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With Forthcoming Surface, Microsoft to Join the Tablet Fray

By Rain Noe - June 19, 2012

in Object Culture

In a surprise move yesterday, Microsoft announced their forthcoming Surface tablet, intended to compete with the iPad. Microsoft has a mixed record with their physical products—the Kin cell phones were an abject failure, the Courier dual-screen tablets were shelved, and the Xbox was eventually a tremendous success—but there are some points of interest, from an industrial design standpoint, on the Surface.

First off, there's a kickstand incorporated into the body of the tablet itself, an interesting idea if it allows freedom of angle placement (no word on whether it does). Secondly, it will sport both a Micro SD slot and a USB port to make file transfers easy. Thirdly, the screen is about an inch larger than the iPad's, at 10.6 inches.

But by far the most interesting feature is the Surface's cover. They've borrowed Apple's magnetic connection, but turned the cover into a keyboard in itself, in two varieties: A superthin "Touch" version, presumably for casual use, and a slightly thicker "Type" version, presumably for heavier use.

The Surface will come in two versions, a thinner base version and a thicker model with heavier processing power. No word yet on when either will be released.

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-Joel-Kramka-

12 years ago

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"First off, there's a kickstand incorporated into the body of the tablet itself, an interesting idea if it allows freedom of angle placement (no word on whether it does)."

This is kind of a funny line as though if it doesn't allow for angle placement than it's pointless. How many bulky ipad cases do people buy just to have a kickstand.
Also to the point of if the stand breaks makes the integrated stand a bad idea is kind of a strange observation. If my macbook pro's screen hinge breaks it would really be a bummer so I'll try not to break it, the difference hear is that breaking a kickstand doesn't render a tablet useless. That being said I hope that it is designed like what the comment from mosambro said above.
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mosambro

12 years ago

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Depends how the hinge on the stand is designed. I'd bet that at the very least, it's designed to pop off if forced, and at the best that any breakage would be confined to the stand itself. Just order a new one, snap it on, and off you go.

I can't wait to get my hands on one. If it works as advertised I would definitely get one over the iPad. Creation trumps consumption any day.
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Seggy

12 years ago

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Anything that can break, will break. I think the integrated stand is a bad idea. Once it gets broken, your precious tablet is a bit ruined. I really like that an ipad is a block of stuff - you can add accessories to this block of stuff - but the main unit has very little to go wrong with it. How many laptops have you had with doors to ports that broke and then just made the laptop look bad. Apart from that the product does look very nice and the real keyboard integrated into the cover is real nice!
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