Surface X?

[bb_gonzo]

Hey Daniel,

thinking about your point of surface Pocket.
Maybe a portable gaming device like the Nintendo Switch would be the best approach. A Surface X.
Windows on mobile needs Apps and Dev support. Even Windows on ARM will not be a solution for the Snapchats, Ubers, Maps, and other apps that are geared towards mobile.
However, MS historically has a good relationship with gaming devs.
A portable gaming device would sell it itself (Nintendo), but a Surface X would also run Windows and UWP apps. Such a device would create a Userbase big enough to warrant developing for it. Additionally with services like Netflix and the entire UWP catalog already available from day one it would have a massive advantage​ to the Switch.

 

[Drael646464]

Yeah I thought about this. Not quite what you are saying but, something similar.

Although I disagree, that windows on arm doesn't address some of the app holes in the win mobile platform. I've recently installed the chrome google maps app, spotify app, youtube, gmail app and a few others on my win 10 tablet to run as desktop windowed programs. They'd all scale just fine for mobile, and are win32 only, are basically identical to any other type of apps except cloud based.

But what you describe is an excellent idea - make windows 10 on mobile devices a good gaming platform. Fortunately from a software POV its very easy to do for windows on ARM.

Literally all you'd need to do is -

*have a touch virtual xbox controller overlay intergrated into the OS. As soon as you do that, you give every phone running the OS, loads of win32 games of far greater depth and development than most mobile games.

*Promote newly written UWP titles, specifically designed for touch, and

*add the ability to stream well games from your xbox....(using of course the touch controller). MS is already working on this I believe?

Boom. A big niche that nobody else can touch, by leveraging your existing dominance in games on desktop and on xbox.

And it would also be a smartphone

For the demo hardware, my idea is haptic feedback.

Along with some top notch hardware like dedicated graphics, maybe SSD - Add a some cutting edge haptic sound based feedback technology, so that the virtual x-box controller can be felt by touch. So that they feel like buttons. Liquid cooling too much, lol? (Might be, but yeah )

Such a focus on haptic feedback would also revolutionise the virtual keyboard for business. So wouldn't have to be a niche device. But rather a high end device, with the potential for that use.

Carrying around all that gear for the switch, is pretty much a death blow. Streaming doesn't always work because of the bandwidth requirements. People need, a platform that can run a bunch of decent games straight out of the pocket, with a thing they'd already carry. Windows 10 on arm could _easily_ be it (With or without the touch feedback, I am 100% positive those software changes I mentioned above would push proper numbers of units, and excite hardware partners too)

And really fortunately, we are just at the point (4gb-6gb of ram 2-2.5ghz etc) where mobile devices can handle such things without pouring out steam.