No, Microsoft hasn't suddenly transformed its 30-inch, multi-touch Surface into a
big-ass cellphone. It has, however, chosen AT&T to launch the world's first Surface into retail. Shoppers in New York, Atlanta, San Antonio, and San Francisco will be treated to what amounts to the novelty (at least initially) of learning about a device (Samsung BlackJack II, pictured) by simply placing it atop the Surface. They'll also have the ability to explore interactive coverage maps. Later, users will be able to drag ringtones, graphics and video and drop it into "the phones." Note their use of "the" and not "your" phone in the press release. Nevertheless, we're happy to see Microsoft get the technology out the door on its
long march towards consumerdom.
Update: Interestingly enough, AT&T's flagship iPhone
will not be one of the
first phones demonstrated on Surface. Perhaps AT&T / Microsoft worry about a multi-touch collision creating consumer
strangelets.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
peshue @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:01AM
That actually sounds like a pretty good implementation of this. Not having to talk to salespeople is always a plus for me.
Now if only this magenta wasn't burning my retinas out.
Alan @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:06AM
The whole magenta thing is because T-Mobile tried to stop engadget mobile from using magenta in their logo so engadget is rubbing it T-Mobile's face by using magenta as their background color right?
peshue @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:13AM
Yeah, it's understandable to kinda miffed about it. But imo Engadget is just using it as a chance to stroke their e-dick.
xValentine @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:43AM
Nice on Engadget.
Colors are for everyone :)
Bobs @ Apr 2nd 2008 3:47AM
but the color blind...
skulldriveshaft @ Apr 2nd 2008 5:54AM
Now I can quickly close the website at work, and when asked what I was looking at, I have no answer :[
DAMN YOU T-MOBILE!
WHY!?!?!?
WHYYYYYYY??!?!?!
Why did you piss off Engadget?!?!?!!
WHWHYWYWHWHWYWYWYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?!?!
At least the background of the spacers isn't the same color, or heaven forbid, CONTRASTING COLORS!
mushrooshi @ Apr 2nd 2008 8:33AM
HELL F**K YEAH SAN ANTONIO!
Greg @ Apr 2nd 2008 9:10AM
Yeah, a much better use than a home computer. My neck hurts already
snitch @ Apr 2nd 2008 4:08PM
Why AT&T????? i mean this thing is not a cell phone & AT&T is not a computer store the last time i check, i don't get it. could it be that they're after a specific group of custumers???
MPallavicini @ Apr 3rd 2008 12:15AM
Kind of an antisocial comment. But very true nonetheless. Very very true. And T-Mobile is just weird. Kinda like J-POP. Not that being weird is a bad thing... look at how well apple had been doing in the past 5 years. (apple fanboys may now proceed to lecture me about the superior nature of their operating system)
happy_penguin @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:12AM
Ever since I first saw this thing demonstrated in a video all I've wanted to do is get my hands on it. Just get it out there, somewhere. We want to touch it!
Erik @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:27AM
That's what she said.
Erik @ Apr 2nd 2008 3:43AM
I would like to point out that, even though that isn't me, I would have said almost the exact same thing.
John @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:18AM
Not to fuel the flames or anything, but the fact that it's "multi-touch," has a thick black border on the top and bottom of the screen (or left and right, depending on how you look at the picture), AND (the real kicker) the slit at the bottom of the surface (that looks like a charger plug) all make this look like a giant iPhone.
Miguel @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:40AM
No. No it doesn't. Giant touchscreen=big rectangle. The end. Please play again.
Zorque @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:58AM
Yeah, let's stifle progress and restrict multi-touch to Apple products. It's a pretty obvious line of thought anyway.
cydonia @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:00AM
so like.. having a glossy black border makes it an iphone imitation? well i guess that makes my monitor an iphone imitation too...
Abuzar @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:22AM
Dude, it's a big-ass table!
Sheepman @ Apr 2nd 2008 5:12AM
dude, its more like an iriver clix if anything. although that would be a problem if we ate dinner on it. nevermind.
ace_spades @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:19AM
I guess they said "the" in the press release is because they put a RFID in the cheap waste of plastic that is the demo phone
Big Sam @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:21AM
I want a big-ass cellphone.
vdogg89 @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:25AM
How does the table know what you place on it? i mean besides bluetooth. Like when they show someone putting a glass of wine on it.
Waylan @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:28AM
I can't wait to see a BSOD on one of the things... =P
Jon Doe. @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:38AM
Get bent. The BSOD jokes stopped being funny with the release of SP2 for XP.
Michael LaFramboise @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:01AM
someone correct me if I'm wrong, but far as I remember it has multiple cameras under the glass which see what and where you put w/e
RC @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:05AM
Objects placed on the surface have little domino style barcodey things on them. The cameras in the table can read them and understand the orientation/position/nature of the object. One of the big reasons that Surface is not just a touch table with interesting UIs is because of this interaction between the UI and coded objects that can be placed on it, like products, cameras, credit cards, mp3 players, even drinking glasses, etc.
Mr.Awax @ Apr 2nd 2008 3:30AM
As already stated, there are cameras under the surface to watch for what's on its surface. This is the reason, it is not a surface but a huge big box (it is like 50 cm thick).
As also already stated, objects can be labeled using a specific barcode, providing identification and orientation information. The main drawback is that only pre-labeled devices can be identified. This is the reason you can drag/drop ringtones in THE phone (as in THE phone pre-labeled for demonstration) and not YOUR phone (as in YOUR phone with no specific identification compatible with Surface).
So all the fancy stuff with your own phone or your own credit card is just BS because your CreditCard number can not be read by the table unless all major card manufacturer adopt the Microsoft Surface barcode.
7on @ Apr 2nd 2008 11:18AM
But the fact that it's a barcode and not a RFID means that you can print your own codes. Pair your cell's BT to it and your printer prints out a sticker (on sticker paper obviously) that you put on the back. Now whenever you lay your phone on the surface it'll pair and sync.
Rashanda @ Apr 2nd 2008 3:34PM
Victor--
It clearly shows what you place on it, that was the most absurd question I have ever seen asked on this site.
Sincerely,
Rashanda
Alex @ Apr 2nd 2008 3:58PM
I bet if you put an iPhone on it it will implode...
Tim Cayton @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:34AM
Well, well, well. Seems like good old Microsoft is trailing in Apples footsteps again. Apple launches iPhone with At&T; now Microsoft surface (ie. big a** table) is going to them. How quaint.
Jon Doe. @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:47AM
quaint...you mean like flipping through your albums or dragging around a web page....sorry I guess the word I'm looking for in this case would be gimmick. Something Apple excels at when they buy tech from a third party...oops....Sorry I didn't mean to destroy the illusion that Apple actually invented coverflow or that multitouch wasn't being demoed MONTHS before they started patenting it left and right...we all remember that youtube video from Engadget...sorry my bad that I destroyed your fanboi reality...Douchebag.
PS- Can Engadget please for the love of god perge these assholes from their site. I enjoy a likely discussion as much as the next person but this crap from the fanbois is getting too much....WTF...when did this turn into macrumors?
Decoy @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:47AM
Can someone please answer once and for all:
Does Touchscreen = iPhone?
Draaaainage! @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:49AM
Yeah yeah yeah, you love Apple and perform and Apple juice colonic daily to make sure you stay as Steve worthy as possible, we get it.
Now if you'll kindly reverse that cerebral-rectum inversion you've got going on, you'll be able to see that this is not competing with the iPhone, it's not meant to be sold as a phone at all, in fact it doesn't even have a GSM antenna in it. Even more to the point, it's a giant table.
Now to be more literal, Windows Mobile was in the AT&T store a helluva long time before the Apple iPhone was, so you can stop trying to troll.
happy_penguin @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:54AM
@Decoy
Absolutely not. iPhone is about an entire package with the software and the hardware plus the touchscreen and so forth. Surface is not = iPhone. They're different devices.
@Clayton and Doe
Please guys. Fanboyism sucks.
Tim Cayton @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:56AM
I don't know where everyone is misreading, but i never said that the surface is a phone. I was directly stating that Microsoft is following Apple to At&t. I never said Windows Mobile was not the first on the market either. But it wasn't solely going thru a&t either. Much like the iPhone launch, it is set to be solely for At&t for the time being.
Draaaainage! @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:03AM
You know Tim, if you would have phrased it like that from the get go, and not hopped up on your "I love Apple" soapbox, no one (well, except Jon Doe) would have said anything. Because then it would just be an observation and not the inane rantings of a fanboy.
Just FYI.
Decoy @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:15AM
@happypenguin
Thanks - I didn't really word things right with my post. Let's put it this way for everyone:
All iPhones have touchscreens, BUT
Not all touchscreens are iPhones.
So, that aside folks, let's get excited about this wicked table.
Abuzar @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:26AM
Tim you're a retard, just come out and admit it.
Also AT&T just happens to be buying these tables, they are NOT exclusive to AT&T.
DP @ Apr 2nd 2008 6:00PM
At a moments notice, this guy would literally drop down to his knees and suck Steve Jobs's johnson if he could.
I swear to you, the sanctimony -- unbelievable.
quasimoto @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:47AM
How ironic would it be to put an iPhone on the surface? I wonder what kind of information I'll get.
Michael LaFramboise @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:02AM
Surface: iPhone! I AM YOUR FATHER!
iPhone: NOOOOOOOO!
happy_penguin @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:12AM
LOL@Michael LaFramboise
:D :D
BuddyBoy @ Apr 2nd 2008 5:18AM
I wonder who is stopping the iPhone from being one of the first demod on the surface? Its a shame as it would have shown a lot of maturity from both companies if they had done it and would have silenced the fan boys a little.
sdh @ Apr 2nd 2008 5:15AM
Also, iPhone was molested at young age.
Surface is a very naughty tech-daddy.
Draaaainage! @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:52AM
"Your non-user-replaceable battery is now at 70% of initial capacity, would you like me to print you off a shipping label now?"
Draaaainage! @ Apr 2nd 2008 1:53AM
^^^ is supposed to be a comment in reply to quasimoto's "irony" comment. God I love this comment system.
kastonie @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:04AM
man why no houston att store love? Houston was the first city to get one of the new redesigned ATT experience centers.....ill have to check it out next time im in san antonio....
Apollo @ Apr 2nd 2008 2:08AM
The surface has been in development for about 6 years now anyone saying that they are copying Apple is just showing their blatant and baseless hate for anything Microsoft.
People need to stop bending over for Steve Jobs long enough to look around and see that Apple didn't invent everything.
Andir3.0 @ Apr 2nd 2008 7:10AM
For once (at least for me) it's not about my dislike for anything Microsoft. It's a freaking huge ass table. If it were slim, like an LCD monitor, it might be worth the time. But the fact that it requires a large box be slung under it at all times, it's kind of .... dated.