Microsoft October 6 event wrapup: All the devices in one place

Microsoft hosted a special event in New York last night to announce their first Windows 10 devices, and deliver they did! New Lumia smartphones, a new Surface Pro, and more were revealed. Here’s our comprehensive collection from the night’s updates.

Appetizers
Microsoft Executive VP Terry Myerson was up on stage to kick things off. Right off the bat, he began talking about how many computers have updated to Windows 10, personal and business alike. So in line with the Continuum feature of the OS, Microsoft announced they’re building “Universal apps” for Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.

Another throwaway update was that all Xbox One’s will be updated to Windows 10 by December, so that gamers can enjoy the new Cross Play feature, taking their Xbox apps to PC and vice versa, as well as adding backward compatibility on the console for Xbox 360 games. Myerson also announced a new Halo 5 special edition Xbox One, with 1TB storage, for US $499 (Rs 32,500)

HoloLens

Microsoft’s augmented reality headset was the shock and awe factor at their last major event, but it seems the company is determined to keep up the hype and development process. The team was on stage with a HoloLens demonstration, but something looked a little different…

That’s a controller in the player’s hand, barely a stick, which the Hololens uses to superimpose a “hologram”, that then tracks with movement. A great -looking game demo followed immediately, Project X-Ray with virtual killer robots bursting through existing physical walls and attacking the player, as he dodges and fires.

While the gameplay itself was much too slow to ever be entertaining, let’s remember that this was just meant to be a proof of concept.What’s amazing, is that the holograms generated, interacted with real world objects in a realistic fashion; scrambling across walls, exploding when knocked into an objects and the like. And best of all, they’re accepting applications for development kits, available for US $3,000, to be delivered in 2016.

Microsoft Band 2

The Microsoft Band 2 meanwhile is the company’s second stab at the wearable market, seeing as their first model completely bombed. But, this time around, the fitness band actually manages to look good. True to the leaked renders, the Microsoft Band 2 has a curved body to fit the wrist comfortably, with a curved OLED display and Gorilla Glass 3. It has built-in GPS, UV monitoring, guided workouts, sleep and calorie tracking, as well as phone notifications. So basically, it’s a smartwatch, except in name.Better yet, it also has Cortana integration. The band ties in with a fitness app across Windows Phone, Android, and iOS. Preorders are open, with shipping beginning Oct 30, with the Microsoft Band 2 priced at US $249 (Rs 16,200).

Lumia 950 & 950XL

Next up was VP Panos Panay, to debut the highly leaked Lumia 950 (aka Talkman) and the Lumia 950XL (aka Cityman). Microsoft’s first Windows 10 Phones, these are also their flagships for this year. Leaks were on point again, with a 5.2-inch (2560x1440) display at 564 ppi, and a 5.7-inch one at 518 ppi, on the 950 and 950XL respectively. 3GB RAM with Snapdragon 808 in the former, and the latter held up by a Snapdragon 810. Both phones have a 20MP rear cam with 5th gen OIS and triple LED flash, a 5MP front cam, as well as 4K recording. Oh yeah, and they’re liquid-cooled to boot, with fingerprint and iris scanners.

Microsoft also demoed the new dock you can use to broadcast your phone’s screen. Either connect wirelessly or plug in the new USB Type-C cable, as well as a display, keyboard, and mouse, and you can now use your phone as a desktop. This is where Continuum and universal apps come in, the experience with a Phone-PC being almost exactly like a Windows 10 PC. But the best part, is that you can still use your phone as a phone, even as you have a keyboard, mouse, and monitor connected to it via dock.

The new Lumia models will be available in November, starting at US $549 (Rs 35,700) for the 950, and US $649 (Rs 42,300) for the 950XL. And of course, the also-rumoured-but-mostly-forgotten Lumia 550, a 4.7-inch budget smartphone, will be priced at US $139 (Rs 9,000) available in December.

Surfaces

Now, with the Surface Pro 4 that we expected is where Microsoft’s presentation really begins to shine. The tablet they introduced is a sleek 12.3-inch display at 267 ppi, fitted into the old 12-inch body, so the new device is compatible with old keyboards as well. There’s a fingerprint scanner right next to the new keyboard on the attachable dock, as well as an Iris scanner to be compatible with Windows Hello, and the new trackpad is glass. It brings the latest generation Intel Skylake processors (6th gen), with RAM going all the way up to 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of internal storage. There’s also an all-new Surface Pen too, with a touted 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity. It now magnetically attaches to the side of the Surface Pro 4, comes in various colours, and even has an eraser at the top. The best part? You can hold down the eraser head to bring up Cortana.

The Surface Pro 4 is available to preorder now, starting at US $899 (Rs 58,700) and will be available on October 26.

And that’s where Microsoft’s “and one more thing” came in. They weren’t done with the Surface Pro 4 being the thinnest, most powerful PC yet. They took it a step further. Enter, the new Surface Book. It’s great, with a 13.5-inch display at 267 ppi, that’s optically bonded to the glass, and it’s housed in a machined aluminium body. But the standout feature is the new “dynamic fulcrum”. It’s the hinge on the Surface Book that, while it leaves a slight gap when shut, swing all the way out to let you use the device as a tablet. At this angle, the fulcrum serves to also slightly raise the device from the base for a better angle. And you just hit a button on the keyboard, the electronic lock disengages, and you can detach the base completely, using the Surface Book with just the display. There’s a catch however.

Besides the convenience of a backlit keyboard and glass trackpad, the base also provides some of the computing power. While the latest i5 and i7 processors from the Skylake family are built into the display head, there’s an Nvidia GeForce GPU with DDR5 memory that’s been shoved into the base. That way, if you need the extra oomph for gaming or a particularly demanding Photoshop run, just dock the Surface Book and you’re good to go. The base also includes two USB 3.0 ports, and an SD card slot.

The Surface Book also supports the stylus from the Surface Pro 4, and is touted for at least 12 hours of battery life on a single charge. and on top of all that, it weighs just 0.7Kg. Preorders for the Surface Book will begin October 7, and it’ll go on sale October 26 with prices starting at US $1,499 (Rs 97,800).