Yesterday, Microsoft announced several new Surface products, the Surface Book 3, Surface Go 2, and the Surface Headphones 2. The company also confirmed the upcoming launch of the Surface Earbuds, which were announced last October. All devices are now on pre-order and Microsoft is especially talking up the Surface Book 3 and Surface Go 2.
Microsoft’s flagship laptop is on its third generation, while the low-end tablet Surface Go gets a sequel. Speaking to PCWorld, Microsoft Surface’s director of engineering of A/V systems, Doug Beck discussed how the devices have vastly improved camera experiences.
Both the Surface Book 3 and Surface Go 2 cameras have designed to work better in low-light conditions. Microsoft is aiming for the growing conference and video communication market. Both devices have 5-megapixel lenses with larger pixels to optimize low light.
“It took a while to convince people that webcams—the environments that they’re used in—are really pretty low-light,” said Doug Beck.
Improvements
Furthermore, the cameras will have an F2.0 aperture, which Beck says is the largest Microsoft could include. Elsewhere, the company also made other improvements, such as image signal processor, which will improve SNR.
“We have some IP to match skin tones, across the variability of skin tones that are out there,” Beck said. “We do a really good job of matching those up and presenting them across the calibrated pipeline.”
“We do objective testing to fall within certain contrast and colour accuracies, but then the end of our process is really a subjective process,” Beck added. “They’ll make certain adjustments that sometimes don’t feel like they go with the science, but they provide the best possible outcome.”
You can now pre-order these devices from Microsoft Store, find the links to pre-order them below.
- Surface Go 2 – Starting at $399 (available starting May 12)
- Surface Book 3 – Starting at $1599 (available starting May 21)
- Surface Headphones 2 – $249 (available starting May 12)
- Surface Earbuds – $199 (available starting May 12)
Last Updated on May 12, 2020 5:47 pm CEST by Markus Kasanmascheff
