I watched the conference and was left in awe. I wrote a blog post for work...
here it is in its entirety:
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Ok so Microsoft had their 'Windows 10 Devices' conference the day before yesterday and I must say that I am still in awe of everything they showed off. I found that it was a much needed move from Microsoft in todays fast paced world.
You may think it's not enough, as Apple already seems to have people locked in to their ecosystem, but we all must admit that it really is an attractive proposal.
Microsoft unveiled a few devices which we knew were coming, however they also showed off something which surprised us.
Here goes:
First up we have 'Hololens'.
If you don't already know what 'Hololens' is, I suggest you hop on over to YouTube and take a look. It's an incredible Augmented Reality device which sits on your head and changes the world around you using Holograms. Not just basic holograms either; I'm talking fully interactive mind bending 'omg that's amazing' holograms! It's also fully wireless and does not require a phone or PC.
In yesterdays conference they showcased some internal software they have developed for the Hololens called 'Project X-Ray'. This 'game' was their first showcase of what they are calling 'mixed reality'. There was a man wearing the Hololens on stage, then all of a sudden he was 'wearing' a holographic gauntlet which allowed him to shoot holes in the walls! Robots then broke down the walls and he had a battle against them on stage! It really was remarkable. Seeing this demonstration live on stage together with everything else Microsoft has shown prior to this with Hololens really is something quite special!
Hololens will soon be available to developers for $3000 (development kit).
Moving on, we were shown the new 'Microsoft Band'.
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/productID.324438600
The Microsoft Band is a great 'watch' type device that works with Android, Windows and iOS. Its primarily used for fitness tracking, heart rate monitoring, email/text etc notifications and speaking to the AI Assistant Cortana. It includes 11 sensors to track your physical activities and to promote a healthier lifestyle. It was well received and impressive.
Next we were shown 2 new Microsoft Lumia phones; the Lumia 950 and the 950XL.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mobile/
These handsets looks stunning! The 950 has a 5.2" Quad HD screen with a Hexa-core processor.
The 950XL has a 5.7" Quad HD screen with a Octa-core processor.
Both have a 20MP sensor with triple LED flash and ZEISS optics!
Now, you may be thinking 'meh, yeah they're powerful but its nothing special'; however the cool thing about these devices is that they run Windows 10 and offer a 'PC-like' experience! Thats right, you connect the phone to a "Display Dock" (which charges your phone), the dock is then connected to monitors + a mouse and keyboard and voila, you are now using your phone as a Windows 10 PC. You can attach external storage just like you would a normal PC, and also use Microsoft Office as you would on a PC with full mouse and keyboard support. While you are using your phone as a PC, your phone is still functioning as a phone! Its really quite insane watching it happen, and it worked beautifully! Check out the conference to watch the live demo, its seriously very very impressive!
Next up we were shown the new Microsoft Surface Pro 4.
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/devices/surface-pro-4
The surface Pro 4 looks brilliant! It's thin, sleek, extremely functional and really can 'replace your laptop'.
It features a 12.3" PixelSense display (2736x1824), up to 16Gbs of RAM and up to 1Tb of storage. It also comes with the 'Pen' which is similar to the recently revealed 'Apple Pencil', but this one seems to be more functional. It also has palm block technology so you can write on it naturally as if it were a piece of paper.
It runs Windows 10 Pro, has Windows Hello built in along with the Cortana assistant.
It also has a few more features, but to see the entire list click the link above!
Microsoft also directly compared the Surface Pro 4 with a Macbook Air. Turns out the Surface Pro 4 is 50% more powerful than its Apple counterpart.
All in all it looks like a fantastic bit of kit that really can 'replace your laptop' – quite easily by the looks of it!
Moving on, Microsoft made their biggest announcement of the conference…
They unveiled their first ever Laptop…
The Microsoft Surface Book.
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/devices/surface-book
Now this thing is really quite special. Microsoft is touting it as 'the Ultimate laptop' and 'the most powerful laptop ever'. Boasting a 13.5" PixelSense display perched on a revolutionary 'Dynamic Fulcrum' hinge it really does look appealing! The Dynamic Fulcrum hinge itself is a great innovation; with its built in 'Muscle Wire' (also a new innovation!).
There is a lot I can say about this laptop, but honestly I don't think it'll do it justice. It's extremely powerful, good looking and functional. However, Microsoft had a trick up its sleeves. Not only does it function as a powerful laptop, the 'Muscle wire' contracts with a push of a button and releases the screen. That's right; this baby also turns in to a tablet!
So how is a tablet so powerful? Well to be honest, it's not. The actual Graphics Processing Unit is stored in the BASE (the keyboard), so when you detach the 'screen' turning it in to a tablet, it loses the use of its main GPU. Dock it back on to the 'base' and bam, it turns back in to a powerful laptop!
This sort of innovation is something we usually see from Apple, so it's refreshing to see it coming from Microsoft. They actually received a standing ovation after seeing this, along with applause and cheers (again, something we usually only see with Apple).
Microsoft went on to compare the Surface Book with the Macbook Pro. Turns out the Surface Book is 2x the power of a Macbook Pro! Now that is impressive!
All in all, I think Microsoft did an amazing job with all this! The whole ecosystem of devices all running Windows 10 sounds incredible (Xbox One, Surface Pro, Surface Book, PC's, HoloLens, Microsoft Band and Lumia mobile phones), and it truly is the one lineup that can seriously take on the existing Apple ecosystem.
This is only the beginning, and what a start it is!
I thought about all of this and it reminded me of Apple. This is exactly what Apple did and look at how far they have come. So, is Microsoft becoming the new Apple?
This idea intrigued me so I also made a video, feel free to watch it at the following link:
Thank you for reading my blog / watching my video. Feel free to leave your comments.
(If there are any typos then please excuse them, I wrote this in a hurry!)
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Yeah, it was a long day at work and I was feeling inspired!
