When Microsoft first revealed its Surface tablet back in June , many in the rumor mill were expecting the company to reveal a gaming-focused “Xbox Surface,” based on leaked documents pointing to such a tablet. Those rumors have resurfaced again, with The Verge reporting today that Microsoft is working on a final implementation of a 7-inch tablet tuned for gaming. The Verge’s unnamed source says the previously leaked specs for the tablet were indeed accurate, meaning the system would include a 7-inch, 1280×720 screen, 288MB of RAM, and a “custom IBM engine for scale-out workloads.” Those specs could be altered to allow for different models independent of one specific hardware architecture, however. The tablet will supposedly run a small Windows kernel rather than the full version of Windows that the 10-inch Surface tablet uses, and will work in conjunction with a “stationary computing device” that could be a next-generation Xbox, as outlined in another leaked Microsoft document from the summer . The Verge claims that the full console will be built by contract manufacturers like Pegatron and Foxconn, but that the tablet will be built by the same secret manufacturing process used for the Surface. The Xbox tablet would be released in 2013, ahead of a next-generation console. Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments
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Report: Microsoft going to production with 7-inch “Xbox Surface”
Nerval’s Lobster writes “Rumors have circulated for weeks that Microsoft intends to release a smartphone of its own design and manufacture, embracing the strategy that drove Apple’s iPhone to such enormous success over the past few years. While releasing a branded smartphone offers several potential benefits—look at the revenue and brand recognition Apple’s earned as a result of the iPhone—such a strategy also carries significant risks for Microsoft. First, it could alienate smartphone partners such as Nokia, which would find itself competing against a high-end device backed by Microsoft’s sizable marketing dollars. (Given the Finnish phone-maker’s already perilous situation, that could prove ruinous.) But a branded smartphone could also convince hardware manufacturers that Microsoft really is ‘all in’ on building its own devices, which could lead to all sorts of drama.” Read more of this story at Slashdot. 
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