Microsoft’s Surface Mini, kept under wraps for more than a year, has made its way, not to the market, but into the Surface Pro 3’s user manual, at last confirming its existence, still not officially.
The user manual for recently launched Surface Pro 3, available on the Microsoft’s website, refers several times to the Surface Mini.
Multiple mentions were first spotted by Microsoft blogger Paul Thurrott who described it to be “hilarious” in his tweet: “There are Surface Mini references all over the Surface Pro 3 User Guide.”
“If you want to do more than take a quick handwritten note, unlock Surface Mini,” one mention read. “When you do, you’ll get the full functionality of OneNote.”
Another section read “You’ll pair your new pen with Surface Mini a little later during setup.”
The references follow a similar slip-up that listed Surface Pro 3 tablet, before its official launch, in a Microsoft’s support page, which suggest a roll out soon.
The mentions in the user manual also confirm that the Surface Mini will also include pen support as speculated. Surface Pen comes with Bluetooth technology that links the digital pen to the tablet.
Surface Mini references – exactly in 4 places related to Surface Pen, Windows 8.1’s OneNote app and rotation lock feature, (possibly missed during careless copy pasting) suggest that Microsoft has indeed planned to launch Surface Mini last month along with Surface Pro 3, but has dropped the plans of 8-inch ARM device launch at the last minute.
However, the Surface Pro 3 user manual now available online has no mentions of Surface Mini. Microsoft has declined to comment on reports related to the tablet.
