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The new Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book

Posted by Giridhar on October 7, 2015 in Microsoft 0 Comment

Surface Pro 4

At the Windows 10 devices event yesterday, Microsoft unveiled the latest product in the Surface pro lineup: The Surface Pro 4. The Surface Pro 4. The Surface series just keep surprising us, either positively or negatively. But this year the Surface Pro 4 is purely a pleasant surprise. It looks a lot like the Surface Pro 3, but it has a larger 12.3 inch display and a thinner profile at just 8.4mm. The i5 and i7 versions weigh 786 grams while the version powered by Intel m3 processor weighs 766 grams. The Surface Pro 4 is designed keeping the Windows 10 at heart. The display packs over 267 pixels per inch and supports resolution of 2763 x 1824 pixels. It is powered by the 6th generation Intel core m3, i5 or i7 processor. The Surface Pro 4 is capable of going on for 9 hours with a single charge. It comes in either 4GB, 8GB or 16 GB RAM. Also the storage ranges from 128 GB to 1 TB. You can configure the Surface Pro 4 as per your needs. The base version starts at $899 and the top end with Intel i7, 16 GB RAM and 1 TB of storage can punch a hole as deep as $2699 in your pocket. The Surface Pro 4 has a 5 MP camera on the front and a 8MP camera at the back.

The Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book will include the all new Microsoft Surface Pen. It comes in 5 different colors with interchangeable tips for writing or drawing experience. It has 1024 pressure points to detect the right pressure you apply with your hand and write accordingly on the Surface. The back of the Pen has an eraser function which can undo whatever you wrote with the Pen. It can also launch OneNote or Cortana with click gestures. The Surface Pen is not rechargeable, but its battery can last for one year.

Preorder here

Type Cover

The new Type cover is an extra keyboard accessory that can be attached to the Suface Pro 4. It is also backward compatible with Surface Pro 4. According to Microsoft, the upgraded Type cover has 40% larger trackpad and the keys are quiet and have a very nice tactile feeling. It also included a fingerprint scanner. Available in 6 colors, the new Type cover will cost $130.

Surface Book

The surprise launch last night was the Surface Book. Nobody expected Microsoft to launch a Laptop. This is the first ever laptop from Microsoft. The Surface Book is a convertible laptop. The display can be undocked from the base and Microsoft calls it the Clipboard. Also when attached to the base, the dynamic fulcrum hinge can be bent all the way to the back with the clipboard on it. It weighs a total of 1576 grams. The laptop is 22.8 mm thick but the clipboard is just 7.7 mm thin. The display is a 13.5 inch display supporting resolution of 3000 x 2000 pixels, which gives it a 267 ppi of pixel density. Microsoft assures 12 hours of battery life on the Surface Book, which would be phenomenal. The Surface Book is also configurable. It can be configured to be powered by a i5 processor with or without dedicated NVIDIA GeForce Graphics GPU. The i7 version will have the GPU by default. Also it comes in 128 GB, 256GB, or 512GB of storage capacity. The RAM is either 8GB or 16 GB. The Surface Book also has a 5 MP camera on the front and a 8MP camera at the back. The Surface Pen is also included in the box.

Panos Panay, the head of device at Microsoft, demonstrated how smooth the Surface book can handle intensive graphics. He showed demos of gaming, video playback, video rendering with Adobe Premiere and 3D rendering with AutoDesk. Overall, it looks very impressive. The base version is priced at $1499 while the top end model would cost $2699.

Preorder here

Display Dock

Additionally a new dock was also launched. This dock is compatible with Surface Pro 3, 4 and Book. It has 4 USB ports, two 4K display ports and ethernet port. It is priced at $200. The dock can connect your Surface to a larger display and also extend the functionality of the Surface to a full blown PC.

Microsoft has ignored the Indian market for its Surface products. We hope that this year, the new Surface products will make it to India.

Microsoft Band 2 is now official

Posted by Giridhar on October 7, 2015 in Microsoft, Wearables 0 Comment

Is it a fitness/activity tracker or a smartwatch? I am not sure. But the new Microsoft Band looks promising. The Microsoft Band 2 comes in 3 different sizes. It has a curved glass display protected by Corning Gorilla Glass. The band is flexible and the design does not have any hard edges. It is designed to curve nicely around the wrist. It has inbuilt GPS tracker. It monitors the UV levels. It has guided workouts, sleep tracking, calorie tracking, etc. It 11 sensors which includes Barometer to sense elevation changes. It is deeply integrated with Cortana. Cortana in the Band can tell you if have missed a workout. It even has a mechanisim to measure the max oxygen your body can process in a min. That is called the VO2 max. It is used in advanced training for sports persons and now it is available for any Microsoft Band 2 user.

screenshot-www.microsoft.com 2015-10-06 19-55-18 — Lindsay Matese announcing the Microsoft Band 2

If you decided that it is a fitness tracker, the Band 2 can give you notifications from your mobile. It can sync up with any smartphone running on Android, iOS and ofcourse Windows. So is it a Smartwatch? I think its a Hybrid watch. Availability and pricing in India is not yet known. But in the US, it retails for $249 and is available from october 30 this year.

Microsoft Lumia 950 and 950 XL

Posted by Giridhar on October 7, 2015 in Microsoft 0 Comment

With over 110 million device already running on the Windows 10 since its launched 10 weeks ago, the Lumia 950 and 950 XL are here to add flavor to the menu. The 950 has a 5.2 inch WQHD display while the 950 XL has a 5.7 inch display. The 950 XL is powered by a Snapdragon 810 processor and the 950 is powered by a Snapdragon 808 processor. Both the mobile have 20MP camera with Optical image stabilization and support for 4K video recording. The primary camera is assisted y a tri color LED flash. These devices come with 32 GB internal storage. If 2TB of cloud storage is not enough, you can expand the storage capacity using a microSD card by upto 256 GB on both the devices. The USB C port is slowly gaining popularity. Both the mobile have USB C type port and also support fast charging. The devices can be charged by 50% in 30 min. These are just the specifications that may or may not impress you. But wait till you read this.

These devices are liquid cooled. Yes, its not a typo. You read it right. The heating of the mobile phones have warranted for a better cooling system and the Lumia 950 series will be liquid cooled. Also they unlock based on voice recognition. The best is reserved for the last. The Lumia 950 and 950XL support Continuum. Now thats a fancy term used by Microsoft for products that can be a mobile and a PC at the same time. It makes perfect sense. Mobile devices are more powerful than most PCs these days. So why not use them as PCs. Microsoft also showcased a display dock that can compliment the Continuum. All you have to do is to connect the mobile to this display adapter. The display adapter can be connected to any external display and now your mobile is your PC. The apps, the files, the UI everything projected on the display looks and behaves like on a PC, while the same still gives you a mobile experience on the mobile. The Microsoft display dock has HDMI and display port along with 3 USB ports. The display adapter is also a USB port for plugging in your mass storage. You can then connect a keyboard and mouse, wirelessly and now you have a full fledged PC. Truly, Microsoft have taken the game to the next level. It time for other players to catch up.

	Lumia 950	Lumia 950 XL
4G Network	LTE band 3(1800), 40(2300)	LTE band 3(1800), 40(2300)
Dimensions	145 x 73.2 x 8.2 mm	151.9 x 78.4 x 8.1 mm
Weight	150 g	165 g
SIM	Single Nano-SIM	Single Nano-SIM
Display Size	5.2 inches AMOLED 1440 x 2560 pixels (~564 ppi pixel density)	5.7 inches AMOLED 1440 x 2560 pixels (~518 ppi pixel density)
Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 3	Corning Gorilla Glass 4
OS	Microsoft Windows 10	Microsoft Windows 10
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 808	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810
GPU	Adreno 418	Adreno 430
Memory Expansion	microSD card upto 256 GB	microSD card upto 256 GB
Internal Memory	32 GB	32 GB
ROM	3 GB	3 GB
Primary Camera	20 MP, optical image stabilization, autofocus, triple-LED RGB flash	20 MP, optical image stabilization, autofocus, triple-LED RGB flash
Video	4K video	4K Video
Secondary	5 MP	5 MP
NFC	Yes	Yes
USB	Type-C 1.0 reversible connector	Type-C 1.0 reversible connector
Battery	Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery	Li-Ion 3340 mAh battery

The Lumia 950 is priced at $549 while the 950 XL is priced at $649. The price in India and availability is not yet known.

The new budget device from Microsoft : Lumia 550

Posted by Giridhar on October 6, 2015 in Microsoft 0 Comment

In the Windows 10 devices event just concluded, Microsoft announced the Lumia 550. At $139, the Lumia 550 is the new entry level device running Windows 10 out of the box. It is a 5 inch device powered by a Qualcom Snapdragon 210 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz. It has a 5 MP camera and has 8 GB of on-board storage. It will be available starting December. Its pricing and availability in India is not yet known. From what we know, the Lumia 550 is a successor to the Lumia 540 or even the Lumia 640 from Microsoft.

Microsoft is known for offering the identical software experience across all its mobiles, right from flagship device to the entry level device. So we expect the same with Lumia 550. The Lumia 550 will give you all the goodness of Windows 10.

Leaked images of upcoming Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL

Posted by Giridhar on August 31, 2015 in Microsoft, Phonelicious 0 Comment

It has been a while since a flagship or high end Lumia device has been launched. Windows 10 has been launched for Desktop and now Microsoft is all set to turn its focus on the Mobiles. Ever since the Nokia acquisition, nothing ground breaking has happened in its mobile division. This october, Microsoft may release two new flagship devices. The Lumia 950 (Codename Talkman) and Lumia 950 XL (Codename Cityman), may be launched soon and here are its images leaked by @evLeaks

On the specifications, it is speculated that the Luma 950 XL will have a 5.7 inch QHD display., while the Lumia 950 could have a 5.2 inch QHD display. Both the device would be powered by Snapdragon 808 processor with Adreno 430 GPU. They may have 3 GB or RAM and 32 GB onboard memory with expandable storage. On the camera, these devices could sport 20 MP pureView camera and a 5 Mp front facing camera. Additionally, they may also have iris scanner and USB C port. They may also support wireless charging and could include a stylus support.

Lumia 950XL image as leaked by Brad Sams from Neowin

Microsoft has scheduled an event on October 19th and along with these device, we may see more Lumia devices announced. Lumia 850, 750 and 550 are the other devices along with upgrades to Surface and Xbox. Still no news about the successor for the Lumia 1020. It still remains to be my favorite mobile. If any one can do a better job, that would have to be the Lumia team. High hopes, hope they don’t disappoint.