Microsoft’s Build 2016 conference happened this past week. While there was no mention of a Surface Phone or Surface Pro 5 release, there were a couple of interesting things that came out of the conference. Those things, along with a couple of other news stories make up this week’s Surface News Roundup.
Here’s the quick overview:
- Anniversary Update and Windows Ink
- New Wacom Pen
- SP4 Type Cover Available in Canada
And here are the details…
Weekly Surface News Roundup: Anniversary Update and Windows Ink
Announced at Build, Microsoft will be releasing an Anniversary update – free for all Windows 10 users – on July 29th.
The update will include something called Windows Ink which will add a lot of pen-centric features to Windows 10 to make your Surface (and Surface Pen) even more useful. Basically, it will actually integrate pen support into the OS as opposed to using apps (like the Surface app) to control pen functions.
Windows Ink will also make it easier for developers to include pen support in their apps which, in turn, should increase the number of apps that support the Surface Pen. In addition, the update will include a new Ink Workspace which includes apps for sticky notes, a sketchpad, and screen sketch.
Weekly Surface News Roundup: New Wacom Pen
Wacom and Microsoft are partnering to create a new “Universal Stylus” which will work on all pen-enabled PC’s including the Surface and Wacom Active ES devices. This is great news for people who aren’t a fan of Microsoft’s N-Trig technology.
The new pen is expected to appear before the end of the year.
Funny enough, this partnership was not mentioned at Build but, instead, was announced by Bryan Roper via Twitter. If you read his tweet, it kind of sounds like it was supposed to be mention but was simply missed. Oops…
Related: TNW, DigitalArts [divider]
Weekly Surface News Roundup: SP4 Type Cover Available in Canada
Microsoft quietly released the version with the fingerprint sensor in Canada for $199.99 earlier this week.
This Type Cover is especially nice if you have the older, Surface Pro 3 because it gives you the ability to use biometrics to log into the device – otherwise, the older Surfaces do not have a biometric camera, so can’t benefit from the use of Windows Hello.
Not much else to be said about this. So, if you’re Canadian and you want one, head on over to Microsoft’s website to order it.
Related: MobileSyrup [divider]
OK, so that’s it for this week. While I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t an announcement about a new Surface device, the news was still pretty good this week for Surface owners/enthusiasts.
Tim
