The Surface has been around since 2007, but the new and improved SUR40 is a much more usable device. Microsoft and Samsung were showing off the new touch-capable table in NYC today, and I was lucky enough to get up close and personal with it.
The specs in and of themselves are impressive: 40-inch 50-point multitouch screen with a 1080×1920 resolution, AMD processors, 1GB of memory dedicated entirely to graphics, a 4-inch profile, and a host of USB/HDMI ports. It’s the computer you always wanted, save for the fact that it looks like a kitchen table and costs about $9,000.
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If you’re wondering why we didn’t stop by to test out the Samsung SUR40 touch-table, AKA the Surface 2.0, during CES, there’s a good reason: we did that last year. The device, while impressive, isn’t exactly new. But as it has little in the way of competition — the Surface is the nonpareil of touch tables — they probably didn’t feel they needed to get it out in any kind of hurry.
The device, which costs $8400 and ships this month, must be quite a bit more attractive than the original to companies eager to spruce up their public spaces. The old Surface was kind of a chunk, and the limited resolution was no help, either. Oh, and the price. The new Surface beats it handily in every respect. It’s flatter, lighter, wall-mountable, and 1080p. → Read More
Fond as we are of Microsoft’s touchscreen Surface table and all of the kooky things people have made it do, its replacement has come one step closer to seeing the light of day. Samsung and Microsoft have just announced that the next-generation Surface table, the SUR40, is now available for preorder in over 23 countries.
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Despite being the only TechCrunch writer in Seattle, I don’t get out to Microsoft nearly as much as one might expect. The fact is it’s on the other side of a big lake and getting there usually involves a lot of traffic. But when I get an invite like I did recently, to join a sort of unofficial Surface developers’ club for a meeting, it’s hard to say no. The promise of free pizza had nothing to do with my enthusiasm. I like the Surface.
So it was that I got to join a group of developers from all around Microsoft as they spitballed ideas, compared new projects, and developed a new feature as I watched. They didn’t initiate me into the mysteries of the device or swear me to secrecy regarding plans of world domination, but I got to see some cool new Surface apps and contribute to the development of a new feature. Also, they had Alaskan Amber. → Read More
It’s a bit of a random time for a video like this, seeing as the announcement was back at CES and we had a nice, thorough hands-on with the new SUR40 Surface then, but hey. Maybe you missed it. If you don’t mind a little redundancy (and of course, the ever-present soft techno), this is a nice way to catch up on Microsoft’s Surface project. → Read More
Yesterday, Pioneer unveiled the WWS-DT101 Discussion Table [JP], which is essentially the company’s answer to Microsoft’s Surface – just bigger and better. The main component here is the 52-inch multi-touch “interactive” LCD display with full HD resolution that supports up to 10 points of contact simultaneously. → Read More
One of the main limitations on touchscreen interfaces these days is that all you can do is poke at them. We do all kinds of things with our hands, but when it comes to screens, we just poke at them all day. UIs are doing all right, since our phone OSes still mimic mouse-based desktop OSes to some extent, but Microsoft is looking to ways to integrate more natural hand gestures incorporating more than just a “click” derived from a fingertip.
Hrvoje Benko, a researcher at Microsoft, is working on methods of recognizing shapes formed by hands and equating those with spatially-consistent gestures. Check out the video inside. → Read More
Man, I love me some AR.Drone. It’s literally the coolest thing I’ve used in a long time. And the best part? It just gets cooler. This video shows us what I’m assuming is a non-doctored video of a WinWise employee using a Microsoft Surface to control a Parrot AR.Drone. → Read More
Hmm. What does this remind me of? Oh, that’s right, the Courier. The ability to use both finger and pen on the Courier concept seems like it would benefit from these UI elements — and probably is. I doubt the two projects could be working on ideas so complementary and not be aware of each other. Or could they? Whatever the case, it looks pretty cool. When I talk about touch-based interfaces, I think of stuff like that little pull-out toolbar and natural gestures like holding something down with one hand and tapping it with another — not the multi-touch-for-baby of the iPad/iPhone interface. → Read More
Games like this are exactly why Microsoft Surface is going to be a compelling platform. Some students ported Texas Hold ‘em to Surface, but added the ability to look at your cards from a mobile device. Placing a bet is as easy as dragging a chip on to the playing field, and you can even split a chip’s denomination by tapping it. I’d be interested to see what the final version of this product. It’s also good to see Surface gaming used for more then just role playing games. [via Gizmodo] → Read More
We’ve told you about the iTable before, and PQ Labs. They showed off their latest stage in the development process at CeBIT this year, by installing the screen into a coffee table. The newest version can register up to 32 touch points and actually determine the shape of the object being placed on the screen. → Read More
One of the universal complaints about the Surface is its size — and competitors like the iTable, Displax, and FlatFrog are attempting to strike at that weak point before Microsoft comes out with the inevitable flat version. But if this nascent project being pursued by Microsoft Research bears fruit, the next version of the Surface might not have a screen at all. → Read More
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9361738&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1 I just returned from the Microsoft campus (well, I stopped for a panini), where students from Carnegie Mellon University are showing off their awesome project, a version of D&D that runs on the Surface. Now, before you start rolling your eyes, just recognize that this isn’t just a holy grail for tabletop gaming nerds. I mean, it’s that too, but really it’s a proof of concept that shows how fun and intuitive something like this can be, and how accessible a team can make it. I honestly think that if they had these things scattered around like Golden Tee cabinets, they’d get a huge following. → Read More
If you’re coming up to the Emerald City to hit up PAX, there are a lot of things you’re probably going to want to check out. But I’m going to make a point of dropping by the console free play room, where it is whispered there will be a Surface loaded with every Penny Arcade comic as well as PAX-related media and games. If you haven’t gotten a chance to play with one of these things (you can’t be blamed, they’re mostly in Hiltons and Las Vegas), there’s no time like the present. → Read More
A couple weeks ago we got an early demo of the Surface SP1 update, and saw that one of the goals of which was to improve Windows-Surface cross-compatibility and encourage developers to make their apps touch-compatible. Looks like that work goes both ways, as it appears that Surface content and functionality is going to be kicking it with Windows 7.
Check out the video inside. Everyone loves videos. → Read More
This last Friday, a few of the developers behind Microsoft Surface took some time out of their schedules to meet with us and talk about what’s coming in their Surface Service Pack 1, due to be rolled out today. Now, it’s called a service pack for a reason — as opposed to a fun pack — this update is a response to the requests and concerns of the community using and developing for the Surface, so it’s not about flashy new gizmos and eye candy, but usability.
There are still a few new visible features, and it’s always fun to play with a Surface, so there’s a nice video for you to watch if you’re interested in how the Surface is changing and how Microsoft is responding to developer feedback. It’s easier to show them than explain them at length, so check them out in the exclusive video inside. → Read More
Ladies and germs, behold the wonders of what’s to come. Someday we will live in a world that is filled with Microsoft Surface-like devices and everything will blend seamlessly together. Our notebooks will become manufacturing facilities and scanners. Shopkeeper’ countertops will be large touchscreens and our desks will be virtual desks. The future, according to Microsoft, will be grand and wonderful.
Watch the two videos after the jump about Microsoft’s vision of XUI – experience user interfaces – to experience the future too. → Read More
Microsoft is spending quite a bit of money to make sure you are going to be able to use their Surface technology with Windows 7. They are the major partner in a venture funding investment to a company that makes touch screen hardware. → Read More
Who would have thought that one of the coolest things we’ve seen at CES would be hidden in a 10×10 booth at the very back of the South Hall? Like a diamond in the rough, there sat the PQ Labs iTablet.
They’ve essentially taken the idea behind the Microsoft Surface and have done it better in every way. It’s cheaper, it’s gorgeous, and perhaps most notably, it’s not a hulking monster. → Read More
I guess you don’t know you’re leading the pack unless you hear the other dogs barking at your heels. GestureTek is a company that puts out touch- and gesture-based interactive screens in more various forms than the Microsoft Surface project. From what I can tell, it doesn’t track as exactly or as reliably as the seriously stress-tested Surface, but it also has a more attractive form factor in this thing (autoplaying video warning). I can’t tell what it’s using to track movement, but it looks to be sufficient for the basic applications that would be running in, say, a mall kiosk: a map, sales, basic product browsing and so on. → Read More
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