Microsoft’s Next Surface Device Could Be a Pen Dock

[The AchieVer]

Microsoft’s Next Surface Device Could Be a Pen Dock 

 

Recently-discovered patents have suggested that Microsoft is looking into several major improvements for the Surface Pen, including a touchscreen a la Apple’s Touch Barand even a foldable form factor that would let users wear it over their ears.

While some of these ideas sound rather awkward, here’s something with a few more chances to actually reach mass production.

Microsoft watcher WalkingCatdiscovered new API code in the most recent Windows 10 preview build that seems to indicate the Redmond-based software giant could be working on something like a Surface Pen dock.Convenient chargingAt first glance, you could easily think that you don’t need a Surface Pen dock because you can already attach the device to your Surface using the magnetic system. But on the other hand, a dock would obviously come with many more benefits, and the first one that comes to mind is support for charging.

Just imagine you’re working on your Surface and when you’re done, you just put your Surface Pen into the dock and have it recharged while you’re taking a break.

This obviously involves other improvements on the Surface Pen side, like a rechargeable battery and a wireless charging system, but these could all be part of the next generation if this is the direction that Microsoft wants to embrace.

The API was discovered in Windows 10 build 18922, which is the most recent release for Windows insiders in the Fast ring. This build is part of the Windows 10 20H1 development branch, and given that this feature update is projected to go live in the spring of 2020, there’s a chance we may not see the new Surface Pen dock, if it does receive the green light, earlier.

The next Windows 10 feature update is called 19H2, and it should go live in the fall. Testing builds are not yet available.

 

 

Source

[The AchieVer]

Microsoft may be working on a docking station for digital pens

 

 

Although limited appeal, Surface Dial was revolutionary and many argued that it’s one of the coolest tiny PC accessories ever existed. It’s been more than two years since the Surface Studio released and with it came the Surface Dial. Now, Microsoft is apparently planning to bring another new accessory, which not only will help you create in immersive ways but also will act as a docking station for all your digital Pens.

 

Famous Microsoft watcher Walking Cathas found some code snippets, which suggest that Microsoft had already added support for a digital docking station in the recently released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18922. If Microsoft is seriously thinking about this then the Surface team is definitely working on the hardware. This is also in line with what Microsoft had discussed in this patent named “BASE STATION FOR USE WITH DIGITAL PENS.”

 

 

The purpose of the docking station, as Micrososoft talked about earlier in the patent, is to provide users various capabilities and that includes storing a digital pen, charging a digital pen, associating a digital pen with one or more user settings, authenticating a user of a digital pen, syncing data between a digital pen and a computing device, creating/updating a user account associated with a user of a digital pen, adjusting an operating parameter associated with a digital pen, and providing teleconferencing functionalities.

 

It’s also worth remembering that the Windows 10 Build 18922 is a part of the 20H1 Builds and, therefore, we can expect the docking station come into existence no earlier than 2020, assuming it’ll not meet the same fate as the Surface Mini.

 

 

 

Source