Microsoft's Surface 2 event

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About to start. Live blogs only:

http://live.theverge.com/microsoft-surface-2-liveblog/
http://live.cnet.com/Event/Microsoft_Surface_2_event
http://mashable.com/2013/09/22/microsoft-surface-live-blog/

EDIT:

Everything in here: http://www.theverge.com/microsoft/2013/9/23/4761722/all-the-news-from-microsofts-surface-2-event

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Some crazy covers:

[archnemesis]

Did they cut the price in half?

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Maybe they will do that for the old models.


That looks like the dock, it has two parts on the side that stick out.

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"Ladies and gentlemen please take your seats our presentation is about to begin."

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Panos has taken the stage.

"This is a big day for Surface. A big day for the Surface team in Redmond."

"We've been working on the second-generation of products for around 18 months."

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"We're going to introduce to you the next-generation of devices, two of them."

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"The most productive tablet ever built with Surface 2."

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Surface Pro 2, "let me introduce you Surface Pro." Loud cheers from the Microsoft members of the audience.

"Surface Pro has been one of the best products Microsoft has built."

"I love Surface Pro, I use it all the time. We only set out to make it better.

"Reinventing the wheel is not the goal, making it better is."

[Mupepe]

I held off from the original for all the kinks to be worked out so I'm excited as ballz.

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"The screen…it's the ClearType HD display you're used to. We spent more and more energy to bring this thing to life. We added 46 percent… more color accuracy to the screen."

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"This is super important. If you're a pro using this, it's really important.

Just as you'd expect, Microsoft is aiming the Surface Pro 2 at professionals.

"We've boosted these speakers and added Dolby to the Surface 2 line up."

"Those are subtle changes. Let's talk about the more impactful ones."

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"They love it because it's fast, it's the fastest product they've ever used."

"Surface Pro 2 is literally faster than 95 percent of laptops today."

"Moving to Surface Pro 2 we've increased the graphics performance by 50 percent."

"We improved the performance on this product by 20 percent, if you thought it was fast before it is lightning fast now."

"Surface Pro, people use it like it. Surface Pro 2 gets better on a number of fronts."

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The rear of the Surface Pro 2 doesn't have a Windows logo anymore. It simply says "Surface."

Panos is talking about the 22 degrees angle of the original kickstand.

"You need better angles."

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"One of the things people say, if it really is a power of a PC in a tablet form factor… it needs to work better in the lap."

"Sometimes subtly can be the most impactful force."

"This is the evolution of the kickstand. This is something that will change this product in ways that you cannot expect.

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"We've increased the speed of the product by 20 percent."

"What's the one thing they say about the product? Battery, of course."

"We've added Haswell to the product, absolutely."

"We didn't stop there. We didn't want to just bring you 20 percent improvement in battery life."

"The point of this product is to work fast, the need of the product is to work all the time."

"We couldn't miss either one. We pushed the battery life further."

"They made it operate cooler, quieter, all fact. Most important with every element of the redesign they focused on one thing… more battery life.

Surface Pro improves battery by 75 percent. That's a lot.

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"I always want more, our team Surface wants more. They are relentless in what they do. We decided to go from Surface Pro to Surface Pro with Power Cover."

"This is Surface Power Cover, it's a 30w battery added to your product."







"It clicks right in, it forms like a book. It looks beautiful and it's wrapped in fabric."

"Surface Pro 2 now lets you use it all day."

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"It is the most productive, professional tablet in the world."

"The one thing that we've kinda not talked about is how much of a workstation this thing can be."

"We hear from businesses, we want to buy one product."

"I want to introduce to you the Surface Docking Station."



3x USB 3.0, 1x USB 1.0, Mini DisplayPort, Ethernet, Audio in, Audio Out, Power.

[Cerveza mas fina]

This is worse then my Sony posts, cause someone will actually buy a PS4.

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The Surface slides straight into the Docking Station and it clicks into place.

"You can power two monitors right off this docking station."

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Looks like a Red Dragon camera collaboration with Surface coming up.

"This is the same camera that made Game of Thrones."

"What I wanna tell you is that the data coming off this camera is raw 6K data."

"It ends up here, on Surface Pro 2. Take a look at the image coming off my Surface Pro 2.

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Panos has just taken the Surface Pro 2 off the Docking Station, it simply slides out the top.

[Cerveza mas fina]

More MCD posts itt then sales irl

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"We're using the 46 percent color improvement with the least amount of reflectivity…. I'm outside on a movie set right now."

Panos is talking about a scenario where movie makers can use the Surface Pro 2 at a shoot to process 6K raw data.

"This is power."

"When we talk about having the full power of a PC in a tablet form factor. We're really proud of this, it's really cool."

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"We've talked about Surface Pro 2, I'd like to talk about for a minute using the product in your lap."

"I want to introduce to you the Type Cover 2."

"This is interesting, Type Cover 2 is a beautiful product. It is a beautiful product. It comes in many different colors."

"It's amazing for people who loved it for how it felt. It's also amazing how people want to personalize their devices."

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"We don't want to stop by just adding a color. We want to push the barrier."

"It's clear input makes you productive. Typing is scenario that makes you productive. This product does that, this product has changed. It's exactly 1mm thiner than the last Type Cover."

"We want you to type faster, we want you to be faster, we want you to be better."

"We've taken a full milimeter out of the travel. Type Cover 2 is almost as thin as Touch Cover 1."

"It's not only thinner, it's also backlit."

[archnemesis]

Hey, do you guys think this will end up being a good device for College? I don't want a Macbook but I also don't want a turdy ass windows laptop, either.

It depends what you want to use it for. I have a MacBook Air that's useful for taking notes during meetings, but for any more productive work I prefer to use a desktop PC. Writing 20 pages of text on a laptop keyboard sounds like hell to me.

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It dims after around nine seconds. We're sitting in the dark watching a demo of the Type Cover 2.

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"So that's Surface Pro 2, you get better screen, great speakers."

"75 percent more battery life, you get to used it all day. The kickstand now allows lapability."

"What I believe is the most powerful tablet for professional use in the world."

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We're switching to Surface 2 now.

"Surface 2 is the product that we're introducing to you today."

"It's the revamp people need. When the team set out to deliver Surface RT…they had a vision. We had a vision. We went out to create a product that people can buy and get away from just consumption."

"And get away from their iPad or tablet and be more productive.

"I really want you to get your hands on this product today. I'm excited about it."

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Microsoft is showing off a quick video of the Surface 2, it looks similar to the original Surface video

"Lighter."

"Thinner."

"Faster."

"Full HD."

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"This product really is a revamp."

"This is the fastest product I've used relative to a personal tablet."

"We've increased the CPU speed dramatically."

"We've revamped the product so you can see the true magnesium of the product coming out."

"We've added the Surface logo. You're using a Surface, you want people to know you're using a Surface. Let them know."

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"On the last product we talked about trade offs."

"We use the same injection moulding process we used in the past."

"This product got lighter, and thinner."

"I'll tell you how it's more sexier, because it is."

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"A year ago we launched this product with Windows 8. We're launching with 8.1. The power of 8.1 comes to life in full in this product."

"It doesn't slow down, there's nothing that slows it down."

"Because we're using Surface 2 with the Windows RT 8.1 OS. We're able to protect this device full through."

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"Last year we launched this product with 10,000 apps. This year I stand up in front of you and there's 100,000 apps in the Windows Store right now. That's critical."

Flipboard and Facebook are coming, but no word when.

"When you use an app on here, you realize how powerful this product is."

"The power of this product will come out through its applications."

"There's this one app we don't talk about enough…it's the one almost everybody uses. It comes with this device." It's Office.

Panos talking up the addition of Outlook RT in Surface 2

"It works flawlessly on this product."

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Demo time.

"This is running all four Office apps at the same time."

Microsoft is really focusing on the productivity idea of Surface, rather than Metro-style apps here. We've just switched over to the Halo Windows 8 game though.

Julie Larson-Green is now controlling Halo from the audience.

"I plug in to my USB 3.0 port, a wireless dongle."

"I'm still running all my favorite Office apps in the background."

Panos demonstrating the multitasking of Windows RT 8.1.

"If you think you're gonna play Halo and work at the same time, you have issues." Panos jokes

"You're better off working and playing, doing them at the same time is called ADD. Don't do it."

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"I want to switch over to a Skype conversation."

"The back camera on this is phenomenal."

"The stills you take off of it are gorgeous. The power of the front facing camera is one of a kind. The front camera really matters, here's why."

"This scenario is real and it's one I do all the time. While I play Halo plently, and I work a lot, I don't do them together. I do a lot of Skype."

"I'm gonna change angle on the kickstand. This is important, now it has created the great angle for me to use the camera."

"When I'm in China, they're usually sleeping when I'm awake." Panos talking about his kids and now demonstrating a video message from Skype.

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X360

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The lights are dimming, but the camera is still drawing a lot of light.

"It's a unique lens, we're able to filter light throughout the product."

"Panos talking up the ability for people to use Skype and not worry about the lighting around them. This is the power of Surface and Skype coming together."

Best of Skype for one year, free international calling and free Wi-Fi included with Surface 2 or Surface Pro 2.

So Microsoft is bundling in free Skype Wi-Fi hotspots with free international calling. Great for Skype users.

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"When we talk about the power of Windows 8.1, this is a demo that brings that to life as well."

"This is my Surface 2, I use it for everything. All of my files are saved to SkyDrive. All my photos, all my documents, everything lives in the cloud."

"I can't see the cloud, but I know it's there. When you get Surface 2 you get this automatic opportunity to use SkyDrive."

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"I can throw this and try and make this point."

Panos is moving into the audience. Is he about to throw it?

"It's a really hard device to break, the build quality is unbelievalble."

It doesn't look like he's going to throw it unfortunately.

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Panos is talking up the ability to store all info on SkyDrive.

Panos is joking with the crowd about an "arch nemesis" in media getting hold of secret information.

"That product is Bitlocker encrypted, by the time I get off this stage there's really no hope for Mary Jo to get it."

"It's like a magic trick and it works and you don't need to know magic. This is the power of SkyDrive." Being able to simply restore a device if it's lost.

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"For those of you who said you don't use SkyDrive, we're gonna solve that. When you buy a Surface 2 you get 200GB of SkyDrive for two years from day one."

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We're selling Surface 2 for $449.

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"Let me show you one more thing."

"This is Touch Cover 2." It's also backlit.

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"I'm gonna show you the blacklight." 1mm thinner than the last Touch Cover. We're in the dark watching the dimming again.

"It's really marvellous what the Surface has done back in Redmond."

"It feels like a book when you close it. Surface 2 got thinner, Touch Cover got thinner."

"With the high resolution sensor…you can't miss a key."

"We have predictive typing that comes off the product. You will type on this thing and you will not miss words."

"With Type Cover 2 and Touch Cover 2 they work on all our products."

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Did he throw it ?!?

He did it last year.

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"What I want you to do is come with me on a small journey."

"Everything the Surface team does right now is not only now, but the future. We started Surface 2 long before Surface RT launched."

"This sensor is to open your mind just a little bit."

"If you could click in and do more, a lot more than just typing."

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We're watching a video now.

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Can't wait until Apple comes out with a back-lit keyboard for my iPad!

You mean Logitech.

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We just saw a new cover, the one with numbers and volume controls we saw earlier.

The video is going through a bunch of "what ifs" for Surface.

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"Surface remix project."

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"I'm going to show you the first next-generation version of what you could do."

"This product will be available on 10/22."

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"When I told you we have a full resolution sensor on the product, it's that same pressure sensitivity you get on the first product."

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"Now I can take you to the next level. This is a cover that lets you remix your favorite music and share it with the whole world."

"It's the same thinness of any Touch Cover you've seen before." Panos is showing how the sounds it produces are louder based on pressure.

"We know you're putting pressure. If you were finger painting, you could smudge your ink harder. Think of the things beyond a simple product."