Surface Mini Rumored to Focus on Taking Notes with Stylus
Microsoft may be targeting the Tegra Note and Galaxy Note tablets.
The latest rumor surrounding the unannounced Surface Mini tablet is that Microsoft will market the tablet as a note-taking device, complete with a stylus. There's now speculation that the device will have an 8-inch screen instead of 7-inches so that the user can easily take those notes. The Office suite really isn't ideal for the smaller form factor.
So far we still have no official word regarding when this product will go retail. However, previous talk pointed to both April and June, and since Microsoft's BUILD developer conference has come and gone, June looks like the likely candidate. Heck, it could appear this fall with Windows 8.1 Update 2 for all we know.
Sources told Neowin that the Surface Mini may include a built-in Wacom digitizer so that the consumer can use a pen-like stylus instead of the fat and round versions. This will be the tablet's biggest selling feature, as Microsoft may have a long battle ahead if it relies on just software- and hardware-based competition.
The report also states that the Surface Mini was supposed to launch alongside the Surface 2 back in October 2013, but the company chose not to do so. Why? Because Microsoft had enough issues keeping Surface 2 in stock when it first hit the market. We also heard that the Surface Mini team was pulled from the project to help get the Xbox One out the door.
So where is the Surface Mini? Again, it probably won't arrive until sometime this quarter. Sources say that the device is actually complete, and that it's up to Microsoft to make the announcement. We have a gut feeling that this tablet will be tied into E3 2014 somehow, as previous rumors hinted to a strong Xbox presence on the 8-inch device.
On the other hand, this latest rumor has the Surface Mini pegged as the best note-taking device on the market. If that's the case, Microsoft will be competing directly with Nvidia (Tegra Note 7) and Samsung (Galaxy Note). Guess we'll find out in the next several months.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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gadgety Definitely a step in the right direction, providing it does come with a Wacom stylus. Finally Samsung gets some competition. I'm very pleased with my Note 8.0 LTE which doubles as a phone and tablet. There's a tiny bit of lag with the stylus leading to misspelled words.Reply -
wemakeourfuture Microsoft may lose a few hundred million instead of a billion off surface now.Reply
Until they address pricing, market penetration and apps this is let another bust in their sad unprofitable customer device division history. -
Camikazi ReplyStill over priced. Cheaper to by a laptop for the price.
Am I blind or are you seeing things cause I don't see a price anywhere in this article or the NeoWin article. -
everlast66 MS didn't learn. They have to work on improving price and the number of applications.Reply -
game junky Meh - would rather have them go with a 7" Xbox tablet for mobile gaming. The Surface platform is still pretty limitted - I am sure there are some that are incredibly happy but it's probably not measured in the millions. We have a couple of people at our office that use them so that they don't have to take their chunky laptops when they're on a short business trip that doesn't require access to our network drives. For just image capturing, video calling and note taking for a project, it does a decent job. If you need more than that, it might be wishful thinkingReply -
GreaseMonkey_62 I'd like to see an 8 inch Windows with a beefier processor such as an i3 over an Atom processor. Or maybe a decent AMD APU. Otherwise this sounds pretty cool.Reply