface range. The Surface Pro X is a device with a 13-inch screen only 5,3 millimeters thick and 774 grams in weight. It is the first Microsoft device to be managed by an ARM processor, specifically by the Microsoft SQ1, a processor based on Qualcomm technology that we can find in the Snapdragon.
Incorporating an ARM processor has a direct impact on battery consumption, since this is considerably increased compared to processors managed by Intel processors. The Surface Pro X will be available in versions of 8 and 16 GB of RAM, 128/256 and 512 of SSD storage and will have a starting price of $ 999. For now, it will be available only in the United States from November 5.
Surface Pro 7
After showing you the most important news of the presentation event of the Surface range, now it's time to talk about the long-awaited renovations of the range of products that the guys from Redmond have been offering for a long time in the market. The main novelty of the Surface Pro 7 is the USB-C port.
Yes, as strange and paradoxical as it may seem, the Surface Pro range did not offer a USB-C connection, a port that not only allows us to charge the device, but also allows us to use it as an audio and video output port, access to storage systems… The introduction of the USB-C port it does not mean that the traditional USB-A port has disappeared.
In addition to the USB-C port, we also find a USB-A port, a microSD slot, miniDisplayPort connection, Port Surface Connect to connect Microsoft keyboards (sold separately), 3,5mm headphone jack. Regarding wireless connections, we find Bluetooth 5 and Wi-Fi 6.
The weight of the set, without the keyboard, is 770 grams and has dimensions of 29x20x0.84 cm. Battery reaches 10,5 hours autonomy and it supports fast charging. As for security, we find the Windows Hello facial recognition system and Dolby Audio in the sound section.
The price of the cheapest model part of the 749 euros with a Core i3 processor, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. All the processors that we will find within the Surface Pro 7 range are of the tenth generation, called Ice Lake. The seventh generation of the Surface Pro 7 will hit the market on October 22.
3 Laptop Surface
As expected, Microsoft has also presented the third generation of the Surface Laptop, a range that is characterized by incorporating the keyboard natively and not as an option as happens with the Surface range without surnames. The main novelty is found in the incorporation of a USB-C port, since the rest of the device is practically the same.
Inside, we find the new tenth generation Intel Ice Lake processors. A model managed by AMD Ryzen has also been presented for those who want the highest graphic quality in a laptop. This model has eliminated the alcantara fabric that was so striking in last year's presentation, but which has been a headache for users, so this new generation is only made of aluminum.
The new Surface Laptop 3 range will be available from October 22, currently only in the United States.