Microsoft’s Surface Mini has been stuck in the rumor mills for over a year, with a lot of speculations including several launch dates to have come and gone.
A recent report from Neowin has added a few more tidbits to the bunch about the note-taking focused Surface Mini that is expected to offer an experience that other tablets can’t.
According to the Neowin report, the Surface Mini will be a 7 to 8-inch device and is likely to be shipped with the same aesthetic design as Surface tablets. Microsoft is expected to position the device as the “best note-taking tablet” with an increased focus on Microsoft’s OneNote.
Neowin noted “Microsoft likes to market products at what they are designed to be used for, and for the Surface mini, it will be all about taking notes. That’s not really a surprise; Microsoft wants the Surface brand to represent functionality and entertainment across the gamut, and with Surface 2 coming with Office out of the box, they want the Surface mini to be associated with note-taking.”
The report suggests that the Surface Mini will support pen input like Wacom digitizer or something comparable, rather than a stylus, as additional functionality. The pen support is reported to be the significant feature that will make the Surface Mini competitive.
The report also noted that it was Microsoft’s business decision and not any kind of supply chain issues in meeting the demand of the Surface 2 tablet that dragged the launch of Surface Mini from 2013 to 2014.
However, recent reports claim that the Surface Mini to arrive in spring this year. Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet also stated long back that the device will not be available before spring.
The bottom line is that there’s no official information about the specifications or the release date of the Surface Mini, except that it will “make its way to the market in 2014.”
