This Surface Neo patent shows the potential xCloud has on Windows as well as mobile

Surface Neo Source: Microsoft

A recent patent filing (via PatentScope) has offered united states of america a more detailed wait at some of the Surface Neo'southward technical capabilities, alongside some tantalizing possibilities for futurity user scenarios.

Microsoft's Projection xCloud is a massive undertaking in the gaming sectionalization, every bit the teams ramp upwardly to evangelize console-quality game streaming content to whatsoever device. The service is now in-testing on Android and iOS, with a Windows version soon to follow. Thus far, the service has an avalanche of high-quality content, easily chirapsia out rivals like Google's Stadia. Although nosotros still don't know what the monetization model looks like, the promise and potential is clearly there.

So far, we generally retrieve almost Project xCloud every bit being a "mobile" affair, bringing Xbox games to handsets. I've found in my ain testing that larger tablets provide a far more preferable feel, owing to UI scaling problems. Some games are simply too damn hard to see, fifty-fifty on a large phone like my Galaxy Annotation 9. It is and then, encouraging, that Microsoft seems to be exploring means to bring xCloud to tablets more ergonomically.

Surface Neo gamepad zipper?

Surface Neo Patent Source: Microsoft / PatentScope

The Surface Neo wowed united states of america when Microsoft showed it off last year. A dual-screen folding tablet, complete with a new OS dubbed Windows 10X, that revolves around the touch-first form factor.

Naturally, Windows 10X comes with some drawbacks. As a stripped-down version of Windows, it volition virtually probable lack many of the APIs necessary to run full Win32 games from Steam or the new Xbox Store on PC, for example. This is ane area where Projection xCloud could really aid devices like Neo to smoothen.

The patent in question details many of the features Microsoft showed off in the original Surface Neo trailer, but tantalizingly also references the fact the magnetic keyboard portion could be used as a "game controller."

In this example, the input device 102 is manifest every bit a keyboard device. In other implementations, the input device tin be manifest as a trackpad or game controller, amid others.

The patent-ese lingo is vague enough to avert any hard specifics on what a "game controller" input device might look similar. In the Surface Duo trailer, for example, we see the "input device" manifest as a bear on-based virtual gamepad on the second display. I'd argue that no Xbox gamer on earth would adopt to play this way, given the option. The lack of tactile controls is simply not what Xbox games are designed for, generally.

Duo Source: Microsoft

Given that the patent diagrams refer direct to the concrete keyboard equally the "input device," the patent could be referring to a magnetic physical gamepad, similar in function to the physical keyboard shown off in the Neo trailer. Information technology's a bit of a stretch to assume that it is in active development, given that the simply instance we have is a single line of reference in a patent, but it would more than make sense.

xCloud opportunity for depression-power Windows devices

GPD Win Source: GPD The GPD Win is a tiny PC that comes baked with an Xbox controller.

xCloud is going to hitting scale on Android and iOS, but there are too millions of low-ability PCs out in that location that can't run contemporary games even on their lowest graphics settings. xCloud too liberates Windows from decades of legacy APIs, allowing a streamlined Bone like Windows 10X to gain some gaming chops of its own, via streaming.

The obvious question boils downwardly to ergonomics. Playing xCloud titles on a squished screen isn't a pleasant experience and the phone clips on offer feel like a bandaid solution to a bigger trouble. Even if the "game controller" references in the Surface Neo patent turn out to be zero, information technology is encouraging that Microsoft is at least thinking nearly ways to bring more tactile controls to XCloud on its future devices — without having us carrying controllers and clips around.

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An internet connection will soon be required when setting up Windows 11 Pro

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An internet connexion volition soon be required when setting up Windows 11 Pro

Microsoft has announced that later this twelvemonth, users volition exist required to connect to the internet and sign-in with a Microsoft Account during the out of box setup experience on Windows 11 Pro. Microsoft has already been enforcing this requirement on Windows 11 Dwelling since launch last October, and Windows xi Pro is now expected to follow suit soon.