Tag: Microsoft Surface

To celebrate a decade of Surface, a special edition of Microsoft’s signature 2-in-1 device draws its inspiration from Windows 11’s desktop wallpaper and nearly 150 years of history at a world-renowned global design house.

The Surface Pro Liberty Keyboard with Slim Pen 2*, which shows off the collaboration between Microsoft Surface and the London-based Liberty, is now available in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Japan (though supplies are limited).

“It’s such a contrast of things and you would never expect this to happen in some ways,” says Elliott Hsu, a principal hardware designer at Microsoft who headed a team that worked with Liberty to also create the laser engraved Surface Pro 9 Liberty Special Edition* and printed keyboard, which embodies the elaborate florals Liberty is known for and serves as a natural branch of the Windows 11 Bloom that debuted last year.

Windows 11 introduced Bloom to the world in 2021 as the very first image you saw on the screen: a desktop wallpaper that served as a symbolic image of starting anew with this operating system. Inspired by flowers, it was created entirely in the digital world.

That was something that fascinated Adam Herbert and his design team at Liberty, a company he’d long admired and loved before he started working there four years ago.

While Microsoft’s designers use technology in almost every step of their creative process, Liberty’s designers use pens, pencils and paper. They go outside to sketch. They draw from the real world.

“I’ve always loved Liberty,” Herbert says. “I think it is a key figure in the DNA of British design. We create things that feel traditional and also unexpected at the same time. All of our designs start out as a drawing, painting, collage or sketch. It’s a really interesting melting pot of ideas and design approaches.”

Herbert admits it was “mind-blowing” for him to see how Microsoft created the Bloom flower that’s come to symbolize Windows 11.

Established in 1875, Liberty has seen many trends come and go. But fashion and design being cyclical, the company has been able to ride many waves and stay relevant.

“What’s magical about their brand is a 90-year-old and a 19-year-old can wear the same scarf in a different way with the same print, and it works,” Hsu says. “From the design standpoint, we had always been inspired by Liberty and what they do, from their craftsmanship to brand ethos.”

It’s a proud tradition that Herbert grew to appreciate even more after discovering the vastness of Liberty’s archives, which reveals different eras of the company’s design history.

“Whatever we create now goes back into that archive,” Herbert says. “We look at designs from 100 years ago and we redraw them and bring them back to life. I love to think that in 100 years, Liberty Designers will look at what we did now and they might revisit our work and use it in a totally different way.”

Liberty and Microsoft’s relationship began in 2019, when Hsu visited Liberty’s headquarters in London to find design inspiration in the brand’s well-known floral patterns. At that time, he and Herbert – who hit it off almost immediately – focused on the Washington state flower, the rhododendron, in trying to make an initial connection between the brands.

The pandemic put a pause on their progress on the project, but it reiterated something that became integral to developing this special edition: the prominence of PCs in daily life.

“PCs and devices have become even more personal to people,” Hsu says. “During the pandemic, your PC never went away. It was always on your desk, always on your table. Everything in your personal and professional life came through that portal, which keeps us connected in trying times.”

For Herbert, his interaction with technology during the pandemic pushed him out of his comfort zone. Suddenly he had to work and communicate with his team while they were scattered all over London, when previously they put together design presentations with boards that had physical fabric swatches attached to them.

Microsoft’s mission to help every person and organization on the planet achieve more has never been more relevant as people search for new ways to be productive from anywhere. To this end, the Surface team has worked tirelessly to build a diverse set of devices to suit a variety of tasks and workstyles. Just this year, we’ve introduced Surface Book 3, Surface Go 2, Surface Laptop Go, a new Surface Pro X and of course, our first dual-screen device, Surface Duo.

Since introducing Surface Duo in August 2020, people have asked when we would make this product available outside of the US. We’re pleased to share that in early 2021, we’ll be offering Surface Duo in Canada, United Kingdom, France and Germany. We’re excited to share more information at the beginning of 2021, so stay tuned for more.

With Surface Duo, we set out to unlock new levels of mobile productivity and reduce the need to reach for a larger screen to complete quick productivity tasks. With enhanced Microsoft 365 apps, productivity can take place across two distinct screens, enabling true multi-tasking. Whether viewing your Outlook Mail and Calendar side-by-side or seeing your colleagues and the presentation simultaneously on Teams, the magic of Surface Duo is the intersection of hardware and software in the palm of your hand.

There is incredible potential in this new device category to push the boundaries of productivity and creativity on a mobile device. We find inspiration in all the ways Surface Duo has sparked the imaginations of our customers and partners. It’s fantastic to see just how this product has unlocked new ways to get things done, and we are honored to see TIME and others recognize Surface Duo as one of the best inventions of 2020. Customers have built productivity workflows with Microsoft 365 applications like Outlook, OneDrive, Teams and Office. We’ve also heard from customers who have built their own App Groups to immerse themselves in their passions. View your ESPN Fantasy sports teams while simultaneously tracking scores in the NFL app, or take that Duolingo course while jotting down common phrases in Microsoft OneNote. We’ve heard from customers who open their Surface Duo as soon as they get in their car, with Spotify playing on one screen while Google Maps guides them to their destination on the other. There are numerous possibilities for personalizing your Surface Duo experience. We encourage you to explore these scenarios or create your own.

Customers love what Surface Duo allows them to accomplish with existing applications, and our partners are doing amazing work to optimize their experiences across two screens. At launch, we showcased Amazon Kindle and the incredible work they’ve done to allow you to read a book like a book on Surface Duo. Spotify has embraced dual-screen capabilities to improve music discovery. We’re excited to share that TikTok has released an enhanced app that brings entirely new experiences that light up on Surface Duo. Optimized for two screens, you can discover videos customized for you while, at the same time, exploring relevant hashtags, the latest trends and more.

New enhanced app experiences are just one way in which Surface Duo keeps getting better and better.

Over these past few months, we’ve delivered app enhancements, software and Android security updates, and improvements to the Android platform at-large. Microsoft is the third-largest Android ISV in the world[1], and we’re proud of what we’ve been able to deliver since August. Customers have enjoyed hundreds of improvements to our first-party Android apps, benefiting anyone using Microsoft applications on Android. This ensures a healthy future for this dual-screen category and a stream of improved, delightful experiences for Surface Duo customers.

We love hearing from you and working with you to chart the course for Surface Duo. As we reflect on this past year and look ahead to the next, we see even more opportunity, and we’re excited to see how you bring your own experiences to life with Surface Duo.

On behalf of the entire Surface team, we wish you happy holidays and a happy, healthy new year.

---

Sign up to be notified when Surface Duo becomes available: Canada | United Kingdom | France | Germany.

To learn more about Surface Duo for Business, commercial customers can connect with their local Microsoft Authorized Commercial Reseller.

Be sure to check out Surface.com for the latest from across the Surface family of products.

---

Today in New York we announced our broadest Surface lineup ever – with five new products coming this holiday and two new dual-screen devices, Surface Neo and Surface Duo, coming in Holiday 2020.

When we started Surface, we had a vision to remove the conflict between the tablet and laptop. What started as an effort to create the two-in-one evolved into a full line of products that are more versatile, more adaptable and more personal. We know that to be your best, you need devices that adapt to you to help you accomplish your goals. These new products are about empowering you to be your most productive, and your most creative.

With that in mind we are bringing more performance and new designs to our most popular product lines with the new Surface Laptop 3, Surface Pro 7 and Surface Pro X, all available for pre-order today¹ in select markets. Surface Laptop 3 delivers style and speed, now with a choice of a 13.5” or 15” display and new colors and finishes. Surface Pro remains the most versatile 2:1 device you can buy – whether you choose the new and improved Surface Pro 7 or the always-connected Surface Pro X, a bold new take on our iconic 2:1. Designed for comfort and rich sound with intuitive touch controls, Surface Earbuds are the perfect complement to your Surface.

We also shared our vision to bring the productivity of Surface to even smaller and more mobile form factors with Surface Neo and Surface Duo, our new dual-screen devices. We’ve seen how the versatility of the 2:1 has pushed the PC category forward, and we’re excited about what dual-screen devices will do for mobile computing next year.

Surface Laptop 3

The new Surface Laptop 3 balances power and elegance, making it the perfect everyday laptop. Now available in two sizes, Surface Laptop 3 is twice as fast with the same slim design and all-day battery life.² Updated with the 10th Generation Intel® Core™ processor, Surface Laptop 3 13.5” comes in new eye-catching colors, including Sandstone and Cobalt. Choose the warmth of the tone-on-tone Alcantara® or the sleek, new machined aluminum all-metal finish.  We also introduced Surface Laptop 3 15”, adding a larger screen and industry-leading integrated graphics performance with the new AMD Ryzen Surface Edition processor. It’s the fastest 15” laptop you can buy.³ Surface Laptop 3 offers a more comfortable typing experience with a full 1.33mm key travel, now with a 20% larger glass trackpad, both USB-A and USB-C and Fast Charging, taking your Surface device to an 80% charge in about an hour. Improved front-facing cameras, OmniSonic speakers and dual far-field Studio Mics deliver crystal clear sound and audio whether you’re on a conference call, listening to music or watching a movie. Surface Laptop 3 13” starts at $999 and Surface Laptop 15” starts at $1199.

Surface Pro 7 and Surface Pro X

Surface Pro remains the most versatile 2:1 device you can buy – whether you choose Surface Pro 7 or the brand new ultra-mobile Surface Pro X. Redesigned from the inside out, Surface Pro 7 is now twice as fast with a 10th Generation Intel® Core™ processor, both USB-A and USB-C and an all-day battery.⁴ While Surface Pro 7 keeps the iconic design customers love and businesses rely on, we wanted to keep pushing our Pro line forward with Surface Pro X. At 5.33mm and 1.68 pounds, Surface Pro X is the thinnest, lightest, most powerful and most connected Surface Pro ever. The new Microsoft SQ1 processor codesigned with Qualcomm pushes 2 teraflops of graphics processing power, and is the fastest Qualcomm processor ever created for a PC. With 33% thinner bezels, we’ve given you the feel of a vibrant 13” edge-to-edge touch screen in the chassis of a 12” device.⁵ The new Surface Pro X Signature Keyboard includes pen docking for secure storage and charging for the new Slim Pen, so it’s always ready when you need it. Surface Pro 7 starts at $749 and Surface Pro X starts at $999.

Surface Earbuds and Accessories

Featuring an ultra-comfortable and stable fit, Surface Earbuds offer intuitive touch and voice controls for music, calls and more. Experience rich, immersive Omnisonic sound, and instantly play Spotify from your Android phone with a triple tap on either earbud.⁶ Screen-free integration with Office 365 lets you access your Outlook calendar and email with your voice^7,8 (in the U.S.) and even get live, on-screen captions and translations in PowerPoint. Enjoy all-day battery life with the included wireless charging case.⁹ Surface Earbuds are priced at $249.

We’re also announcing a range of accessories that will help customize the way you work – from type covers, pens and mice designed to work with our Surface products to a selection of accessories to help you be more productive from any PC. We built on decades of experience delivering workspace comfort with the new Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard and Mouse, introduced the sleek, affordable Bluetooth® Keyboard and compact, colorful Bluetooth® Mouse, and are offering new colors for our popular Arc Mouse.

Surface + Office, built for modern productivity

Today Office announced several new features that take advantage of new capabilities in the Surface lineup to make you more productive. New Office enhancements include transcription in Word for the web, inking capabilities in Excel that leverage the new Surface Slim Pen and ultra-portability of the Surface Pro X, gesture support in PowerPoint for the new Surface Earbuds, and ink and voice comments in Word that take advantage of all of it.

A new era of mobile creativity

With Surface Neo and Surface Duo we are introducing a new category of dual-screen devices designed to help people get more done on smaller, more mobile form factors. Today, people carry PCs, tablets and phones because each device performs a specific task well. Each screen does something we need when we need it.  But these devices are limited with what they can achieve when you must switch between apps on a single screen or switch between screens altogether.  When that switching happens, we break our focus.  We break our flow.

What if we didn’t have to switch between devices, screens or apps?  What if one device had two screens to keep us in flow?  A device that is small enough to easily carry with you, but feels big in terms of productivity. That was the inspiration behind creating a dual-screen device that gives you the benefit of a larger screen or the flexibility of two screens when you want to do multiple things at once. Imagine being able to take a Microsoft Teams call on one screen and look something up on the web or view a document on another.  Or simply being able to watch Netflix while doing email or chat. Switching seamlessly between tasks, without having to switch between devices.

Surface Neo and Surface Duo are optimized for the way we naturally multi-task, helping people get more done on the go.

Surface Neo

Surface Neo is dual-screen device built for productivity on Windows 10X, an expression of Windows 10. A 360-degree full-friction hinge connects two 9” screens, enabling Surface Neo to adapt to whatever posture you need in the moment. When you open it you have a full-size 13” display in the thinnest LCD in its class. It’s built for productivity and multitasking like a true PC would be – running full productivity apps, with a removable keyboard and compatibility with Surface Pen and Bluetooth® mouse.

Surface Duo

Surface Duo is the first Surface to fit in your pocket. Surface Duo brings together the best of Microsoft productivity experiences, Android apps and Surface hardware design into a single device you can take anywhere. And, yes, it makes phone calls. It has two paper-thin 5.6-inch screens that unfold to 8.3 inches, and just like Surface Neo, it can be used in a variety of modes to let you work the way you’d like.

To support Surface Neo, we are introducing Windows 10X, an expression of Windows 10 designed for a new category of dual-screen PCs. With Surface Duo we are building upon Android to marry cutting edge hardware with familiar software and services.  We’re excited to work with developers and the industry to create the next wave of dual-screen computing and unlock a new era of mobile creativity.

Surface is built for business

Surface, combined with Microsoft 365, offers the enhanced productivity and security businesses are after, and the results are clear – more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies have purchased Surface. We’re listening to our customers and continue to design with them in mind. This means improved serviceability for Surface Laptop 3, removable SSDs in Surface Pro X, as well as new, more sustainable commercial packaging that significantly reduces the amount of waste by more than 30% in weight and volume compared to our historical retail packaging. With Windows 10 Pro, Advanced Exchange Service¹⁰ at no additional cost, and support for Windows Autopilot – users are instantly up and running securely with over-the-air updates.

Surface is driven by a singular ambition – to build the most productive devices on the planet to help people achieve more. We’ve challenged convention, invented new designs, and created devices that adapt software, services and AI to the way people naturally think and create. To keep you in flow. And we’re not done inventing.

¹ Surface Laptop 3, Surface Pro 7 and Surface Pro X are all available for pre-order today in select markets, with additional availability to follow.

² Up to 11.5 hours of battery life based on typical Surface device usage. Testing conducted by Microsoft in September 2019 using preproduction software and preproduction 13.5” Intel® Core™ i5, 256GB, 8 GB RAM and 15” AMD Ryzen™ 5 3580U Mobile Processor with Radeon™ Vega 9 Graphics Microsoft Surface® Edition devices. Battery life varies significantly with settings, usage and other factors. See surface.com.

³ Class as defined as premium ultrathin 15” that are max 20mm in height and have a TDP of 15W and which run AMD Ryzen processors. Data measured by AMD and Microsoft in September 2019. Tests run on pre-production Software and Hardware.

⁴ Up to 10.5 hours of battery life based on typical Surface device usage. Testing conducted by Microsoft in September 2019 using preproduction software and preproduction Intel® Core™ i5, 256GB, 8 GB RAM device. Battery life varies significantly with settings, usage and other factors. See surface.com.

⁵ Based on Microsoft SQ1 Processor design and optimization. Comparison to existing ARM based PCs.

⁶ Requires a Spotify account. Available only on Android.

⁷ Requires subscription to Office 365.

⁸ Cortana available in select markets; experience may vary by region and device.

⁹ Up to 24 hours of battery life with the included charging case. Eight hours continuous listening on a single charge, plus another two 8-hour charges with the charging case. Battery life varies with usage and settings.

¹⁰ Advanced Exchange Service is available at no additional charge with the following Surface for Business products: Surface Pro 7, Surface Pro X, Surface Laptop 3 in 13.5”, Surface Laptop 3 in 15”, Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2. Advanced Exchange is only available in supported markets. Restrictions apply. See Surface for Business warranty page for AES terms and conditions and list of supported markets.

Surface Pro 7 and Surface Laptop 3 in both 13.5” and 15” sizes are available starting today in Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, the United States and 17 European markets.

Surface products have always delivered a balance of performance, quality and versatility that lets our customers create and work in the way that best suits their style, and these new products drive that vision forward with innovation inside and out. We’re incredibly excited to read the early product reviews and we look forward to our customers experiencing these new products.

Surface Pro 7, powered by the latest 10th Generation Intel Core processors, is twice as fast as Surface Pro 6, and supports fast charging so that you can charge to 80% in about an hour. Like its predecessors, it offers all the versatility of a kickstand and touch and pen input, with new Surface Pen and Surface Pro Signature Type Covers in vibrant Poppy Red and Ice Blue. We’re excited by the early product reviews, like this one from Windows Central.

Surface Laptop has enjoyed the highest customer satisfaction rating for this class of device, and Surface Laptop 3 delivers more of what customers love in both 13.5” and 15” sizes. The new devices deliver more power, fast charging and a 20% larger trackpad. There are new color options like Sandstone and new finish options with both Alcantara and machined aluminum. Surface Laptop 3 remains true to the product’s fundamentals of an amazing display, a keyboard that is second-to-none, and great battery life that together make Surface Laptop a joy to use. Along with models powered by 10th Generation Intel Core processors, this is the first time we’re launching a product powered by the exclusive AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition processor, delivering amazing computing, graphics and battery performance in a slim 15” form. Initial reviews of the product are strong, including these from CNN, Gizmodo, Inverse and Anandtech, and we can’t wait to hear feedback from our customers as well.

The new products are available today. Visit Surface.com to learn more and purchase yours.

Today, we’re excited to launch the all new Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 in markets around the world. We’ve seen great momentum already for these products and I can’t wait for our fans to experience them.

When we started on this journey with Surface, we gave people the ability to choose a device that would adapt to their lives and help them accomplish more. As the way we work and live has changed around the world Surface and Microsoft have also evolved. We’ve grown to deliver a full, integrated portfolio of products to help you do more, dream more and achieve more.

We’re a team of passionate product makers, putting our hearts into creating devices, software, apps and features to push you forward. Helping to maximize the ingenuity of our customers, so they can do and create amazing things.

We’re inspired by the artists, scientists, engineers and poets that help to shape our future. Their passion drives us and ultimately leads us to craft the next generation of devices.

Our products, a symphony of technology between Windows, Surface, Office and AI, are designed to amplify your ideas, get you into your flow and let you build what’s in your mind and heart. Like an instrument, our products, our technology fades to the background so you can focus on your craft.

But what does that mean and how does it help you?

When someone asks me that, asks why we would want beautiful devices to fade into the background, I tell them about my daughter Sophia and her piano. How when she plays there is a moment – a moment when she forgets the piano, the pedals under her feet, the bench she sits on, the sheets in front of her – and in this moment of inspiration, of greatness, she’s in her flow. It’s just her and the music. In order for that moment to happen, for her to forget about everything else, the piano must be perfectly tuned, the bench the right height, the music sheets at eye level.

For our customers, Surface, Windows, Office, and the experience they create together is the instrument. An instrument we’ve tuned perfectly to fade to the background, so you don’t have to think about all the little things, you can just get in your flow and capture those moments of greatness, of focus, of inspiration, to make the most of your time.

Get in your flow anytime, anywhere with Surface Pro 6

The first Quad-Core Processor in a Surface Pro comes to life on Surface Pro 6 – an instrument of versatility, portability and power, coming in a gorgeous, all new matte black finish.

We wanted this product to be the device you can bring with you anywhere since you never know when or where your moments of inspiration will strike.

While the refined exterior may look familiar, this is a new generation of Surface Pro, we’ve redesigned the architecture inside the device to deliver astounding power with the 8^th Generation Quad-Core Intel Processor, all while still offering up to 13.5 hours of battery life.

Providing what you need to transition between work life, home life and everything in between no matter where you are. Built with Windows and Office it can handle the powerful desktop apps you need, without compromising the thin and light form factor you love.

Surface Laptop 2 – beauty and power to make the most of your ideas

The blend of beauty and incredible performance on Surface Laptop 2 keeps everything you love about the first-generation form factor with so much more built in to keep you productive and inspired.

With an all new 8th generation Quad-Core processor, Surface Laptop 2 is 85 percent more powerful than Surface Laptop.

Even with all that power Surface Laptop 2 has an incredible 14.5 hours of all-day battery life, incredible display quality, beautiful design and easy portability. The Alcantara® material covering the keyboard draws you in, a perfect tone-on-tone balance with the gorgeous colors. Every detail on this product has been thought through, from the depth of the new matte black finish to the redesign of the thermal system to keep the quiet elegance of the device.

Matte black isn’t the only new finish highlighting the incredible design of Surface Laptop 2. On Monday in Beijing, we also introduced an all new blush finish as an exclusive for the Chinese market.

You bring our products to life

Nothing inspires the team more than seeing the amazing things our customers do with our products. Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 are available in markets around the world today, and I truly believe that when you have your hands on them, when you experience them for yourself, you will understand what it means to have technology fade to the background, so you can focus on what’s important to you and save time for what really matters.

Availability details:

Available today in Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and United States.

Updated October 16, 2018 6:36 am