Microsoft Surface 2 event | CNET

Microsoft Surface 2 event

Microsoft will be launching its next-generation Surface devices on Monday, September 23 at 7:30 a.m. PT/10:30 a.m. ET in New York City, and CNET will be covering it live.

  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:22:24 PM
    "How do you get something that thin with such a uniform backlight?"
  • Scott Stein 9/23/2013 3:22:29 PM
    Pretty awesome that the backlighting is across the board.
  • sarahtew 9/23/2013 3:22:40 PM
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:23:05 PM
    We're looking at the new sensor layout now. The old Touch Cover on the left had 80 sensors. The new one has 1,092. "What does that do? What does it mean? It's thinner, it's lighter. It's like a piece of paper. It feels great when you click it in. It feels like a book when you close it."
  • dan.ackerman 9/23/2013 3:23:17 PM
    Interesting that MS is pairing Touch Cover with Surface 2 and Type Cover with Surface Pro 2. When we shot our hands-on videos of these products recently, I made the same exact choice, although the covers are interchangeable.
  • dan.ackerman 9/23/2013 3:23:18 PM
    Did they mention the price of the Pro 2 yet?
  • sarahtew 9/23/2013 3:23:32 PM
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:23:37 PM
    "If you used to type in the past with Touch Cover... you might have dropped keys." That's because your finger hit between the sensors. Now you can hit your finger between the keys and it'll still be picked up.
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:24:17 PM
    "With Touch Cover and Type Cover 2 they work on all of our products." That's RT, Pro, Pro 2 and Surface 2. "But that's not where this sensor ends. You can now do gestures on top of it."
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:24:25 PM
    "We can give you opportunities that you've never seen before."
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:24:54 PM
    "Everything the Surface team does, everything they do back in Redmond, it's focused not on now but on the future. We started Surface 2 long before the Surface RT launch."
  • Scott Stein 9/23/2013 3:24:59 PM
    This is almost like a giant touch pad.
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:25:17 PM
    Video time again, we're going to a design school.
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:25:29 PM
    Students are opening up the Surface boxes and experimenting.
  • dan.ackerman 9/23/2013 3:25:41 PM
    Moving away from the one-key/one-sensor design gives you a lot of opportunities to do different things.
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:25:48 PM
    Ralf Groene, the Creative Director of the Surface, is talking about the concepts.
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:26:25 PM
    Ralf is showing off a different controller, with big square buttons.
  • Scott Stein 9/23/2013 3:26:38 PM
    Oh wow. Attached specialized control panels for Touch Cover?
  • dan.ackerman 9/23/2013 3:26:48 PM
    Will third-party accessory makers produce their own Surface click-on covers?
  • sarahtew 9/23/2013 3:26:59 PM
  • sarahtew 9/23/2013 3:27:13 PM
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:27:21 PM
    The students are now riffing over other ideas that you could do with the Touch Cover style interface. And we're getting some zippy dubstep music in the background.
  • Scott Stein 9/23/2013 3:27:23 PM
    The idea of specialized touch covers with new controls is an awesome, awesome idea.
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:27:25 PM
    "What if..." is the common theme.
  • dan.ackerman 9/23/2013 3:27:33 PM
    Give me two turntables on a Touch Cover, just sayin'...
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:27:46 PM
    Surface 2, coming 10/22" just popped up on the screen.
  • dan.ackerman 9/23/2013 3:27:48 PM
    Oh, there's the date on-screen, says 10/22.
  • Scott Stein 9/23/2013 3:27:56 PM
    Showing some crazy Touch Cover backlit DJ rig.
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:28:14 PM
    It's the Surface Remix Project, available 10/22. It's a DJ-style interface.
  • sarahtew 9/23/2013 3:28:51 PM
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:29:09 PM
    We're getting a demo of it now. 16 large square buttons on the right, three sliders on the left, play/pause and other controls on the upper-left.
  • sarahtew 9/23/2013 3:29:30 PM
  • Scott Stein 9/23/2013 3:29:36 PM
    You can use on-screen controls on a tablet, sure, but the idea of specialized snap-on controls would make serious work a lot more interesting.
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:29:54 PM
    Panos is showing off the pressure sensitivity. Hitting the button harder results in a louder bass drum. "We know how hard you're hitting that key." He's talking about the potential for finger painting.
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:30:11 PM
    Panos is going to be remixing a Linkin Park song. Cover your ears.
  • dan.ackerman 9/23/2013 3:30:24 PM
    Something with Linkin Park described as a "Cool song," for the purposes of this demo.
  • Scott Stein 9/23/2013 3:30:35 PM
    This is pretty futuristic-feeling.
  • dan.ackerman 9/23/2013 3:30:54 PM
    First serious misstep of this press conference? Is this what people listen to in Seattle these days?
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:31:21 PM
    Panos is now mixing in real-time, adding in lyrics, bass, drums, and lots of random... stuff.
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:31:39 PM
    "That is the Surface Remix Project." Big applause!
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:31:52 PM
    "You have never seen that before." (Actually, I saw it last week. Shh.)
  • dan.ackerman 9/23/2013 3:31:53 PM
    Software app feels like Abelton Live, Reason, etc.
  • Scott Stein 9/23/2013 3:31:58 PM
    Fun, but...this tech needs to be opened up to all app-makers and their tools. Don't want a peripheral that can't work with everything.
  • Tim Stevens 9/23/2013 3:32:17 PM
    "We're proud of what we're bringing you today. We're proud of it... Every single detail continues to be thought of... You will feel it when you use it."
  • sarahtew 9/23/2013 3:32:29 PM
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