Earlier this month, Microsoft sent out invites to members of the press for an event to be held on October 6th at the Skylight at the Moynihan Station in New York City. Naturally, Microsoft was short on details on what exactly will be covered. The rumor mill on the Internet (surely the most reliable of sources!) is set on the idea that the event will be used to launch a slew of new hardware products and refresh its mobile and wearable product stacks.
The rumored products include at least two new Windows Phone 10 Lumia smartphones, a refreshed Microsoft Band 2, and new Surface Pro 4 tablet.
On the smartphone front, the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL both have fairly generous specifications for Windows Phone devices (running Windows 10 Mobile). The 950 sports a 5.2-inch 2560 x 1440 display, a six core Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 SoC, 3GB of internal memory, 32GB of internal storage, and a 3,000 mAh battery pack.
Moving up to the 950XL allegedly gets you a larger 5.7-inch display (though it is still at the same 1440p resolution) and a faster Snapdragon 810 SoC (four Cortex A57 at up to 2GHz and four lower power A53 cores along with the Adreno 430 GPU). Oddly, the battery pack is rumored to be only slightly larger than the Lumia 950 at 3,300 mAh which may result in lower battery life thanks to the larger display and faster processor.
Both phones will also feature a 20 megapixel rear camera, a 5 megapixel front camera, an iris scanner for Windows Hello, Qi wireless charging support, and a USB Type-C port for data and charging purposes.
Further, Microsoft is reported to be launching the Microsoft Band 2, a new (and sleek looking) wearable. The band, powered by an ARM Cortex M4 SoC and two 100 mAh batteries will sport a curved display and improved ergonomic design that can be used to see notifications, track your fitness, and interact with your smartphone using the built in microphone. The Band 2 is said to be compatbile with Windows Phone, iOS, and Android operating systems and connects via Bluetooth 4.0.
Lastly, rumors are pointing towards a new Surface Pro tablet being launched at the event though there has yet to be a consensus on the (alleged) specifications. Some rumors point towards Skylake while others point at Core M (Broadwell) being the processor of choice. Personally, I am leaning towards Microsoft using one of the new mobile Skylake chips for this possible Surface Pro 4 tablet PC. Broadwell with Iris Pro graphics would be nice to see, however…
In any event, I suppose that we will just have to wait and see what comes of this event in two weeks time. I do not have much to say on the smartphone or Surface Pro fronts (except that the tablet will be expensive no matter what the hardware ends up being, heh), but I’m liking the new Microsoft Band — if they could somehow hit a lower price point I’m sold!
What are your thoughts on the rumors–what new hardware are you expecting to be announced next month?
Maybe: some kind of official
Maybe: some kind of official Cortana USB microphone hardware for desktop PC’s. One that could be used with normal desktop speakers, but without any feedback squeal.
Hmm, perhaps! I saw they have
Hmm, perhaps! I saw they have a dedicated Cortana button on a little Bluetooth puck type of thing you can put next to your keyboard. Maybe they will have something similar but with multiple mics and logic to pick up your voice but not sounds coming from the speakers. I dunno if we'll see that next month, but sounds like a reasonable product that could come eventually.
There already is one – the
There already is one – the Windows key.
I’d loe if Microsoft updates
I'd loe if Microsoft updates Miscrosoft Edge…I have some watching-videos-on-it problems….and it'd be nice if I could put notes on pdf files while viewing them on Microsoft Edge ))
Edge is supposedly getting a
Edge is supposedly getting a massive update in October (along with a bunch of other feature updates and fixes).
Ooh dedicated hardware to go
Ooh dedicated hardware to go with the SPYWARE. How exciting!