Behind the scenes with Microsoft's Surface Touch Cover

Microsoft has released a behind the scenes sort of video highlighting the Surface's TouchCover keyboard. Microsoft's first venture with a pressure sensative keyboard was back in 2003.  While designers thought is was cool, they didn't feel it was ready for prime time.

The goal was to develop a super thin keyboard that functioned like a laptop keyboard.  Enter the Surface Tablet and a need to have a cover that doubled as a keyboard.

Microsoft has put a lot of thought and work into both the 3mm thin TouchCover and 6mm TypeCover. Those that have gotten their hands on the Surface have been impressed with the keyboard's performance.  We'll soon see if that positive impression carries over to the masses this Friday when the Surface launches.

We are inclined to believe it will.

Source: Surface, Thanks, Flagz, for the tip!

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President of HTC China reveals more info behind Windows Phone 8X and 8S, hints at Zenith.

Mr. Ren Weiguang on Windows Phone 7.5 Chinese launch event. Image credit to evolife.cn

Chinese site WPDang managed to interview Mr. Ren Weiguang, the president of HTC China, after the manufacturer's September 19th announcing of the very colorful Windows Phone 8X and 8S range. The interview reveals what's probably mixed news about HTC's products.

In summary, Mr. Ren told the journalist the following:

HTC won't ditch Windows Phone or Android. The company adopted Windows Phone before it was mature, and won't abandon Android when things are starting to go sour along that path.HTC Titan, the company's only Windows Phone legally released in China, has sold "not very well", but "as we expected". With this I totally agree. When you sell a device only in a selected few channels and don't advertise about it, this is to be expected all right...Beats Audio was brought to Android devices with dedicated audio chips. But on Windows Phone (both 8S and 8X), it was implemented through software enhancement, because Microsoft doesn't allow the manufacturer to alter the standard circuit design. This sounds a bit cheap. Not sure how the audio performance of 8S and 8X will be, when pitched against their Android counterparts, although the addition of an amplifier in the 8X may help.As you've found out, HTC indeed is considering colors a key differentiator. Outside the default choices, there might be new "carrier-exclusive" color patterns too. According to WPDang's informant, HTC's 8S has got unique colors to all three Chinese carriers: red for China Mobile, blue for China Unicom, and grey+yellow combo for China Telecom.Besides 8S and 8X, HTC is working on a phone with "even bigger screen" right this moment. This could be the previously rumored quad-core device "Zenith". In another post, WPDang speculated the potentially mother of all Windows Phone 8 devices will hit the market by the very end of 2012, or early 2013.

I can't help but wonder though... If adding an audio chip alters the circuit beyond Microsoft's limit, how about Nokia? The Finnish company threw a whole optical image stablization system, complete with specially designed hardware and customized driver, into the Lumia 920. Does that mean Microsoft is granting Nokia power beyond power, allowing it to manipulate Windows Phone (the OS and specifications) in any technical fashion it likes?

Does HTC's repeated statement about "we have invented a thoroughly sound marketing strategy together with Microsoft" (dead curious about what exactly it is) mean Redmond is trying to compensate the "unfair effect" from Nokia's especially favorable treatment? If Nokia gets all the technical power, and HTC the full marketing support and naming privilege ("Windows Phone 8 series" running on Windows Phone 8 OS), then what's left for other Windows Phone manufacturers?

What about guys like ZTE and Huawei, who typically won't move until they have a clear path and objective? And Samsung, the company left in the cold with an Ativ S whose screen couldn't be lit up?

So... what do you make of the interview? Do you feel colors as a selling proposition convincing enough? Are you excited about the "even bigger" thing yet to come? Let us know in the comment field.

Sauce: WPDang (1), WPDang (2)

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Windows Phone 8 latest SDK shows improved HTML5 benchmark, but still behind iPhone 5

Now that the Windows Phone 8 SDK is nearing full-public release and the OS is RTM, we can get a better idea of some of the HTML5 benchmarks.

We last compared these numbers a few months ago and while HTML5 compatibility has greatly increased from IE9 to IE10, it’s still not as robust as Android (ICS), iOS6 or BlackBerry 10.

The current build of Windows Phone 8 scored 319 (+ 6 bonus) on the HTML5 Test with iOS6 (via the iPhone 5) coming in at 360 (+9 Bonus). Of course all of that is ironically trumped by RIMs in-gestation BlackBerry 10, which has a super high score of 447 (+10 bonus) and while that is high, 3rd party browser Dolphin for Android (currently in beta) gets 450 (+3 bonus).

Some of the latest features in IE10

IE10 for Windows Phone 8 - 319 (+ 6)iPhone 5 - 360 (+9)BB10 (beta) – 447 (+10)Dolphin (beta, Android) – 450 (+3)

Does HTML5 mean that much? Yes and no. For one, the HTML5 feature list is in flux, although the test takes that into consideration when breaking down scores. In short, yes, having a higher score is better as it means when it comes to forms, data entry, rendering tables, etc. the more compatible the browser, the more accurate it will look. Does it mean that we will notice the difference? Maybe not but we wouldn’t lie in saying we wish Windows Phone 8 scored a little higher (even if it nearly tripled its IE9 score of 121).

Of course there are other browser benchmarks to consider, including speed and how the OS itself handles things. For that, we’ll have to wait a little longer. One thing though is for certain, the competition is not resting on its laurels when it comes to mobile browsers these days. And regardless of HTML5 tests, we're confident that IE10 on Windows Phone 8 will be a great improvement over its predecessor. 

Edit: A lot of people seem to be suggesting that the areas where IE10 on Windows Phone 8 is lagging are non-important, "experimental" features. This is quite far from the truth though. Most of the features missing compared to other platforms, including iOS6 are in fact 'Official HTML5 specifications'. Only 1 was experimental: Web Audio API.

Related and more information: iOS6 Safari currently beats out Windows Phone 8 for HTML5 features

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