Sunday morning already? Where did the week go? Oh well, here’s your weekly Surface news roundup for this week.
- Surface Pro & Surface Pro 2 Firmware
- SP4 Wins Best Mobile Tablet at MWC 2016
- Outlook Premium for Office 365 Subscribers
- Microsoft Working on Universal OneDrive App
OK, not that you got the highlights, let’s get into the stories…
[divider]
Weekly Surface News Roundup: Surface Pro & Surface Pro 2 Firmware
With all of the recent attention the SP4 and Surface Book got for the updates to fix the battery drain issues, it might surprise you to know that Microsoft quietly slipped out some updates about the venerable Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2 this past week.
Here’s what is included in the Surface Pro firmware update:
- Surface Pro System Aggregator Firmware update (v2.84.450.0) eliminates instances where the device wakes randomly.
- Surface Cover Audio driver update (v1.0.360.0) improves system stability when detaching the cover
Surface Pro 2 owners can download these updates:
- Surface Pro System Aggregator Firmware update (v2.4.450.0) eliminates instances where the device wakes randomly.
- Surface Cover Audio driver update (v2.0.306.0) improves system stability when detaching the cover.
- Microsoft Surface ACPI-Compliant Control Method Battery driver update (v1.2.0.2) ensures correct surface driver is installed.
- Intel HD Graphics Family driver update (v20.19.15.4331) improves color calibration and system stability.
- Intel Display Audio driver update (v6.16.00.3189) supports compatibility with the updated HD Graphics Family driver
Nothing earth-shattering but, it’s nice to see that they’re still tending to the older models.
Related: Microsoft & Microsoft [divider]
Image Credit MWC 2016 Site
Weekly Surface News Roundup: SP4 Wins Best Mobile Tablet at MWC 2016
At the 2016 Mobile World Congress, the Surface Pro 4 won the GLMO award for the best mobile tablet in 2016.
The awards were presented by Suzi Perry and Ortis Deley at the official awards ceremony and on Mobile World Live TV during the MWC event which ran from February 22nd to the 25th.
Related: MWC [divider]
Weekly Surface News Roundup: Outlook Premium for Office 365 Subscribers
It appears that Microsoft is sending out invites to test Outlook Premium (a premium, ad-free version of Outlook.com email) to selected individuals.
Now a tweet from one of the invitees indicates that it might be offered to Office 365 subscribers at no additional cost as it says “free with your Office 365 Subscription” as part of the invite.
This would be a nice inclusion, if you have an Office 365 subscription for your Surface, since it allows for custom email domain names such as tim@mydomainname.com to be used in the Outlook.com mail system.
Related: Twitter, Windows Central [divider]
Weekly Surface News Roundup: Microsoft Working on Universal OneDrive App
Omar Shahine, Microsoft’s Group Program Manager for OneDrive, posted in the OneDrive UserVoice feedback site that Microsoft is ‘actively working’ to release a universal app.
Unfortunately, he didn’t give any details or timeline for the app.
I think this would be a great (re)addition so long as it allows for offline caching – unlike the first versions of the OneDrive metro app in Windows 8.0. While the desktop version works fine in Windows 10, it can be a little awkward when in tablet mode with touch.
Related: OneDrive Uservoice, MSPoweruser [divider]
So, a little slower than last week’s monster news roundup but, interesting nonetheless. I’ll keep digging up Surface-related news stories and will be back next week with another round.
Tim
