Surface 4 Pro could inherit Microsoft's coolest accessory yet

Microsoft has outed a DisplayCover for its Surface line of tablets that makes the slate even more useful.

A Microsoft Research video shows the DisplayCover prototype in all its glory, which consists of an e-ink display at the top of the regular Type Cover and the best part is that it uses minimal extra battery power whilst reportedly extends the screen space by some 8%.

In the video, the e-ink addition sits just above the keyboard on the Surface Pro 2 Type Cover and supports dynamic UI manipulation so that a whole wealth of different things can be displayed in terms of apps and live tiles.

One example shown in the video illustrates how you could be talking to someone on Skype using the main screen and then use the e-ink part to compose emails using a full mail client. There's also options to use it as a word processing window and a lot else besides.

Surface Pro 4 out soon

That's not all. You can scan through photos using the e-ink display before viewing them in full or adding them to email or document and the e-ink display can also be used to handwrite or zoom both in and out of what's on the screen.

Whilst this is only a prototype, a new version of Microsoft's tablet, namely the Surface Pro 4, is expected to be released at some point in the coming months. If this arrives alongside it, there will be another reason to think about switching to this as your new full fledged laptop.

• Surface Pro 4 release date, news and rumours