Microsoft's Surface Studio announcement is a wrap! The company's all-in-one desktop has been revealed, price and all, but there was another piece of hardware that made sure we didn't touch that dial. (See what we did there?)
The Microsoft Surface Dial, the Surface's Bluetooth-powered disk peripheral, is due out November 10 to the tune of $99 (about £80/AU$140).
Designed for creative-minded folks to get the most control out of their Surface, the Surface Dial turns to one of the oldest forms of manipulation for inspiration: a big, round, twistable knob.
Certain apps can be finely tuned by simply tacking the Surface Dial to the screen, using haptic feedback and a turnable switch to get things juuust right.
Painting apps like Sketchable, for example, use the Dial to accurately choose colors as a painter's palette or to adjust brush sizes - issuing a sigh of relief for any digital artist fighting carpel tunnel right now from using a keyboard for all that.
Other apps have similar ergonomic uses, such as Pandora or Spotify using the Dial to control volume, or rotating and zooming through an image in Bluebeam Revu or Windows Maps.
The Surface Pro Dial is available for preorder now via the Microsoft Store, and is compatible with the Surface Studio, Surface Pro 4, and the Surface Book.
Those who preorder the $2,999 (around £2,450, AU$3,920) Surface Studio will receive a Dial with their computer when it launches this holiday, according to The Verge.
The device also uses 2 AAA batteries in lieu of charging, but don't fret - those will come included. What you will need, however, is the latest Anniversary Update for Windows 10, so be sure to set aside some time for that if you haven't already.
