Surface mini existed, here are the details on how it looks like

White Surface mini

Early this year, Microsoft launched the Surface Pro 3, however this wasn’t supposed to happen, instead the Surface mini should have been introduced, but the company pulled the plug at the eleventh hour. All we heard were rumors about the device, Microsoft never publicly said anything about it, and today we have solid confirmation that indeed, the Surface mini was real.

Brad Sams from Neowin got permission from Microsoft to see and hold one of the Surface mini prototype, under the condition not to publish any photos of the device. However, we have enough details to know how the Surface mini looks like. According to Brad, pretty much every rumor we heard on the device are accurate: it’s a device with an 8-inch display using a Qualcomm processor, 1GB of RAM, running Windows RT 8.1, and it also features a USB port and a microSD card slot to add more storage.

Furthermore, the Surface mini also uses the same Surface Pro 3 pen, as for the physical form, the miniaturized version of the tablet looks very much like the Surface Pro 3, but of course a lot smaller, and without a kickstand.

Brad keeps describing that besides the pen and OneNote integration, the case Microsoft created made the device very unique too. The case is like a book cover and comes in different colors and includes a built-in kickstand. At the end of the stand you’ll can find the loop that holds the pen like in the Surface Pro 3.

The front cover of the case is detachable, but it’s only a cover to protect the screen, it doesn’t feature a keyboard like the Type Cover. The front cover also doesn’t attach to the device like it happen on SP3, instead, there are two clips to attach the case firmly.

“This device is the pen and paper killer” Brad says. According to him the size of the device is just right, the bezel is larger than usual for a device this small with a Windows Home button located at the bottom. At the top you’ll find a front facing camera, but sadly we don’t have any details of what type of camera it is or if there is a back camera too.

While we still don’t know the official reason for Microsoft not launching the mini version of Surface, we know that the device in its current state will never see the light, as the hardware inside is now old, but we can always hope that Microsoft could be planning to release of a newer version in the future.

Disclaimer: The featured image is a mock-up from previous rumors.

Source Neowin 

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.